Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-29
LESSONS OF sKAeERRAcK.


Admiral George Dewey, hero or
Manila bay and president OF the gem
eral board of the United States navy
writes as follows on the lessons 10 Dc
drawn from the great naval oa''le
fought recently between BRUSH anu
German fleets in the North sea:
."The battle of Skagerrack seems 10
have justified the position which mas
long been taken by the experts OF the
General board of the American navy
a position which has met the approval
of most American authorities ana
which has been crystallized into the
program which America has 1oilo"e"'
The general board has recommended
for fifteen years that the unl'eo
States continue the policy of placing
its chief reliance in big ships. Since
the dreadnaught came into being II
mas maintained that that vessel shou'a
he made the backbone Of the fleet. II
appropriations were sufficient 10 pro-
vide but one class of ships, the sener-
al board has insisted that they De
dreadnaughts.
There Is a constant tendency on the
part OF the public to go on at
tangent in it's enthusiasm for the
class of ship that at given time IS
attracting wide attention. Last fall,
for instance. the public clamored TOR
manv submarines and favored dis
regarding appropriations for dread
naughts or battle cruisers. Later the
battle cruiser has been attracting
much attention to itself because the
incidental clashes of the present war
have been battles between scout
ships. So the clamor this spring has
been very largely for battle cruisers.
1.-THE dreadnaught has attracted
very little attention because she has
not heretofore been in the fighting
The public did not see that the very
existence of British dreadnaughts in
the North sea resulted in the bottllns
up of all Germany. 1t did not
generally realize that the battlesh1p
was performing its purpose without
the necessity of fighting. The present
clash, however, demonstrates that in
the final issue it is the dreadnaught
which means victory or defeat.
"This battle seems also to have
proven the value of that other branch
of the fighting fleet which has been
given most attention in the American
navy, the destroyer. The many
opportunities for usefulness and the
great possibilities of execution which
rest with these little ships seems to
have been demonstrated. The battle
of Skagerrack seems to have shown
that the United States has chosen
wisely in selecting the units upon
which she would depend in making
feet from appropriations that made
1t impossible to have all the units
desired.
1.-THE usefulness of the battle cruiser
or the scout cruiser has not been dis
proven, but the individuality of de-
pending upon fast lightly-armored
vessels in a clash in which dread
naughts are engaged is shown. The
cruiser is a necessity in any modern
feet unless that feet is willing TO
grant certain advantages to its rivals
which are provided with these fast
ships. The theory that time would
come when they would displace dread
nauehts must, however, in the face
of the new facts, be given over.
"The battle of Skagerrack teaches
less Of the value of guns of various
calibers thans Of most of the vital
problems Of the navy. All the fighting
was close in. The craftsmanship was,
therefore, not very e1acting. The
test on the guns was not great. Any
gun and almost any gunner ought to
Be able to make hits at six miles.
The advantage attributed to British
guns and gunners had little oppor-
tunity to demonstrate itself. Like
wise area the results in ships sunk
by the British cruisers and dread
naughts still unknown The dead
illness of the great British 15-inch gun
cannot yet be said to have been
determined" .# &