Omaha daily bee., 1918-11-21
NAVAL HOPES OF ,
HUNS BASED ON
LIES AND BLUFF
Capt. Persius, German Critic,
Says Teutons Never Had
a Chance in Sea Fight
With Allies.

London, Nov. 20.-(British Wire
less Service. captain Persius, the
German naval critic, publishes in the
Berlin Tageblatt an article contain
ing revelations regarding the Ger
man fleet. He says the hope that
the German fleet would be able n
a second Skagerrak battle to beat
the British. feet rested upon the
bluff and lies of the naval authori-
ties.
In August. 1914, Germany had
about 100000 tonnage in warshi; g.,
the writer points out, while Great
Britain had more than double til t,
quite superior to the German. In
the Skagerrak battle, he declares,
the German fleet was saved from
destruction partly by good leader
ship and partly by favorable weather
conditions. Asit was, the "~iosses
of the German feet were enormous.
and on June l,Aaptain Pcrsius says,
it was clear that the Skagerrak bat
tie must be the only general naval
engagement OF the war.
Tirpitz Was Obstinate.
On all sides, continues the writer,
Admiral Won Tirpitz was advised to
construct only submarines, but he
remained obstinate. On October |
(l9l5), several members of the
Reichstas made an earnest appeal
TO the army commandment to the
naval staif--with the result that an
order was issued terminating the
construction of battleships in order
that the material might be used for
the making Of U-bo9ts. In the
meantime, so great scarcity of ma
terial had arisen that it became nee
essary to disarm a number of tie
battleships ard take the metal. In
this manner, at the beginning of
1910. % battleships had been dis
|, armed, as we'll as one newly built
cruiser.
Many Ships Destroyed.
At the beginning of\this year,
Captain Persius states, the German
navy consisted only of dreadnaughts
and battleships of the Helgoland,
Kaiser and Markgraf types, and
some few battle cruisers. All the
Ships which Won Tirpitz had con-
structed from 1897 to 1906, at a
cost of innumerablc millions, had
been destroyed, and the U-boats
that had been constructed had
proved unable to fight against Brit
ish warships.
In 1917, he states, SO submarines
were constructed, while &c were
destroyed. In April, 1917, Germany
had l26 submarines and i'll October
l46. In February, 1918, it had 1856
and in June of the same year 1l5.
according to Captain Persius' fig
ures. Z
Few Subs Active.
Only a small percentage of these
submarines were actively operating
at any given time. Captain P .sius
declares. In January, 1917, for in
stance, when conditions were favor
able for submarine work, only II
per cent were active, while 80 per
Gent were in harbor, SO per Get
under repairs, and 20 per cent "in-
capacitated." tsa...
In the last months, he reveals, it
was very difficult to get men Or
submarine wo'k, as experienced sea-
men looked upon the submarine
warfare as political stupidity.
Captain Persius tells of the
mutiny that broke out at the begin
ming of this month when the Ger
man navy was ordered out for at
tack. Had the seamen obeyed, the
writer remarks, innumerable lives
would have been lost, and, he de-
clares, that every thinking man,
t erefore, is of the opinion that
the seamen on November rendered
a invaluable service to their COT :
try"