Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-19
Floating Craft
Won World War,
Saws Won Tmpitz

ST. BLASIEN, Baden, Feb. IL
(By the Associated ss.)-Battle-
ships won the world war and will
win future wars, in the opinion of
Admiral Won Tirpitz, at one time head
of the German fleet and minister OF
the navy, during the critical period
of the historic struggle. He reaf-
firmed his faith in above-water craft
during an interview here and de-
clared that strangely enough, owing
to the peculiarities of the war, the
submarine had been given greater i'm
portance than was warranted by the
facts.
England, japan and the United
States recognized the fact, he said,
that in the world struggle for SUI
premacy outside Of Europe land
forces would be secondary. He as
serted such a struggle must .neces-
sarily be one Of sea supremacy, but
added that the sort of maritime forces
to be constructed, in the light of
the experiences Of the latest war,
was a great open question.
There was no decisive action be-
tween opposing fleets during the
world war;" he said, because, in
misconceiving the political situation
power of the German fleet, the Ber-
lin government did not risk it dur
ing the decisive first years Of the
conflict. When the favorable time
for naval action was past, England
had to suffer directly only from Ger
MAJ submarines nnarIret ion Against them sne
I'm reality, the war, so far as the
sea was concerned, was won by the
English high sea fleet, and the YER
dict could have been reversed only
through battleships."
Admiral Won Tirpitz said he had
little patience with the controversy
now raging in England over the sub
marne and the surface warshlp, ana
declared it was largely due to q lack
Of information among many. dispu-
tants, a conflict of personal inter.
ests, and a desire on the part OF
the English cabinet to keep the pub
lie ignorant Of the real official
views"
"While submarine engines had be-
come somewhat stronger and, the
boats somewhat more enduring" SAID
the admiral, 1.-The Germans. in the
main, carried on their submarine cam
paign for years with virtually Inc
same craft they perfected in 1918
Further development of the sub
marine will" be much hampered until
an efficient and, uniform motor can
be developed for travelling above ano
below the surface. After this Is
solved there will be question wnetn-
err a vessel fitted for underwater
travelling can, in the long run, com
pete in general performance with a
surface vessel. I believe the ship
constructor will think the surface
ship will always show better gen.
era1 performance"
The necessity for greater protec-
ton of submarines against torpedoes
and the superiority Of artillery IRE
attacks under water was discussed by
the admiral, who added:
eff the artillery projectile main,
tains it's superiority among, naval
arms, in spite Of the torpedo, one
cannot see why battleships and SINAI l.
err vessels should become Obsolete
all at once"
"The construction and numerical
proportion of the submarine arm OF
the service" he continued. will
change with technical progress, bu'
at present there is no reason what
ever to consider the battlesnlp our
Of date as a concentration OF power
on the water. The submarine has
merely been added to the older naval
forces, and will be found in all nav1es
in greater numbers. In the same
way counter devices invented during
the war will be pe srsdmei ts ou1
the fanatical protagonists of the sub
marine expect.
'There are fools in my country who
reproach me with not having built
hundreds Of submarine at the out
break of the war at the expense OF
battleship construction. These peo-
pie forget that, although Robert Full
ton built a submarine more than lou
years ago and set great hopes upon
it as a weapon for fighting England,
technical progress had not gone SO
far as to provide an effective long
range boat at the opening Of the con-
alone mattered and which will mat
ter even more in the future, Ger
many owned, as regards quantity and
quality, more than the other navles