Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-01-09
LIE Chief WAR WEAPON,
CLAIM OF CAPT. PERs|us
Gcrmany's Foremost Naval Critic En-
poses Weakness OF tho Former
Kaiscr's Navy.
GERMANS STILL AREAsToUNDED
Innocent People Did Not Know That
tho "Greut High Seas Fleet" EN-
listed Only in Mouths of Leaders,
Never In Reality.
ny CAPTAIN LoTuAn pEnsIUs.

lapse could come so suddenly. and par
tlcuiarly how 1t happened that the body
blow that felied the ola regime WAS
dealt by the navy.
There were many who. until quite
recently, harbored the hope mat our
High Seas Fleet" would fight a sec
end Skagcrak ba -tle. and that thereby
the doom Of British domination OF the
seas would be sealed. Just as II was
almost universally believed that our
u-boats would in short time force
England TO her knees
All these hopeful ones were blinded
by the lie---thc lie. which was one OF
the chief weapons Of our warfare on
land and sea. Lie and blun celebrated
xcritable orgies, particularly under
The innocent people did not know
that for year we could iH SPEAK on ,,, 9aI
U-boat squadrons equal 10 me TASK
that was set them existed only In the
mouths OF the leaders of our heet, new
cr in reality; they did not know that
the "Prusaan system" had been long
since sentenced to death and damna-
ton.
They did not know that the sailors
and engineers. :his magnificent human
materiaJ. infinitely good na,ured ana
devoted. must finally be driven 10 de-
spair by the wrong kind OF treatment
and other factors. All these things
can only be briefly alluded to in the
frame OF this article.
CENSORSHIP SEALS LIPS
or THOSE WHO KNEW
Those who knew the truth had theif
lips sealed by the censorship. Ihoss
whom the ardent love of their c9un-
try and their people commanded 10
give warning against under -estina,.
ing the enemy and overestimating our
own power were muzzled IN every way
Despite all the obstacles and tue
sharpest restriction. this writer mas
unswerv!nR!y endcavored TO ten the
truth.
the time only "oetwe wee s,d the i III iS.
eyes OF those whose perspective WAS
not properly set to look for the many
tricks OF deception.
1914 we had a little over 100000 tons
Of naval shippng as asa agains, the BriI-
rial was inferior to the British. thanks
10 the mistakes of Won Tirpitz Our
ships OF the line. battleships and
than the British. they were less pow
crfu.Iy armed and possessed less
speed.
two nects and remembers tnat the
Eussian Baltic fleet. Of 100000 tons,
was. up TO kussia,s collapse 10 he
French naval forces were for the great
or part arrested N the Mediterranean
by the Austrian feet--lt Is clear that
our fleet had slim chances.
MEN FORCED no TESTS
WITH INFERIOR MATERIAL.
navy has. as far as was possible with
the deficient material anu in the cir
eums,ances made an, an eStpa0ra,na ,bS
officers and men stood the trying test
brilliantly.
wrong building policy. Think. for in
stance, OF the duel between the Emden
and the sidney on November 8. 1914.
when the glorious raiding cruise OF
Captain von Mueller came 10 an end.
Both vessels had been built in the
same year. The sidney had 70? cent?
meter guns. tine Emden only los cent?
meter guns. The Sidney, with her one
third larger caliber guns naturally
could fight the Emden down easily
without even coming within the En-
denis range. Similar conditions pre-
vailed in the fight or the Falkland
THREE THINGS SAVED
FLEET AT SKAGEftAK
In the Skagerak battle our fleet was
saved from disaster by three things:
I. The clever leadership OF Admiral
Scherr.
.. The clumsy handling of the Eng
lish feet BY Ad is,,i, Sir John Jeliicoe
Had the weather been clear and had
the opponent had determined leader,
the outcome Of that battle would have
been. for us. destruction.
The British guns. of SO much moro
powerful range than our own, would
have shot our ,feebiyarmed vessels TO
smiled upon us, tho losses which our
fleet suffered were tremendous, and
on June ]. 1916, it was clear to every
one who knew the actual conditions,
that that battle would and must re-
main the only one. This, in fact, has
been frankly admitted by the com
petent authorities.
COMMANDERS PLEADED
FOR LARGER CANNON
alrpitz drew no lessons from the
u-boats and torpedo boats were con-
8 ttnually clamoring for bigger guns;
4sainly the airship commanders com
family breaking down and that they
gSnust have better ones. manufactured
soy firms other than those favored by
no marine administration. Vainly
commanders urged that their crews
were being criminally sent to their
s ,6a f. 90 Tirpi,Z remained deaf. even in
U-9. From all sides he was being be-
sieged with the demand to drop every
wonid e noi to Is, build only T;boats lie
MN and under his successor. Capelie,
m NUM- p valuable workers were,
bnild Ueto nsees l. 12l7 employed in
which could never be Dut In the ,orr;rs
during the war. ''''
stag de asa en RetG s,ss 1s17 nssh
succeeded in gaining the ear of the
o plde m to The result was an
Of dreadnoughis and battle rrmisers ION
meantime. the material for U-boat
construction had become so scarce that.
in order to keep up building subnna'
rines, ships of the line and oiher vns-
ssls had had to be taken to pieces. st
vessels had thus been put out OF COM,
missions. ships of the line--Sch: esinn
Schleswig -Holstein. Hanover. Dam
schland (Which had only been launchal
ain 1870. LothrinGen. Preussen Hes
59en, Eisass, Braunschwcig, Mecklen-
fnnvuir ,g Schwaben. IachrinEen. Victim,
der Crosse. Wilhelm der Crosse. Kaiser
Wilhelm IL, Friedrich. Brandenburr.
Woerth, Wuertemberg and Baden:
eight armored coast guards Of thc
Aegir and other classes. tho armored
cruisers Room. Heinrich and Bismarck:
hVe or the Hansa class. Kaiserin An.
gusta, and. finally. the small cruisers
Strassburg tonly launched September
cruisers.
HIGH cEAS FLEET