New Britain herald., 1918-03-11
FOE
 OF DEWEY, IS DEAD
German Admiral Attempted to
 Interfere at Manila

Amsterdam, March 11.--Admiral
 von Diederichs, whose disregard of
 the rules of warfare at the battle of
 Manila Bay earned for him a rebuke
 from the late Admiral George Dewey.
 which formed one of the most thrill
 ing episodes in American naval his
 tory, died yesterday at Baden Baden.
 He was the commander of the Ger
 man squadron in the Philippine har-
 bor when Dewey fought and won his memorable battle. Carrying with him to private life the personal congratu- lations of the kaiser for his services, Won Diederichs resigned in 1902 as chief of staff of the German navy He had been in ill health for long time.
 Only two months before he died Admiral Dewey told United States Senator William Alden Smith that he recently had come into possession or facts which established irrefutably that Won Diederich's presence with a German squadron in the harbor or Manila Bay in May, 1898, was for the purpose of assuming control or the islands as governor, and that when the Spanish-American war was de- clared Germany and Spain had com pleted negotiations for the acqulsl- ton of the Philippines by the kaiser's government. Until he received that positive information Admiral Dewey told Senator Smith he never had been certain regarding the underlying cause for the studied insult to Amer ican officers and disregard of the American blockade regulations of fered by Won Diederichs and his off, cers.
 The unpleasantness between Ad- miraI Dewey and the German com arose almost at the moment Dewey's squadron swept into Manila Bay prepared for the fight which brought the Philippines under Amer ican sovereignty. Immediately upon his arrival there Admiral Dewey an- his determination that, in ac- cordance with the established rules of naval warfare, warships of neutral powers entering the bay should report to the Americans. Tn this contention he was upheld by the British naval commander. The Germans, however, consistently sought to evade the regu- 1ation.
 Fired Shot Across Bow.
 The culminating incident at Manila that brought the German commander to understand the extent to which Admiral Dewey was prepared to go in his order was the firing of a shot across the bows of the German warship Cormoran, when the com mander of that craft persisted in ig- norng the order of one of the Amer ican ship commanders to comply with DeWey's regulation.
 In his auto biography, which pro- duced a storm of German criticism and denial when it was published in 1914, Admiral Dewey described that incident as follows:
 "Vice-Admiral von Diederichs was When later the Cor m moran, which was an old offender, was sighted coming up the bay, Flag Brumby was sent to make sure that she stopped to report, in keeping with the customs of other for eign men of war. When the Cor moran saw the McCulloch approach ing she turned and steamed toward the northern part of the bay, compell- ing the McCuIloch to follow. Brumby first hoisted the international signal, I wish to communicated No attention was paid to this by the Corm oran. Then Brumby fired shot across her bows which had the desired effect.
 "On the following day Vice Admir- al von Diederichs sent az capable, tactful young officer of the staff to me with a memorandum of griey- ances. When I heard them through I made the most of the occasion by using him as a third person to state and firmly my attitude In 6 verbal message which he conveyed to his superior so successful that Vice Von Diederichs was able to my point of view. There l was no further interference with the | blockade or breach of the etiquette l which had been established by the | common consent of the other foreign | commanders"
 Placed Blame On Dewey.
 Von Diederichs placed the blame for the clash on Admiral Dewey, and intimated it never would have Oc- cured had Dewey protested officially about the trivial incident as tho German commander persisted in re- ferring to it. That Dewey did not re- gard it as a trivial incident was made plain in the urgent messages he sent to the State and Navy departments in the days immediately following the winning of the most decisive recent engagem ent In which American ships had taken part. Instead, with the Spanish fleet reduced entirely; with no resistance being offered by the Spanish shore batteries, and with the British fleet commander on terms of intimate friendship with Dewey, the American naval hero was pleading for the quick sending to him of adii- tonal ships and ammunition to take the place of his depleted battle sup
 plies, because, he stated plainly, he stood in fear of being attacked "by a superior force" There was only one superior force in Philippine waters then from which Dewey might have expected attack. and that was the German squadron
 The German finger was wigglinF about in the Dewey battle plans from