Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-07
Is a Big Sea Fight at Hand?

may take place any day and at ony hour"
Because of its authorship, this is weighty
well as interesting statement: 1t is credited TO
Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord of the British Ad-
miralty. AS 10 the facts limitations from
which his inference is drawn, nothing is said. 1t
is unlikely, however, that taciturn sailor
would speak at random.
Apart from what anyone outside official Ger
many may know or not know regarding the plans
OF the Kaisers fleet. the present drift of the
makes it broadly PROBABLE that the great armada
which through eighteen eventful months has been
moored in fdleness Kiel will burst from its fast
ness and fling desperate challenge for the Teuton
cause. The fury and sacrifice of the drive for Yer
dun have revealed the workings of the German
mind, which realizes that at any hazard and any
cost something must be done TO break the deadlock
and loosen the slowly strangling grip of the Allies
Brave and brilliant though il has been, the
drive for Verdun apparently has reached its height
and is ebbing, with no decisive or very sub
stantiaI result. The opening Paris is no nearer
than before. After weeks of experimental assaults
along a great part of the western front, the Ger
mans finally detected the most vulnerable spot
the enemy's lines; and having done so. they
tered their utmost strength for blow meant to
be overwhelming. They hurled munitions and men.
needless of the sacrifice. They forced the biggest
battle of the perhaps, the biggest of all his
tory. But the enemy stands unbroken.- Such an
offensive having failed what hope has the German
army that any it may undertake will succeed?
When Germany abandons her aggressive role
and falls into posture of defense she is beaten
not Immediately. but ultimately. She may hold her
side of the western front as stifhy as the French
and British have held theirs; indeed, the meager
gains of the Verdun adventure suggest that the
Allies will have almost insuperable task in dis
lodging the Germans And if both sides were
equally matched in reserve sinew the deadlock
might continue intermnably But just here lies
the fatal weakness of the German defensive. In
contest of endurance the odds are inexorably with
the Allies. They have more money. more men,
more resources of every kind. They have unchal-
lenged control of the seas mightiest of all weapons
in the conflict Under these conditions the leu
will be in state of siege when they cease to
attack; and nation under siege, with hope of
relief from without must surrender or late if
the surrounding enemy has the greater staying
power.
No one realizes the situation more clearly than
the German leaders themselves, whose entire plan
of based upon the assumption of a speedy
dash to Paris and swift. staggering blow to Rus
sia. The Kaiser knows how prolonged war in
which his forces are on the defensive will end.
What more likely. then, than that he will send
forth his feet for final throw with fortune?
Desperate needs call for desperate hazards The
German navy is outnumbered almost hopelessy.
It's chance is, perhaps one in a hundred, or less.
It's discretion in clingng Kiel thus far has been
the better part of vaor- But chance can be left
untried in such a crisis as Germany faces.
II is not improbable. moreover that sentiment
within the Empire demands action by the feet
The Teutons are feeling the British blockade more
and more keenIy. They reflect. perhaps, that the
navy which they built at so great cost and in
which heretofore they have taken such pride
should do than lie quietly at anchor while the
Fatherland is bent gradually to defeat. This
sentiment together with the practical certainty
that the German navy will be lost anyway if the
Allies are victorious land, may lead quite natur-
ally to the sea fight which Lord Fisher expects
Germany's position is that she won't attack