The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-07-11

none of these craft was taken by either
JelcOe or Beatty during that night and day
Ji the spring of 1916. for all the German
ships not destroyed outright managed to
limp back to their bases.
A Promising Study.
In his book on the battle of Jutland Ad-
miral Jellicoe has attributed the relative in
effectiveness of the British gunfre to the
superior armor defence Of the German cap
ital ships. He has also stated that the Ger
man dreadnoughts and battle cruisers were
better able to withstand under water at
tack mainly because the German construc-
tors had seen to IL that these battle units
we're extensively subdivisioned below water,
so that the steel honeycomb would serve
to ocalize injury and minimize the effect of
the inpouring sea upon the ships stability.
Ii is noteworthy, too that certain Of these
craft were Of considerably broader beam
than vessels OF the same type in the Brit
sh fleet, and the Germans took advantage
Of this fact to interpose walls Of steel cal
Cuated to check proJectiles.
In short, there are numerous reasons for
believing that the German designers showed
much skill and engineering cunning both in
which went to make up Germanys might
upon the ga, and therefore our own tech
nlcists will be able to benefit when our
share of these ships reaches America and
they are able to study them thoroughly
from bridge to double bottom. Even though
Admiral Reinhold Won Scheer was 6utnum-
berM and outfought during the battle Of
Jutland, his commanders succeeded in ex-
acting a heavy toll from their antagonists,
and the precision of the men behind the
German gunfire was evidence Of something
more than the training of the men behind
the weapons. Undoubtedly the Germans
possessed a fire control system Of dis
tincty superior sort. and the, means or
bringing the guns to bear upon their tar
gets must have been of high mechanical
order As Col. Roosevelt has so pertinently
put it. only the shots that hit count" and
1t hehooves us to learn how the Germans
did this and profit, If possible. by modify
ing our own facilities wherever they fall
short
While the public may be thrilled to see
fve German ships reach here with the Stars
and Stripes flying above the erstwhile en-
sign Of the empire, this proof OF the break
up Of the imperial navy means more to us
potentially than an inspiring spectacle.
True most of the vessels are not what might
be called up to date, and none Is type that
we should care to reproduce as 1t stands.
But II is quite likely. that all OF them will
have features, auxiliaries, and special ia
cilities that will reveal something worth
While.
All but One to Be lowed.
Of the five craft-one battleship, scout
cruiser and three destr6yers-that will soon
arrive at New York. only one will come here
under her own power. The biggest OF the
gioup' the Ostfriesland, will make the run
from Scapa Flow across the Atlantic with
hre under her boilers and her engines ca
paDle of driving her unaided. The cruiser
frankfurt and the three destroyers will be
lowed the whole way. three of our mine
sWeepers and the L. S. s. Hancock having
,een detailed for the purpose. The Ostfries
Ahd will be in the keeping Of 800 Of our
men, twelve will he aboard the Frankfurt
and eight on each of the destroyers. AS Is
well known, we have had for some time a
number Of the submarines allocated to US
d'ler the German High Sea Fleet was sur
.etdered following the signing Of the armi-
Inc OstfriesIand was laid down in 1908
a, ai'u launched the year following, and at that
nn'e was one of group of three dread
Nv 7yush's including the Heligoland and the
-uuerlngen. According to the German
la'a' annual NdHticus for 1914. the ostfries-
anu anu mas length on the waterline of SAB
nv Vet beam of 80 feet and draft Of 26x feet.
oo ~ea normal displacement is stated to be
.-,0VO IONS, but when full laden this is prob
oS y -VoO tons more Her propelling me-
o.. I,o,SI is capable of developing about
ssyOV .oa morse power. and her service record
N'eu''s her with full speed ranging from