New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-23

Englsnd's huge navy Of cruisers WAS J."
valuable to her in destroying the 'er"an
SQUADRON, at sea, and yet it cannot be den'e'
that the Germans have got the better OF ner
az tim., Thus they had~t Kiao-Chau, Vheh
the war began, seven or eight cruisers SUM-
large about II 900 tons), others Ike inc n"-
den. Of about $500 tons. These vessels tney
very shrcwdly scattered far and wide. Inc
Emdcn made a sensational cruise, destroying
number of vessels in the Indian ocean, u"-
ill she was sunk by the Sydney, consider
ably larger Australian cruiser. FIVE OF these
vessels, under Won Spec, including the TWO
largest ships, crossed to the Chilean coast
and there, in the battle Of Coronel, met An
inferior English squadron, inferior in mum
her. and especially in quality OF guns. vi
the English ships, the two largest were sunk
with all hands; the smallest one, which was
Of considerable speed, escaped. The German
ships were uninjured. But Won spec, ho'
having any home port to go to for supplies
and not being able to get enough even
through the untiring Germans, who, the worid
over. defied and still violate all laws OF neu-
trality to help their country, started ior the
Atlantic, possibly with the idea OF capturing
the Falkland Islands, one Of the British coai-
ing stations in the South Pacific, OF the coast
Of Patagonia But here the English did the
HIST niece. Of naval work they have so far
done in this war. The Germans mad SUNK inc
English squadron of Chile on November l.
1914; within twenty-four hours after the
news arrived in England, it is said, Admirai
Sturdee left for the Falkland Islands, seven
thougand or more miles away, with power
full feet of cruisers. He arrived there on
December 7; Won Spec came on Port Stanley
in I'll. morning Of the Sth, and by night all the
German ships but one had been sunk, ana
she. a smaller vessel, fed to the Island OF
Juan Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe's island).
Battle Cruisers in Action
Again it was the larger, more powerful
vessels that won the fight. If at the battle
Of Coronel the German guns were better than
the English, at the Falklands it was the otner
way around But what wish to emphasize
is that the English brought into action two
battle-cruiscrs, the Invincble and the inhexi-
bic (the latter was here few years ago ana
wa a seven days wonder, vessels OF H.
$50 tons carrying eight 12-inch guns in tur-
rets, and sixteen 4-inch guns. with an armor
lelt of seven and a fraction inches and with
speed Of 20 knots. Against these ships, which
had steamed thousands of miles for this one
purpose, the two larger German ships, armed
with very modern S-inch guns, had no
nossible chance Of success, assuming that the
English gunncry was good, and apparently II
wa. II was a chase. for von Spec tried to
pc. away. and the range at first was great.
The fight lasted all day. from 10 a. m TO '
y. m. Gin December in those ATTITUDES, 1t VIII
be remembered, the days are like our June
days), and the German squadron was no
more. As I have said, two OF the Engish
ships were batttle-crusers, and this hght a.
we'll as another action between English and
German battle cruisers in the North Sea,
in January, 1915 (the Dogger Bank light, set
our naval experts to thinking a great dea'
more than ever about this class OF ship. A
battle-cruiser is nothing more or less than
very large armored cruiser, with as large a
battery of big guns and as heavy arnor pro-
lection as it is possible to put on snip ana
vet have her show great speed. For gun
power and speed are the. main essentials.
Coming now again to our own navy. have
PREVIOUSLY referred TO a number OF the crul-
sers in the new navy, some still in commits
sion. some already gone to the Junh-heap.
Nearly all Of those built during the first ten
wears were small ships, without any armor
protection at all. They had protec-