New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-25
Biggest Naval Fight of
War, Says Expert


Of "The Daily News says;
yesterdays fgi. was by far the
biggest Of the war, and its results
even If none Of the enemy's light craft
was accounted for, were certainly not
the least important. Once again the
battle cruiser as type has distin-
guished itself, and with IL Nice-Ad-
miral Sir David Beatty, who thus for
the second time has made magnificent
use OF the splendid vessels under his
command. The fight must have been
a terrific one owing to the t-ormous
size, power anu speed OF the vessels
engaged. No action between Dread
noughts has ever been fought before,
and while W may regret that our sue
cess, measured by the ships sunk. was
not greater, 10 must be admitted we
came out of IL exceedingly well.
although the full story is not yet
available Of what happened, 1t would
seem TO be fairly obvious tia The Ger
mans we're coming over with the IN
tention presumably Of boz bardng
more II defended towns. As soon as
they sighted force capable of giving
. them battle :hey made of. The
4 Bluecher was three knots slower than
her consorts. and instead Of staying 10
protect her the bigger vessels made of
and left her TO her fate Strictly
,4peaking, il was the proper thing 10
Il do. for had the Dc-fiing~r, the Seyd-
litz and the Moltke remained 20 help
her they would most sssuredly have
shared her fate.
Saved by the Bluecher.
as 10 was, the sacrifice % the
Bluecher probably saved them, allow
ing them 10 make off while the British
ships were settling her account, but
even II this vessel was left 10 the
slower British ships while the twenty
eight knotters kept up the pursuit Of
the others the result would probably
have been the same, since there Is
little 20 choose IN speed between the
first three ships in either Of the lists.
Nearly four hours elapsed before the
Bluecher was accounted for. 10 may
At first seem an unduly long interval,
but il represents a distance Of less
than thirteen miles, the four hours
difference between a % and a @S-knOt
ship. Further, Admiral Beatty. conf
dent OF being able TO infict serious
loss upon the enemy, probably pursued
tho same tactics as Admiral Sturdce
at the Falklands, keeping the range to
the furthcst possible extreme. so a. TO
be able TO take the fullest advantage
of the superior calibre and ranging
power Of his guns and render the Ger
mans correspondingly ineffective.
How sound this policy was is shown
by the casualty list. The Lion. being
the flagship, wss naturally the leading
pursuing vessel, yet though exposed TO
The heaviest fire, she lost nv more than
eleven wounded.
"The Bluccher was The largest OF all
and the newest srmored vessel yet lost
,n the war. All her main ar has
n thickness Of six inches. She Is es-
+inated 70 have cost 81 100000. She IL
the fifth German armored cruiser 20
be sent 70 the bottom, and OF this type
the enemy has now left only four out
OF the nine with which she began the
war. -Four out q the five that were
sunk were the newest Of the lot, hav-
ing been launched between 1904 and
Heavy Firing Heard.
"The Daily Chronicles" naval cor
Of the German squadron was another
raid on the English coast and but foi
the British navy's preparedness there
would have been a bombardment STINT
lar 70 that a. Scarborough. The Ad-
mirslty have not announced where the
British and German squadrons met, but
the "Chronicle" expert points out that
heavy firing was heard OF the Dutch
Frieslsnd Islands Of Amolsnd and
Schiermonunikoog. which are the east
ernmost OF the series, the last named
being within thirty miles Of Wescr.
"Once more" says the Chronicle,
"the striking power Of the gun, linked
with the speed of the hounds Of the
sea. proved its vital value. IL IS the
Gun and not the submarine that rs still
queen of the battle. Our new battle
cruisers are credited with a speed Of
knots, except that the IN
and New Zealand cannot 90
more than twenty-five knots. These
are probably extreme speeds. The two
new German battle-cruisers have prob
ably the same speed as ours, but the
Bluchor is slower, and probably reduced
Inc speed OF the squadron.
at is never good policy TO link an
inferior and slower ship with others
mucb superior. and the Butcher was
inferior 10 the other German ships, and
10 Hny one Of our own. One wonders
O,hv The Won der Tam was not there
.nstead, but there Is some uncertainty
as 10 her Whereabouts
"The Morning POST describes the