Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-07-11

illttt ushilfs WE HibilE the tul-'ii HlIih
coast may be hut Il few ships against
muny enemies. hut from you OF the
High Sea fleet we expect great deeds.
We of the German navy knew and
constantly gave expression to the
thought that BritHin was our guide
On the sea-. Ter great seafarlng ira.
ditinn was our conscious and admitted
pattern. We German naval men liked
the English and were In sympathy
With them. Our navies were alike In
spirit. The French navy was some
what different Its morale was per
haps not SCI good. French naval otli-
GERS all come up from the ranks. The
British and German come from cadet
schools and are recruited mostly from
the first families. That Is best. 1t
provides a finer corps of officers |,
myself. came up from the forecastle
but | believe that. unless you have
officers and men from different worlds
your men will have little respect for
their commanders. II must either be
that. or your officers must Inspire re-
spect with their fists as In the old
sailing ship days. The French navy
no longer has rich tradition II Is
true that the French had far greater
sea fighters than we In past centuries.
and they had their fine old naval tra-
dItinns. But during the Revolution
the old Royal navy of France was
swept away and remained abolished
for twenty years. AT the end Of that
time, new navy WIS formed, but ny
then the fine old French traditions
seem to have been forgotten and new
traditions had 10 be formed. We Ger.
mans, with new fleet, took over the
old, solid tradition Ut the British and
made II our own. We did everything
we could to implant It In our men. and
make II real, living thing ingralned
in our people. Our sen leaders under
stood the Importance of tradition.
That WIS why we were determined TO
keep fleet after the war. When our
great ships went down AT Scapa Flow
our Socialists favored tile total aban
donment OF the naval arm, but foriu.
nately enough Of our people came out
Of their postwar trance long enough
TO prevent such a fatal error. Per,
hnps II might be only q few small
Sims that VIZ could retain. but II
would serve to keep traditions alive
81 ft NM
as great or even greater than the
one we lost.
Won Spec was sailors admiral
lie was seaman by temperament.
able on land and0pnly himself when
IN the bridge OF his flagship. Too
many ot our professional lighting men,
| regret to say. were more ornamental
ing gold lace and that Is about all
|. But not Won Spec. lie was at his
best on a quarter-deck In d storm !
still can see him pacing hack and forth
with his hushy brows and piercing hlne
eyes.
The duy after he said aut wlederse
hen to us at kiel, he and his officers
and men left by transport for the
Orient, there 10 relieve the officers
and men aboard the cruisers of our
small Pacific squadron at Using Tao.
What was to have been their twO-year
term overseas began as commonplace,
to- ) .{,I III {lN al
vos Of British guns Off the Falkland
islands.
Won Specs plan, when the war
caught him 1900 miles from German
waters, was to nnrass the allies In the
| Pacific and then try to slip hack
through the North sen to kiel, Indy
Luck smiled on him for little while
and then deserted him After cross.
Ing the Pacific he caught Craddock.
the British admiral. off the coast of
chile. Won Specs star was In its MS
cendaney al this time and Craddnck' 8
| on the wane German secret agent
| In Chile flashed wireless TO Won
| Spec giving him the information thai,
| Craddock was waiting for the arrival
Of the big but old hattleship Campus
| that was rounding the Horn. Without
the Campus. Craddock's forces were
| weaker than Won Specs. and Won
| Spec instantly dashed TO the attack
so as TO engage Craddock before the
| Campus came up. Craddock and his
| men met their fate like true British
| sailors. 0utgunned, the British cruis-
| ers continued to fire until they sank
| Only one. q small boat, got away.
But their conqueror's days were mum.
| bered
Won Spec now began his long race
toward Kiel. Only two routes were
| possible, one by Cape Horn and the
other by the Cape of Good Hope. OF
H1l1kJI1I1uEpLIt1{1Llk1 {JLlC1I1q1puupuO