The Washington times., 1914-12-27
BRITISH NAVAL RAID

IDENTIFY, at which two can play. Ber-
Inns official announcement that g
squadron of British warships on
Christmas Day succeeIed in dashing
into Helgoland blight and getting as
far as CuxhaYen, at the mouth of
the Elbe, makes evident that the
Germans have not succeeded, with
mines and submarines and the gen.
eral disposition of their naval forces,
in making their great nava! haven
entirely secure. On the other hand
the fact that eight wsrships could
get in, turn loose their seaplanes,
and get out again without any in
jury that the Germans report as
capital, is testimony that the Ger
man feet and ports are not so we'll
protected as has generally been sup
posed.
! Three times, now, SINCE the war
opened, have the British made
dashes into the inside of the Ger
man naval lines. When the war was
less than three weeks old a British
squadron made a rush into the wa
ters back of Helgoland and succeed
cd in cutting out three German
cruisers, which were sunk. Two
months later another British de-
stroyer f1otilla accompanied by big
cruiser did the same thing again, and
this time managed to drive out four
German destroyers which likewise
were sunk after chase southwark
in the North Sea.
If the Germans have left the ap-
proaches TO their naval bases SO i'll
protected that these things are pos
sible, or if the British have been so
successful IN locating the German
mine fields that they know how TO
thread the devious way through
them, it is evident that the German
fleet In the Kiel canal is not SO well
protected as has commonly been as
sumed. The idea of a British force
of first-class fighting craft making
such a dash as that of Christmas
Day, becomes less a piece of hope
less folly and foolhardiness. 1t is
suggested as a perfectly possible
maneuveT, very dangerous, of course,
and yet one that the admiralty might
be moved to undertake.
Whether the British raiders did
any real damage is doubtful; the
Germans report that all the damage
was sustained by the British vessels.
But none the less the confidence of
the Germans in the impregnability
of their inner base must have sus-
tanned much the same shock that
British cockiness about the great
Dover base received when a German
vessel got in there and got out again.
The fact seems to be that no harbor
can be made so secure that an enemy
may not have good chance to
enter it. The Turks, with German
mines and officers at their command,
failed 20 make the Dardanelles i'm
passable for 4 British submarine
which passed under several fields of
mines and performed one of the most
daring raids of the whole war. A
mine field so well laid and so COM
pletely protecting a harbor that en-
trance would be quite impossible.
would be only less dangerous to the
vessels inside than to those outside.
Moreover, it would only be possible
TO lay such a field at immense cost,
for the great marine mines come
high and no country possesses them
in unlimited numbers.
The British might, by force of
public insistence, be tempted TO
make d dash in force back Of Hell
goland; but it would not be sound
naval strategy. Naval history hard
ly tells the story Of blockaded fleet
SSILIi5 OHl VI a lAIibDa- JC-N INT
blockading force and making good
its escape. The advantage Is all
with the blockadcrs, provided only
that they have force enough to
maintain their positions and to rea-
sonably insure q preponderance of
gun power if a battle shall come.
They are on the oui vive at every
moment; they have to be; the men
sleep at their guns, as it is said they
have done for months in the British
blockading feet in the North Sea. |
Everything is whetted up to the
sharpest edge of readiness and ex-
pectation. In short, the blockading |
force must maintain itself in the |
pink and prime of condition because !
i is on duty every hour and minute. !
On the other hand the feet inside. /
riding AZ anchor, is bound in sport
ing phrase, more or less TO go
stale Ii is unavoidable. The bot