Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-08-13

operations against the east coast of
England by its fastest ships, it has
remained absolutely shut in by the
superior strength of the enemy.
For some reasons which are still
obscure, Germany failed to call home
from the Mediterranean two valua-
BILE ships, the battle cruiser "Goe-
ben, !" and the light cruiser "Bres-
lau," which, after marrying some of
Of the coast towns on the Mediter-
ranean, fled to Constantinople, where
they hoisted the Turkish flag and be-
came largely instrumental in bring
ing Turkey into the war.
And so it came about that in the
very first days of the war there was
eXemplified, on a grand and very
dramatic scale, the truth, so long
taught by our own Mahan, of the
enormous importance of the COM
mand of the sea Not alone was
the great German fleet, built up
with such high hopes as to its flu
ture usefulness on the high seas and
costing over one and one half billion
dollars, driven from the high seas
and shut up within its own restrict
ed waters, but Great Britain was
rendered absolutely secure against
invasion; and the British seas were
so completely freed Of the enemy
that her transports began to run
land have continued to run for a
whole year, to and fro between
English shores and the Continent,
conveying hundreds of thousands of
men and their supplies for service
against the land armies of Germany
Furthermore, both Great Britain
and France have transported troops
to the European battlefelds from
every quarter of the habjtable
globe.
The same controlling influence o.
sea power has been witnessed dur,
ing the year within the Baltic
where the predominance of German
naval strength has enabled the Qua
alliance to maintain an ever-growine
traffic between the neutral states Of
Norway and Sweden and her owr
Baltic powers. The Russian navy
greatly inferior in strength, ha,
done what it could and has done i
well, the honors of the naval war
fare, so far as ships lost is concerned
being we'll divided between the two
navies; unless indeed it be true tina
the German battleship "Pommern
was lately torpedoed, a fact which
the German Admiralty has denied
Equally dramatic and scarcely
less formidable in its effect upor
the ultimate issues of the great wal
was the manner in which, within {
few months, the British and French
sea power had swept the German
merchant marine from the high seas
At the opening of the war, Germany
possessed over 100000 tons Of
shipping, and her far-extended for
eign trade was one of the most no.
table among her many industrial
and commercial successes. Such
was the predominance of the allied
fleet on the high seas, however
that, once war was declared, not {
merchant ship left either German
Or foreign ports, and those thai
were on the high seas made haste t.
intern themselves in the nearest
harbor of refuge.
And just here is the fitting place
to pay tribute to the great skill anc
daring with which the German
cruisers end armed liners carried or
, their depredations against allied
commerce during the first few
, months of the war-an enterpris,
, in which they were greatly aideC
/ by that elaborate system of secre
I service with which the Germans TO,
many years past have completed!
networked the world. 1t is neces
t sary here only to refer to such eX
PLOTS as those of the Emden,
Karlsruhe" Dresden" and 9th
ers, to show what few fast ship
in the hands of able seamen and of
ficers can do in working havoc anon,
the enemy's shipping on the hig
] seas.
1t is impossible within the limit
D of this review to,enter into any de
e tailed analysis of such engagement