New Britain herald., 1918-01-24
THE STORY OF SULTAN SELIM. Beach of Former German BattIe Cruiser Goeben Gives British Fleet
 A Chance in DaISlaneIles
{ SDTjn ohe11 Rer


 Springfield Republican,. The bleaching of\ the Sultan Selin1, formerly the. German battle cruiser Goeben, in the Dardane1les after strik- ing a mine, should mean the end ot that formida ble vessel, unless the British miss another opportunity. An injury making it necessary to beach her must have been serious; to effect repairs with British airplanes continu- ally dropping bombs should be dffi- cult. There is the further possibility
 that the British may be able to de- stroy the Sultan Selim completely by indirect plunging fire across the Galli-
 poll peninsula from their ships sta-
 toned miles away in the gulf of Saros. But this probably depends up-
 on whether the Turks or Germans, for the crew was no doubt under German
 control, beached the vessel on the Asatic or European side of the straits
 At the time of the first naval at tack on the Dardanelles it was found impossible, owing to the necessary an gle of fire, for the British fleet in the gulf of Saros to reach the forts on the European side, and the indirect attack had to be made on the opposite forts on the Asiatic side Therefore, unless the Sultan lies on the Asiatic side or unless the Brit ish have now available ships whose guns can be trained at a higher angle of elevation. the work of further de- struction must necessarily depend upon the airplanes rather than upon airplanes directing the fire of war ves- sels.
 Putting the Sultan out of action is an important achievement for the 1 British can withdraw from the Ned ] iterranean any battle cruisers which 1 they may have in that quarter and l be better prepared against a possib ble 1 German foray in the North sea. The l Sultan was much faster than any 1 dreadnought in the Italian navy and ] might have created an awkward situ- 1 atlon, particularly if a campaign had ! been pressed from Salonica depending [ and munitions
 1 If the view of some British naval critics is accepted the Sultan, in spite 1 of her possibly inglorious end, has ] actually contributed more to the
 course of the war than any other one I ship. These critics take the view l that when the first naval 1emonstra- ] tion was made early in 1915 at the I Dardanelles, it would have been en- l tlrely possible for the British and 1 French to push through the straits 1 into the of Marmora with their ! old style predreadnaught battleships
 of which they could afford to lose a l considera ble number. But the ques- l ton would then have arisen as to what l service the ships thus put through could perform and how long they ! could last. The Sultan, which had l had dramatic escape from the Brit ' ish fleet under Admiral Trowbridge in 1 August. 1914, immediately following l the outbreak of the war, was then ' lying at Constantinople. With her 1 heavier ba ttery and greater speed she l could have chosen her range and 1 alone been a match for three or four
 of the old style British and French { vessels, which, but for her might | have commanded the sea of Marmora
 and the railroad communica tions to
 the forts on either side of the Dar- l danelles and have threatened Con- 1 stantinop1e itself. But it has been 1 declared that, owing to the Sultans | superiority, the British admiralty l came to the conclusion that it would I not be worth while to lose a consid- 1 erable nunber of old style battleships
 in forcing the straits only also to lose
 with no less certainty. and no more l profit, those that succeeded in get l ting through.
 If this hypothesis is accepted it is { easy to go a step farther and con- | ceive of the Sultan Selim as having saved the Turkish empire and the central powers from disaster in 1915. But in view of the published dis
 patches between Admiral Garden who
 commanded the British fleet at the l Dardanel1es and the British admiralty
 in London, it is a theory which must
 still be regarded with considerable
 skepticism. Possibly there remain un-
 published dispatches which would H.
 illuminate the matter. At all events
 the question is one of the thousands
 which the war will furnish as battle 1 ground of speculation for future hls- 1 torians.