Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-12-19

States Navy and all our old line battle
ships now Noting at our navy yards
| could not have caught Won Spec S
squadron except by forming a Gordon
around it and starving it out of coal.
] For once Won Spec saw the American
navy approaching him, his speed. SUI
I perior to anything we have of equal
gun power. would make his flight Sc
| cure He could run away and continue
| his raiding.
Britain Had Battle Cruisers.
| But the British had what the United
States Iacks-battle cruisers with more
gun power and more speed than the
| Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst
AS Won Specs were only armed cruis-
| ers, the admiralty did not have to
send it's best battle cruisers. 1t sent
| those of the second class, which We're
the Invincible and Infiexible These
were old relatively, laid down in 1909
| 10. five years ago. the first British bat
| tie cruisers, and We have not laid
down any yet. They had twenty-six
| knots against the Germans twenty
| Won Specs Fights.
| What Admiral Sturdee whom the ad-
| miraity sent to look after this i'm
portant task on the side lines. did to
Won Spec was precisely what Won Spec
did to Cradock. When the British
came in sight of Won Spec he could not
set away with his inferior speed and
he had to fight: Sturdee's superior
whenever the Germans came within
reach of him he stood off little
farther, while he kept up his blast of
, twelve-inch shells. and the Germans
eight-inch fell short.
English Out of Range.
Practically. the Germans might as
.-a11 at,
pos!te direction. Their desperate cour-
age and persistence in going down with
colors flying was in keeping with that
of Cradoci.t but it served to end
| Chastity carnage and destruction reigaed
in the Gneisenau and Scharn horst,
while the lnfiexible and Invinci-
BILE were steaming along almost as
comfortably as at battle practice, for
shell that falls 100 yards short is as
| futile as one that falls 5000. and three
knots are enough to enable you to
hang on to your enemy until you have
finished him. AS fit for action when
the battle was over when it began,
the lnvincible and InffeXible steamed
back home across the Atlantic that was
freed from the threat to shipping which
had laid pail of apprehension over
every skipper following the seas from
Labrador to the Straits of Magellan
all because they had speed and gun
power and range.
But behind tine guns of Helgoland,
in the lair of the German navy. were
the battle cruisers seydltz, Moltke,
Won der Tam and Derff1in GER they
had at least twenty-eight knots speed
to Sturdee's twenty-six knots, and
they could have forced battle against
Sturdee on the high seas in the same
way that Sturdee forced it upon Won
Spec These were the latest types of
German battle cruisers, and set
against them We're the latest types of
British battle cruisers, like the Lion.
Tiger and Queen Mary. Sir John
to go after Won Spec. He needed them
in the North sea to watch the Moltke
herd. And if he had not had the In
vincible and Inflexible class he would
raiding British commerce or left the
coast of England open to raids by the
Moltkes.
Raid of English Coast.
For on the morning of November
4, 1914, some ships of the German fast
battle cruiser squadron appeared in
the thick fog off the east coast of
England, between East and West Har-
tlepool, Scarborough and ,Whitby
Without any warning, they sent out
broadside after broadside into these
towns They had come far from their
base overnight, relying on their gun
power, speed and the fog to escape
any scouts or light cruisers that might
see them. knowing that no dread
naughts could overtake them, and that
the only force that could trip them
was the British battle cruisers of
their own class.
If the United States Navy, which has
no battle cruisers, had been defending
English seaports, the Germans might
have played this trick UP and down
the coast at will. as they could today
up and down the Atlantic coast if we
were at war with Germany.
But the German battle cruiser squad
ron did not tarry long on the English
coast. They knew that the instant
their presence was known the British
battle cruiser squadron, with more
gun power and slightly better speed,
would be running between them and
their home base. They could not get
away from the British, and they would
have to fight against odds, as Won
Spec had at Falklands. The art CT
any kind of warfare is getting there
first with the strongest force and
holding the other fellow under your
blows until you have beaten him.
Warned of German Approach.
After having killed and wounded more
than 200 women and children and de-
stroyed a great deal of property. the
Germans managed to slip past the Brit
Iish battle cruiser squadron through the
fog back to Kiel
The morning of the cath Of January
the German battle cruiser squadron,
under Hyper. came out again. Hipper
had with him, of course. some light cruis-
ers, which lack, and fotilla of de-
stroyers, in which are woefuily de-
fcient They guarded his TANKS, they
protected the superior gun fire and the
range of his battle cruisers from sur
prise.
But the British battle cruiser squadron.
under Vice Admiral David Beatty, also
put to about the same~time 1t had
news of the Germans coming, perhaps
secret service news from kieL Not the
least important part of preparedness is
intelligence of your enemy's movements.
II the news did not come from kiel,
, Beatty got it from the light cruisers and
destroyers scouting in the North sea.
which flashed their wireless MESA ges
back to Sir John Jellicoe.