The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1914-10-20
THE NAVAL LOSSES.

THE NAVAL LOSSES.
So far as is known the British
admiralty claims the destruction Of
fourteen German warships proper
and eight suxiliaries, as follows:
Four cruisers, six torpedo boat de-
stroyers, one torpedo boat, three
submarines, and eight commerce de-
s:royers, not fighters. Some Of those
commerce destroyers are merely con-
verted liners. .'
The British have suffered loss Of
nine warships, five having been de-
stroyed by submarines. These five
were all cruisers. One cruiser and
enc scout boat were destroyed by
mines, also torpedo gunboat. One
Australian submarine was lost by &C
cident. In addition ole cruiser was
disabled in Zanzibar harhor by a
German cruiser. -.
Mere numbers taken into consid-
Grafton, there are four German
cruisers lost as against five British
cruisers lost and one disabled. There
are six German destroyers and one
torpedo boat as against one, British
scout boat and one torpedo gunboat,
end there ere three German sub
marines as against the Australian
submarine.
Just what such losses mean to
each belligerent must be gagged by
what each bad to lose in the Begin
ming and what is left to each at the
end.
Not counting here the sea power
of France, Russia, and Japan, We find
that before the war Great Britain
had Twenty-Five modern battleships
end thirty-eight older battleships, as
against Germany's nineteen modern
and twenty older battleships. Great
Britain had ten cruiser battleships
and Germany seven. The loss Of no
ship of the line is recorded for eth
er side, so those proportions remain
as they were before the war-forty-
six to seventy-sevsn in favor Of Eng
land.
Great Britain had forty-two first
class cruisers as against Germany's
nine. Great Britain had thirty-seven
second-class cruisers as against Ger
many's six. Great Britain had thir-
ty-three third-class cruisers as
against Germany's thirty-nine. Great
Britain thus had 112 cruisers. first,
second, ard third class, as against
Gcrmany's ffty-four.
Six cruisers lost or disabled re-
duced England's cruiser fleet to LOG.
while the loss of four reduced Ger
many's to fifty.
If the cruisers were of equal value
England should have lost eight as
against Gcrmany's four to preserve
the relative strength.
England had 227 destroyers and
fifty-eight torpedo boats as against
Germany's Id destroyers and forty
seven torpedo boats. To have bal
anced the six torpedo boat Destroy
ers and the one torpedo boat lost by
the Germans England should have
lost eleven torpedo boats and de-
stroyers; but she has not lost any.
England had eighty-fve subma-
rines and Germany, so far as the
public record goes, thirty. To equal
the loss of the three German sub
marines the British should have lost
about nine submarines; but the ac-
tual loss was one submarine-the
Australian Loaf.
On the other hand, The loss of the
English scout boat and t.rpcdo gun
toat is a gain for the Germans,
though Of no consequence, the pre-
vious proportion of ten British gun
boats and seven Germans now being
changed tc nine and seven.
Physically, therefore, German sea
lower has suffered, since the war
began, heavier loss relatively than
the English. Indeed, if the same
| ratio of losses should continue the
German ships would utterly disap-
pear and yet there would still be left
to England the greatest navy in the
world. ..........-
If. for example, Germany should