Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-10-19

(Corres. of The Associated Pres.)
Amsterdam, Sept. 26.-The sinking of
the British armored cruisers Aboukir.
Hogue and Cressy by the German
submarine ~ 81 has not been without
Its effect in Holland and other small
countries of Europe. 1t is felt this
performance of a submarine is ample
proof that in this relatively cheap
craft Is to be found a weapon which
any powerful navy must fear, and that
possibly a means has been found
which will make preponderence on the
sea of the large powers less of night
mare in the smaller countries than it
has been.
The Dutch press generally has not
said much on the subject. The Dan
ish press also has made but scant COM
ment on the work of the III g. but
Spanish and Swedish papers have been
less reticent. An almost extraordinary
restraint has been exercised by the
German and Austro- Hungarian papers,
while the Italian press seems to be
generally taking the view that the
submarine Is an arm of the small
country which the larger powers must
respect after the destruction of the
three British cruisers with a loss of
400 men and 60 officers-the result
of two hours work by a submarine
with crew of 20.
The views expressed by an unnamed
Norwegian admiral in the Christiania
Morgenbladet of Sept. "a may be taken
as typical of what has been said in
Europe of the affair:
THE efforts of the English to block
ade the Baltic and the North Sea have
been given their death sentence since
a German submarine with crew of
20 men managed to break through the
cordons established, travel some 200
sea miles and from it's base and slip
about easily in the waters controlled
by the English fleet. That the three
cruisers were old, does not mean any
thing. The fate that overlook them,
can overtake tomorrow the entire Eng
lish battle fleet.
1.-THE North Sea and the Baltic are
no longer in the possession Of the
blockading English armored monsters.
new era with new method has be-
gun for the small powers when they
will be able to maintain a large num-
Der of these cheap and efficient sea
with powerful enemy whose greater
resources permitted him to build up
a navy entirely beyond the means of
small governments"
While, he said, great restraint has
been exercised by the German press
there has been noticeable feeling of
renewed confidence in the naval phase
of the European War. With pardon
able pride 1t is pointed out that the
'U 81 and ~ 21,'' after doing their
deadly work, returned to their stations
unframed and are now ready for more
expeditions of that sort.
The case Of the III 21a is especially
remarkable when 1t Is borne in mind
that this boat was away from her
base for almost ten days. perform
ance with which another Of the "U''
boats also must be credited, according
to a published letter of a member of
its crew.
The letter in question described the
long journey above and under the
water, it's many hardships and the
final reward of the men by a glimpse
into the periscope which showed a
flock of big British men-of-war lying
peacefully at anchor, unmindful of the
'seawolf with the iron skin who was
prowling in the deep-to use the lang
uage of the sailor from whose letters
this was taken.
1t was stated in the letter that the
trip had reconnaissance as its purpose,
and that the captain refrained from
liberating the torpedo in the tube. be-
cause doing so would have been con-
trary to orders. 1t was further stated
that the trip was along the coast of
Scotland and England.
1T would seem,' says the Ostsee
Zeitung, that while the possession of
submarines by Germany was of no
great concern to the British, the great
activity-radius of the craft is" In
that" comments the Vienna Freie
Presse, may be found an example of
the farsightedness for which the Ger
mans have already been known
Rear Admiral Schlieper, of the Ger
man navy, publishes some rather in
teresting details concerning the Ger
man submarines and it's field of action
in an article in the Berliner Tageblatt
There has been some complaint in
the past" he says, that We were not
building as many submarines as the
French and English, for instance. But
for this we had good reasons. Deaf
to the plants of the critics we permit
ted other nations to make the expert
ments. profiting by their experiences.
In addition the demands of service
along our coast were different.
Naturally l can not speak of these
now, but may mention that the small
submarine, limited to activity near its
base, was not exactly what we wanted.
What we needed were larger boats,
which in addition to being ea-going
had a great activity radius. But tc
build such a submarine was no easy
matter. Motor questions and other
technical problems had to be solved.
This done, we FASTENED the building of
submarines and constructed a nearly
perfect boat. That our type of this
craft is nearly perfect has been shown
by theT"U g." which within the space of
two hours destroyed three powerful
cruisers-one puny David de-
feating three Goliaths.'