New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-20
Sure Superiority in Tonnage and Metal brow
ing Ability of English Will Not BE
All-Important Factors.
TRIBUNE MAN TELLS OF KEEL WISH
Sees Dreadnought in Action with imaginary British
Warship-Submarines Also Put Through Their
PAGES for Him-Making Torpedoes

that is, each gun every forty seconds
the lieutenant explained.
All of the 6-inch guns on both SIDES
of the Markgraf were in mock Rction'
getting the men on edge for the dig
battle with the English; but we nave
TO be careful, too, that the men doh
get overturned" an officer explained:
IL reminded one Of the last practice OF
a championship Harvard football team
getting ready for Yale.
At Torpedo Practice.
In the hospital ward others were
getting practical instruction IN mrs.
aid work. while the more seriously,
wounded" were being carried IN ana
placed on operating tables. Elsewhere
in the dreadnought imaginary hres
were being extinguished, ana every
possible contingency was apparently
bein0 practised for. Other sailors were
az work scraping of the last vestges,
of paint on the walls of the mess ana
other rooms. IL
Perhaps most interesting OF all
was the torpedo practice, under pattle
conditions" To save time the water
was not pumped out Of the TORPEDO
tubes before reloading, "a in peace
nractice. but allowed TO food the room,
inches deep. Here, too, the men were
hing driven along at high pressure
and were clicked" in the fast 'lihe
az / minute o seconds for swinging q
tornedo down from the ceiling (where
civ snare torpedos were fastened, ram
ming il into the torpedo tube and max
ing ready to fire. ~ ,,
Five O'clock tea in the captains room
showed there was no prejudice among
German naval officers against contlhu-
ING a tvpically English custom. mere
The Tribune correspondent TOOK ioon
AZ the captains handbook OF the navles
/ of ali nations. and noticed that IN the
| list of British ships the Audaclous
Hague. Aboukir. Cressy and many other
names had been neatly crossed through
with blue pencil, with marginal no,
/ tation of the dates on which they nae
/ gone down.
Busy in Navy Yard.
The correspondent was also permit
/ tod IN make tour of the huge navy
/ yard. where construction work Is belng
/ nushed day and night, 5000 men work
/ ing by day and 5000 at night. II was
4 already dark, and the work OF turbine
| and boiler building and so forth was
/ being carried on by the hght OF ohiy
a few small lanterns. The haiser
navy ward and all his imperial maJes-
/ tvs workshops reminded one strongly
Of London by night, and one was noi
I surprised when the superintendent sald
/ that the lack of illumination was q
precautionary measure against a pos
/ sible visit of hostile though
none has come so far" he added.
Utmost significance can be Attached
| to the interesting fact that work is not
being pushed on those fighting ships
under construction which could not
possibly be finished under year, while
the main effort is being devoted 70
those which will be in fighting trim IN
, three months or less. Interesting also
was the sight of the Kaiser's yacht
The Hohenzollern, looking singularly
forlorn, at one Of the docks. IL was
conspicuous because 1t was the only
ship still painted white. An ofiicer eX'
planned that it is "Of absolutely no
use" at the present war time.
Another curiosity was the old vet
eran battleship Oldenburg, in drydock
completely riddled by shells and now
being hurriedly patched. An officer ex'
planned that the old Oldenburg (there
is now new dreadnought OF the same
name) was used for target practice
had been sunk only last week. had beer
raised again, and was being patched tc
I serve as d target once more.
Another interesting phase OF the wal
was noted at the imperial torpeC
works at FriedrichsoTt, where work IS
also being pushed night and day
Three thousand are at work here, and
the superintendent jokingly said they
were glad to say they were able to
keep up with CaptaiA Weddigen's de-
mand" Weddigen, Of course, being the
idoli2ed commander of U-9. In pea,
times il took seven months to turn out
a torpedo ready for the water: now
the plant is being worked so that new
torpedoes re turned out in -four
months. A ramble through these works
gave one the impression that the Ger
mans were not likely to run out of tor
pedoes during the course OF the war
and that their submarines need not b'
sparing Of ammunition.
Incidentally, there is almost as much
mystery about Germany's new mode
submarines as about the 42-centimetr,
mortars, but d naval constructor let tn,
secret partly out of the bag. In dis
cussing the merits of submarines hC
remarked: "The last twenty we bull
nave Deen satisfactory III every way.
The Friedrichsort works are working
night and day, not only on new tor
pedOes, but also in building torped,
tubes for the new units under construc
ton.
There was an interesting uniformlt!
in the conversation of the officers a
Kiel. All were looking forward Il
taking part in the great deciding ma
val engagement. All were certain tina
Is would come. All equally secuted
the idea that the German ships wer'
afraid to come out and fight.
"The English will find German war
ships in the North Sea now if the.
will go in and look for them" one Of
ficer remarked.
The British numerical superiorlt.
is chiefly in the smaller ships" an
other said. ain dreadnoughts we ar
not at such a great disadvantage. Blu
mere superiority in tonnage and metal
throwing ability will not be the decld
ing factors in the great battle. w
; Germans do not fear this advantag
OF the British" But none of then
would hazard a vague guess as Z
when "the big battle" would tax
place.
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