The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-08-03
THE BRITISH NAVY.
(By I'd. y. Keen.)


they lack imagination.
Just because Admiral Jellicoe in his
initial dispatch regarding the Jutland
fight didn't pin bouquets on himself
and the Grand Fleet, the First Lord
of the Admiralty failed to read be-
tween lines that the British had really
won the greatest naval battle since
Trafalgar.
But it was all there-and he had the
German wireless report as confirma-
ton. After detailing his losses to Jelli-
coe modestly observed that the enc
my returned to port" The Germans
had already told the world that on
May 81, during an enterprise directed
to the northward" the High Seas
Fleet had encountered the enemy, etc,
and that on the following day it ere.
turned into our ports" ",.s
Instead of featuring this one es-
sentinel fact, Balfour dolefully empha-
sized the great losses sustained by
the British. England went to bed that
night in blue funk, The Psychology
cal gloom was thick Bill Bowbells and
all his friends were convinced that
Jellicoe and Beatty had gotten the
worst Of it. More important still, the
neutral world had been similarly i'm
pressed. German Fleet Beats Brit
ish," Germans Win Great Sea Fight"
read the headlinessitedluaC kmtroalu
read the headlines in American news
papers over dispatches containing both
the British and German Admiralty
communicates. .-.
Even if the British losses had been
10 tIo Gxvy fNe,-
which they weren't, according to the
belated admissions of the German
Admiralty, news of the loss OF certain
ships having been withheld for mill
tary reasons"-it still would have been
a British victory in the opinion Of
most naval strategists in these parts.
Bill Bowbells isn't much OF a strate-
gist, but when he finally gathered that
the Germans had started out on an
enterprise" which they had to aban.
don in the face of the foe, and had
returned limping into their ports, he
'opined that perhaps Jellicoe hadn't
been licked after all. Arthur Balfour,
himself. some days after the fight, in
a public speech brought out quite
strongly this fact.
What a magnificent opportunity for
a real press agent! Why even fairly
competent cub reporter could have
written a more cheerful communique
without adding to or disturbing the
facts at hand,
A possible explanation is that Bal
four was so obsessed by previous pub
lie criticisms of the official proneness
to withhold unfavorable news, that he
determined in this case to let the
worst be known at once. u't.N &.
The unfavorable effect upon the pub
lie was immediate The next days
British papers were filed with bitter
comment and gloomy forebodings. The
navy had already failed properly to
protect the East Coast against suorad-
ic raids, and now when it had real
chance at the enemy it had suffered
disaster. There were loud calls for a
clean sweep Of the navy administra-
ton. Bring back "Jacky" Fisher! He'll
do the job right, etc.
Balfour and Bowbells-officialdom
press and public-in their contempla-
ton of the really heavy losses sus-
tanned by the British fleet not only
completely lost lost sight of the RE-
SUIT of this fight, what it meant for
the future security of the island king
dom as we'll as of the Empire and the
Allies generally; but they forgot en-
tirely what the navy has been doing
ever since the war started. Their per
spective on both future and past was
out of focus.
After all, the Jutland battle was but
an incident 1t was days work--a
hard day, that stnt thousands of brave
men to death and filled homes through
out England with widows and orphans
but it was merely part of the great
scheme.
The navy's really hardest work has
been mine sweeping and submarine
hunting, the former comparatively safe
but awfully monotonous, the latter
dangerous and at times thrilling. In
mine sweeping the navy has had the
valuable assistance of the coast fish
eTmen. AS to submarine hunting the
navy isn't saying much. The. "bag"
hasn't been announced, but any blue
Jacket would offer it as his opinion
that the decrease of the U-boat men
ace has been due to other things be-
sides diplomatic notes from Washing
ton. 1853
While the British Navy has been
it has been growing. The de-
tails of it's growth are not known to-
the writer. and if they were he would
Mt dare tell. He believes il has been
growing faster than the German navy.
taking the two nayies as they stood
at the beginning of the war, and al
lowing for the admitted losses on both
sides, the British Navy, according to-
the calculations of experts is relatively
more powerful today. In battleships
and battle cruisers of the Dreadnaught
era Quilt since 1904)-the ships that
really count in modern warfare-Ger-
many has lost 1875 per cent of her
while Britain has lost sc of
hers In light cruisers of the same
period Britain's loss has been only 5.2
per cent while Germany has been
weakened nearly As per cent. In YES
sells of the older type. Britains relative
loss has been heavier, chiefly on ac-I
count of the disastrous DardanellesI
venture, and partly because these typ
es being more easily spared have been
assigned to other dangerous enter
prises.
For two years now Britain has sue
cessfully defended her title as mistress