The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-21
GERMAN NAVAL MAN
 GIVES REV|E W OF
 WAR ON THE SEAS
Captain Persins Thinks That Teutons Have Done We'll in Two Years of the
 Great Conflict

Berlin. August 20-Captain Persius the naval critic of the Berlner Tageblatt
 has written the following review Of na- val operations during the second year oi the war, from the German viewpoint for the Associated Press
 Tt seemed likely that the second year
 of the war would end without a sea
 fight of the first magnitude, but May
 31 brought a gratifying proof that our
 great battleships were not built in vain
 and that our fleet, despite seeming l9-
 activity. was quietly and assduously
 preparing itself for a blow against the
 strongest sea power in the world we
 still hear the question asked as to who
 was the real victor in the fight OH
 Skagerrak A comparison Of the clear
 concise reports of the German admiralty
 staff with Admiral Jellicoes long-wlnded
 reports, which contain only few facts'
 leaves no doubt that the German offl-
 cial account gives a thoroughly truth
 ful description of the battle. The Eng
 fish version, with its barrenness Of facts
 labors in vain to conceal it's lmpropapli- ity.
 Whatever the final judgment is of the battle in detail the loss of British pres tjge at sea and the pronounced success
 of our fleet remain indisputable If only the British losses in men and ships are considered The waves of the North sea swallowed 6104 British seamen and Ill.,
 150 gross registered tons of shipping while the German losses were 2414 men and 60.- 72n tons These figures were officially pL Lblished on both the German and Brit
 sh sides
 "Numberless authorities, both hostile and neutral have expressed opinions on
 the battle but the German people Will not
 permit themselves to be influenced by ary foreign judgment. They understand
 alone how proud they may be of navy
 whose quality and honor have stood the test of battle with the strongest sea power. They know that Chancellor Won |, Bethmann- Hollweg rightly expressed the general sentiment in his speech in the Reichstag on June D. when he said: rms victory, too. shall not make us vainglo- ricus We know that England is not sLbdued or conquered by this battle
 By the side of the battle of the SkaG- e,rak the other events n the second year of the war, navally speaking. pale into insignificance In the first year the ac- tivity of German submarines aroused
 general astonishment. In the second year their activity was sharply circum- scribed but nevertheless their successes in war upon commerce were consid-- able in comparison with those of the first year.
 FEW WARSHIPS DESTROYED "On the other hand, the destruction of warships by submarines occurred but seldom. The U-27 destroyed an English protected cruiser in the North sea on August 10, 1915. Another of our boats A,,,iro al Charnier in the eastern Mediterranean on February 8, 19l6 A number of minor war vessels were also sunk.
 English submarines did some damage to German commerce in the Baltic and
 succeeded in torpedoing several of our warships like the armored cruiser Prince Adalbert October 23: Undine, November | [, and Bremen, December IT.
 Special attention is merited by the bold flights of our marine aircraft and their importont scout work in the North sea and Baltic. Attacks were made against fortified places on England s east coast and the English were able to destroy only two German airships. No. 15 on April 1 and No. on May 4. Within few hours our airships were able to rec onnoitre the entire North sea anu they did valuable service in the battle off Skagerrak Marine aeroplanes also did
  guished themselves in the Baltic where | they were of the utmost value in various ways. On several occasions they were able even to take the offensive with suc- cess. damaging warships with bombs 1 and capturing merchantmen
 OTHER OPERATIONS | Tn the Black sea and the mediterra- | mean German submarines, working with these of Austria Hungary, operated sue | ccssfully in war against commerce and destroy ed numerous transports laden | with troops and war material In the ] Black sea the Yawuz Sultan Selim, for i merly the German cruiser Goeben, and the Midullu, formerly the German crui- ser Breslau bomharded Russian fortified . towns on the Crimean coast at various l times and damaged Russian commerce.
 The glorious deeds of several German