The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-08-02

gether new navy, designed on new
principles (Which they describe only
in vaguest terms), specially to carry
out this operation. Others would be
content for the grand fleet to take
one the job.
Leaving the Baltic out of consider
alton for the time being, the German
coast consists Of two sides of tri-
angle lying behind the island of He'll
goland and bounded on the southwest
by the island of Borkum and on the
northeast by approximately the is
land of Sylt. From Borkum to He'll
goland is sixty miles, and from He'll
goland to Sylt another fifty; and be-
hind this short and easily defended
line are the war ports of Emden.
Wilhelmshaven, Bremen, Cuxhaven
and Brunsbuttel, which is the North
sea outlet of the Kie1 Canal.
The whole Blight Of Heligoland is
thickly mined, and the chances are
that the passages through the mine-
fields are known only to the Ger
mans. The first movement in any
digging attempt on our part
would be to remove the mines, for
which purpose we should presum-
l'ably send in the usual mine-sweepers.
The Germans would promptly send
| out their destroyers to get rid of
them, and as the sweepers are not
built to fight, we should send in our
destroyers to protect them. The Ger
mans would then send light cruisers
to deal with our destroyers, where
upon, of course, in go our light cruis-
ers. This game of beggar-my- gh-
Dor would go on until the Germans
sent out their battleships-not, be it
Remembered out into the open, but
only far enough through the mime
fields for their guns to be able to
drive off the force detailed to pro-
/ tect our miRe-sweepers, (.
| What do we do to counter the Ger
man battleships? Do we send in our
own to steam to and fro along the
edge Of the enemy's mine-field, and
within fifty miles of his submarine
bases? It does not sound very feas-
ible, and do not imagine there lives
| a naval officer sufficiently bare
Drained to play such a game with the
4force upon which civilization is de-
pending for the defeat of Germany.
| It is true that on more than one oc-
4 casion q powerful German cruiser
force has raced across the North Sea,
fired a few shells into Scarborough,
Lowestoft, or Yarmouth, and return
ed without suffering any loss from
OdE SQDItldIluSS vi IuluSSsl DuEh luis
l'stip-and-rhn' sort of excursion is a
vastly different business from settling
down to remove from the enemy's
coast a mine-field OF some hundreds
OF square miles in extent, subject to
1.-THE constant attack of ships of all
| descriptions, and, in all probability,
with the enemy's submarines laying
fresh mines as fast as the old ones
are trawled up.
Suppose the seemingly Impossible
happened, and that in due course
and after paying the due price-the
mine-fields were removed. The next
! thing is to get at the German fleet
and destroy it, and the German fleet,
naturally enough, does not want to fbe
4 DESTROYED. 1t therefore remains
within the shelter Of the coastal for
i tifications.
When you speak of a German ma
val base hope you never get into
tyour minds eye picture of place
like Scarborough or Blackpool or
Yarmouth, dumped down on the edge
OF the sea. Those who know the posi-
ton of our own dockyard at Catham
Will be able 70 form a pretty accur-
ate picture OF such German bases al
Wilheimshaven, Bremen, Brunsbut-
tel. and Kie1 To reach Chatham
from the sea you have first to steam
Ehp the Thames Estuary as far as the
More and from there you have te
make Uour way for some miles before
). sighting the dockyard. That is this
German principle, with the added
fact that her whole coast is defended
tby concealed guns of the most pow.
j erful type, and with subterranear
and submarine torpedo-stations from
which dirigible torpedoes can be
launched against any ship in the fair.
. way.
Brunsbuttel and the Kiel Canal ex.
It, for instance, lie about 10000 yards
+ (17 miles) beyond Cuxhaven up the
Elbe. The guns of Cuxhaven have 8
Z reach Of $4,000 yards seaword, an6
i the navigable channel from thai
place up the river is nowhere more
: than a thousand yards in width, Will
} every inch Of it dominated by heavy
Iguns.
One has only to recall the Dardan
i Giles fiasco to imagine within a little
{ what a naval attempt to force tn,
lower reaches of the Elbe would b.
> like. The Dardanelles was defended
on the German systen-with heavy
Krupp guns in concealed position.
: and with visible stations ashore
; from which torpedoes can be fire{
and guided towards their quarry
: while drifting mines thrown into tn,
current can at any moment face tn,
! attacking ships with, perhaps, tn,
t greatest peril OF all. The Allies los
six battleships, sunk in the Dardan
t Giles operations; but this is wha
, happened on one day March 18th
> 1879 when the fleet tried to fore
; its way through. the details bein,
: taken from Mr.. Walter Rocf,s mem
> orandum In the first report of. thu
u Dardanel1es Commission:
: Irresistible, British battleship O
!, $4,000 tons, sunk.
81 Ocean, British battleshfp of 1895,
: tons, sunk.
Bouvet, French battleship of IL.
e S43 tons, sunk, with nearly the Who'll,
4 ofe Ter crew.
Inflexible, British battle cruiser o
I17,25O tons, badly damaged
al Gaulois. French battleship of IL.
r 0SS tons, badly damaged, and had t,
: be run ashore.
e Suffren French ,battleship of r.,
: SIS tons, badly damaged, and had t,
8 be locked
In addition to these the French
Q battleship Charlemagne had he
stokehold flooded, and three othe
Y British ships were more or les
t knocked about; the Albion, for in
: stance, having her fore-turret put on