Evening star., 1939-12-18

cAA lllC pOi VI DcliiB LlBiOl lUuSly II
The first question the world W
will asks, why? Why did not the
Graf Spec 60 out and die fighting?
The traditions of the American
Navy are particularly exacting upon
a commander placed as Capt. Langs-
dorff was. They demand that no
officer shall surrender or destroy
his ship while he retains the capa-
bility Of doing any damage. how
ever, slight, to the enemy The
British blockading force consisted
OF the heavy cruiser Cumberland,
one of the l0,000-ton treaty cruis-
ers' born of the Washington Con-
ference, big fush-deck ship armed
with eight 8-inch guns, but almost
devoid of armor, and the 6-inch-
gun cruisers Achilles and Ajax.
Might Have Had Chance. '
Had these been the only ships the
Graf Spec had to face, she might
have had chance to get away:
though, without her airplanes and
with her flre-control system injured
by British shell fire, that chance
would not have been a bright one.
However, she would have been fair
ly certain to take at least one Brit
ish cruiser with her; very likely the
Tin clad" Cumberland, an excel
lent target which a single 1l-inch
salvo from the Spec should have
put out of action if not destroyed.
All reports from Montevideo, how
ever, say that a fourth ship had
joined the blockading force, this is
most often asserted to be the French
battleship Dunkerque, built and de-
signed as reply to the German
pocket battleships. The Dunkerque
and her sister, the Strasbourg. each
carry eight 13-inch guns, all for
ward In two four-gun turrets so
that all are available for chasing
purposes. Not only in gun powder,
but in armor and in speed they are
heavily superior to the pocket bat
tleships.
The Graf Spec would have had
little chance, indeed, with the
Dunkerque; even if she had evaded
the French ship in the darkness of
the falling night, with the first
light of dawn the French airplanes
would have been up and on the
search, and the superior speed of
the French ship would have quickly
brought her within range of the
fleeing German.
French Need Prestige.
Right here is q most interesting
point, indicating the very close con-
nection in the German mind be-
tween the political and military OBJ
jectives in war. 1t has been the
German policy to maintain that
Germany has no quarrel with
France, that her enemy is England,
that France is being made the tool
of British rancor and British am
bition. But if a French battleship
sank a German battleship, this pre-
tense would hardly be tenable.
Moreover the moral effect in
France would be tremendous. The
French Navy has long been in need
of a gain in prestige. 1t did not
have much chance to find glory in
the last war. It is a most efficient
organization, with an officer per-
sonnel ranking very high in profess
sional qualities. Give it such boost
as the sinking of the Graf Spec by
the Dunkerque might provide, and
considering the effect on the French
temperament, there might we'll have
been German fat in the f1re-which
Herr Hitler would have preferred to
have remain in the frying pan. 1t
is reported that the Spec was de-
stroyed on Hitler's personal order.
One may draw ones own conclu-
sions.
Mathematical Chances.
But there are other considerations
to be taken into account. The Graf
Spec embodied the most recent &C
complshments in German naval de-
sign. Her welded hull, her fire-con-
troll system, her Diesel engines are
all matters of great interest to non
German constructors She might
well have been rendered helpless
by allied fire and forced to surrend-
er; in which case, these German
ideas would have been available for
close study, and perhaps profit, by
the British and French.
One other point here to be con-
sidered is the German tendency to
reduce any military operation to a
mathematical calculation of chances.
This may on occasion produce an
excellent plan, but it certainly is not
q habit Of mind which induces that
taking of risks which sometimes
turns out so brilliantly in war.
Calculating the chances. the Spec