The sun., 1919-08-31
Supposed
F ather of U-Boat
w arfare. Really
; Censured by His
. Count ymen for
! Neglecting That
!, Weapon So Long
High Seas Fleet
: Discounted Early

10y no means a mere reference
X book. in spite Of the vast
~ amount of valuable informa-
non compressed into its $50 pages, the
NauaI Annual for 1919. a copy of
which has just reached this country.
contains chapters which will be read
with keen interest by naval officers
and laymen alike. The present edition
is the first to appear since publication
Of the annual was suspended in 1917
by reason of the difficulties incident to
the war, and 1t reveals numerous facts
hitherto unknown to the public and
sketches naval events and naval prog
ress during the last three years of the
war.
For the most part Earl Brassey,
editor Of the publication. and his COL
decorators, have steered clear Of purely
technical matters and they have been
certain aspects of the naval phase of
the great conflict without dropping
Into the controversial vein which prob
ably has tended more to obscure GER
tain events than to enlighten the pub
lie concerning them. This is notably
the case in the first chapter of the
publication, a narrative of naval
events and incidents from the battle
Of Jutland, May 81. 1916, to the sur
render of the German High Seas Fleet
at Scapa Flow, November 81, 1918. The
account OF the Jutland fight ignores
entirely the controversy which has
ragged in Great Britain over the tactics
of Admiral Jellicoe on that occasion
Results of Jutland Fight.
> In reviewing the results Of the bat
Gle Commander C. N. Robinson, r, N,
contents himself with the following
statement:
:. 1.-THE result of the Jutland battle
was claimed as a victory by the
Kaiser and throughout Germany. An
official Berlin telegram of June Z, 1916
declared that the German victory was
gained by able leadership and the eff
feet OF our artillery and torpedoes.
AS Mr.. Balfour. then First Lord, point
ed out on August 4, 1916, it would be
an error to suppose that the engage
nlent changed the naval situation
What it did was to confirm II. Before
5utland, as after it, the German feet
was imprisoned. After the armistice
~as proclaimed on November IL, 1918
however, Capt. L. Persius wrote In
the Berliuer Td0cbldtt that Germany
narrowly escaped a crushing naval de.
feat at Jutland, sustaining severe
losses. and 1t was clear to all &C
auainted with the situation that thi.
battle would be the only one. The
crews realized that II battle were giveT
1t meant, having regard to the small
number of ships available, the useless
sacrifice of a large number of lives
y To the public, which has come t
regard Admiral Won Tirpitz as tn,
father OF the submarine war, the
srevelation, in Chapter III. OF the bite
criticism to which he was subjected
by his countrymen for his neglect o.
this very weapon Of offence, will com,
as a distinct surprise. AS long age
as 1908 and 1906 Won Tirpitz had t.
defend his policy for it's alleged fail
nre to recognize the submarine II
March. 1909. he said in a speech t.
the Budget Committee Of the Reich
stag. "How indignant would people bt
II the main feature OF the German
navy were forty submarines, which
were only of the value Of scrap IRON!
and this attitude he maintained up t.
the very outbreak of the war Ever
rs late as December, 1914. the Ad.
miral confessed to the American cor.
Respondent Won Wiegand that tn,
naval authorities had previouslS
thought that submarines could not re-
main longer than three days from
their bases as the men would becom,
exhausted"
Fleet Life Work.
:, The building of the High SPAS Flee
was the Admiral's life work; rivalry
with England on the element Of hel
traditional supremacy was his obses