The Washington herald., 1916-07-30
Slow Speed Of Vessels Already
Built and Being Built Is
Fatal Mistake on Part Of
Naval Designers.

dldl NllStohS Oil dIl Ol
Naval Designers.
squadron only succeeded in hitting once
every seventy-fve minutes Had the
thirty-two l5-inch guns, the twenty -four
l3JS-inch guns, and the twenty-four L.
inch in the ships Of Sir David Beatty's
squadron that were not sunk in the bat
tie of Jutland shot we'll as Sir Dove
ton Sturdee's ships did at the Falklands,
they would have made hits enough to
have sunk ten or twelve German ships
It would seem. then. as II in the battle OF
JutlHnd naval gunnery had been OF L
quarter the efficiency that 1t reached at
the Falkland Islands. At the Falklands,
II reached one-sixtieth OF the efficiency
at the Ruhgi, and so | reach the calcula-
ton that startled you. and at Jutland
the guns made one hit and 249 misses
when under ideal conditions they would
have registered 80 hits.
30 Reelection on Gunners.
What / have said must not be SUD
posed TO reflect upon the skill and or
ganizatio of the gunnery officers. fire
control parties and gun layers Never
has the British fleet reached 80 high a
point Of perfection as It reached lust be-
fore this battle, and. for that matter, the
level Of the German gunnery was es-
tremely high also. gather that In al
most every case. the Germans found the
range more quickly than we did. and be-
gan firing their salvoes with eXtraordi-
nary accuracy and extraordinary rapidIty
But the German fire control ORGANIZATION
does not seem to be able to last very
long In no instance did | gather that
accuracy of fire was maintained There
is probably not mitch II any difference
between the fire control methods in use
in the British and German fleets. but
from the rapidity with which the Ger
mans got the initial range. it seems prob
able that they used a more accurate
range finder than ours"
How do you think the gunnery Of the
American fleet compares with that of the
British and Germans7' Cant discuss
that" said Mr., Pollen The data that
count are not available"
why did the German fleet come
out?" was my next question. Mr.
Pollens answer was practically the
same as that given me by one OF the
distinguished sailors whom | may not
quote. II we look at naval history"
said Mr.. Pollen, we find three rea-
sons why fleets come out and fight
when command of the sea Is being
exercised by their opponents The
first reason Is to dispute that COM
mand, which explains the sortie of the
French feet that resulted in the bat
tie OF June I. Or a feet may come
out to break down blockade main
tained by hostile feet, which ex-
plains the actions Of our wars with
the Dutch. Thirdly. fleets come out
to thwart military enterprises OF the
enemy or make military operations by
their own side possible. This desire
caused Nilleneuve to fight at Trafal-
gar.
Now. the German fleet did not come
out to dispute the command of the
sea. If it had. it would have fought
the action to a finish. The Germans
did not come ont to break the block
ade. since they were not accompanied
by any convoy of trading ships. and
made no effort either to meet tnCom-
ing ships or to put others upon their
journey. They certainly did not come
out to dispute with us the use of the
channel as means for sending
armies and supplies into France to at
tack Germany In other words. they
did not come out for any Of the three
reasons that have forced interior
fleets in previous wars to fight. why
then did they come out at all?
Germans Deserve Credit.
There is only one explanation 1t
had become absolutely necessary to the
German rulers to he able TO tell their
people that they had won a big victory
Tho whole fleet was rskcd on this single
venture for this single object Dlsas-
trous as the result has been to the Ger
man fleet 1t nevertheless must be re-
garded as an extremely Credtable per
fOrmanCe that they should have faced
the peril Of an encounter with a force
have got a large enough portion of their
fleet back into harbor to be able to
say truthfUlly that the English fleet had
not got results proportionate to its
strength. We know, Of course. that the
explanati ton Of this lies in the il-luCk
Of the mist coming down when II did
but the German fleet deserves great cred
it. As the majority Of the ships did
get back, the German government was
able to say that it had won a victory
and the mere saving of this undoubtedly
cheered the Germans up for a consider
able number Of weeks. There were. /
am sure, no other motive but this desire
to lay claim to victory behind the
sortie, and no other motive will ever
bring the German fleet out again.
Whether it can come out or not depends
upon the speed with which the Germans
can repair their ships and upon the
possibility of completing ships now un-
der construction. If the situation in
Germany gets desperate. the high seas
counter with the grand feet"