Arizona republican., 1916-07-30
NAVAL
OPERATIONS Of
GERMAN EMP IRE

BERLIN (Via London) July 20
Captain Persius the naval critic of
The Berliner Tageblatt. has written
the following review of naval opera
tons during the second wear of the
war from the German viewpoint, for
the Associated Press:
1T seemed likely thai the second
year of the war would end without
a sea fight of the first magnitude.
hut May 81 brought a gratifying proof
that our great battleships We're not
built in vain and that our fleet. de-
spite seeming Inactivity was quietly
and asSiduously preparing itself for a
blow against the strongest sea power
in TIE world. We still hear the ques-
ton asked as TO who was the real
victor in the fight off Skagerrak. A .
comparison of the clear, concise re-
ports of the German admiralty staff |
with Admiral Jellicoe's long winde1 /
reports which contain only a few |
facts, leaves no doubt that the Ger
man official account gives Il thor |
ouShly truthful description of the |
battle. The English version. with its
harrenness of facts. labors in vain to
conceal its improbability.
Whatever the final judgment is of
the battle in detail the loss of British
prestige at SEA ard the pronounced
success OF our fleet remain indisput-
able if only the British losses in men
and ships are counted. The waves
of the North sea swallowed 6.10i
British seamen and 117,11e gross reg
istered tons of shipping. while the
German losses were 2414 men and
e0270 tens. These figures were Of
ficiallY published on both the German
and British sides.
"Numherless authorities. both hos
lie and neutral. have expressed
opinions on the battle. but the Ger
man people will not permit them
selves to be influenced by any foreign
Judgment. They understand alone
| low proud they may be of Il navy
whose quality and honor have stood
the test Of battle with the strongest
/ sea powers. They know that Chan
cellor Won Bethman- Hollweg. rightly
/ expressed the general sentiment in
/ his speech in the Reichstag on June
/ 8. when he said: This victory too
shall not make rs vainglorious. We
snow that England is not subdued or
conquered ny this battle
| Beside the battle of the Skager-
rak, The other events of the second
year Of the war. navally speaking.
PALE into irsisnificance. In the first
year, the activity of German subma-
riras aroused general astonishment.
In the second wear their activity was
sharply circu-lscrited. but neverthe-
less. the successes IN war upor COM
merce We're considerable in COMPARE
son with those of the first year.
ON the other hand, the destruc-
tion IF warships by submarines oc-
CURED but seldom. The U-27 de-
stroyed an FIglish protected cruiser
n the North sea on August 10. 1915.
Another of our boats sank the French
armorod cruiser Admiral Charnier in
the eastern Mediterranean on Fe5ru-
airy s. 1916. A number of minor war
vessels also were sunk.
English submarines did some dam
age to German commerce in the Bal
tic and succeeded in tcrpedolng sew
eral " cur warshipa like the armored
cruiser Prince Adelbert. October %:
Undine. November Z and Bremen. De
cember II.
Special m ant'on is merited by the
bold flights of our marine aircraft
ard their important scout work in
the North sea and Baltic Attacks
were made against fortified places or
Englard's coast and the English we're
able to destroy TWO airships. No. 1,
on April / and No 7 on Nav & With
IN Il few hours our airships are abb,
to reconnoiter the entire North SCI
and they did valuable service in tn,
battle off Skagerrak. Marine aero
planes also did excellent work ant
especially distinguished themselves o,
the Baltic. whore they were Of thu
utmost value in various ways. OF
j several occasions. they were abb
. even to take the offensive with sue
cess, damaging warships with bomb
: and capturing merchantmen
i ~ the Ffilrk and tho MadttaY.
4 ranean. German submarines. working
with those of Austria Hungary, op
Grated successfully in war agains
commerce and destroyed numerou
! transports laden with troops and wa
! material. In the Black sea the Yaw
use Sultan Selim. formerly the Ger
man cruiser Goeben ard the Midi
formerly the German cruiser Breslat
homharded Russian fortified towns O
/ the Crimean coast at various time
4 and damaged Russian commerce
The glorious deeds Of severa
German auxiliary cruisers remain (
be mentioned The Woewe under tn
command of Count Won Donna. mad
a successful raid into the Atlantic /
4 January and February The Appau
one of the steamers cartured by i
carrying the passengers and crew {
other captured merchantmen to tn
'nlted states urder the command T
4 Lieutenant Berg The Woewe her
4 self made her home port safely o
a March 4. laden with booty
The auxiliary cruiser Meteor an
2 Greif destroyed on August ard Feh
ruary 80 respectively the niue
: stronger armed British auxiliarie
Ramsay and Alcantara.
ON the threshold of the third yea
Il Of the war, it remains to be pointe
1 out that the German navy has hitr
erto fulfilled its chief task of ,ocepin
/ he enemy from German coasts an
/ beyond this. has scored a series
l successes that have exceeded oil
most sanguine expectations. The Gel
! man people do not ignore the IA
l That the British sea power still don
/ mates the seas, but nevertheless the
look with confidence upon the
1 navy. They expect 1t to show itse
l aole and willing to victories in IL
third year of the war as it has dor
hitherto. and thus contribute its pa
toward the general aim of securir
hnr hi