Evening star., 1939-12-18
An IngIorious End

An Inglorious End
Although the statement from Ber-
lin that the Admiral Graf Spec was
scuttled off Montevideo to save the
lives of her crew classes the sacrifice
of the pocket battleship as human
itarian gesture, there is no gainsay-
Ing the fact that the choice Of this
course will be received by the lay
mind as an inglorious chapter in Ger
man naval history.
1t runs counter to all the traditions
sacred in particular to American and
British sea fighters. It wholly lacks
the John Paul Jones or the Nelson
touch. Inevitably, it will recall the
day in June, 1919, when the Kaiser's
high seas fleet, in British captivity at
Scapa Flow, was scuttled in much
the same fashion that marked the
demise of the Graf Spec.
There comes to mind Admiral Mel
sons memorable remark during the
Trafalgar campaign in 1905, when
the British fleet, in pursuit of the
French armada in the Mediter-
ranean, suddenly found itself in con-
tact with superior enemy forces.
Though we are but eleven" said
Nelson, Ito eighteen or twenty, we
won't part without battle. BY the
time the enemy has beat our fleet
soundly, they will do Great Britain
no harm this year." The British were
not called upon to fight the antici-
pated engagement, and later in the
same year came Trafalgar and VIC
tory.
Naval authorities, particularly ma
val historians, probably will argue
for many day over the merits or
dement's of Hitler's decision to order
that the Graf Spec be scuttled
rather than face almost inevitable
defeat at the hands of the superior
Anglo-French squadron waiting out
side Montevideo to send her to the
bottom, had the battleship ventured
to gamble on escape. Leaving tradi-
ton and naval prestige aside, it is
not to be forgotten that with her
powerful armament of six eleven
inch guns the Spec outgunned any
metal the three British cruisers could
have hurled against her, although if
the 26,5O0-ton thirteen-inch gunned
French battleship Dunquerque was
on the scene, the Specs fate was in
dubitably sealed.
But the pride of the Nazi fleet
chose not to fight. In words that
now have the ring Of prescient
prophecy, Americas foremost living
naval historian, Captain William Dill
worth Puleston, u S. NJ, retired, for
mer director Of the Office OF naval
intelligence at the Navy Department,
wrote flve years ago in his book,
High Command in the World War"
the following explanation of what
was to happen at Montevideo in De-
cember, 1899:
"The German feet, as such, has
few naval traditions to hold its spirit
up under the trials of war. It has
no naval cries to rally the morale of
its personnel, such as I have just
begun to fight England expects
every man to do his duty Don't give
up the ship or Damn the torpedoes,
60 ahead The complete poverty of
the German Navy in this respect Is
revealed by its christening many of
Its warships for German Army off,
GERS, for lack of distinguished naval
names (Gneisenau, Scharnhorst,
Room, Won der Tam, Bluecher and
Moltke)."
1T would have been far better for
the morale Of the future German
Navy and Army" Captain Puleston
concludes, if the high seas feet had
thrown itself even upon the rein
forced British grand fleet and If Won
Hindenburg had fought to the end
in the spirit of Napoleon's old guard,
which knew how to die but did not
know how to surrender"
The German fleet thus has under
gone two heavy defeats in South
American waters. It has lost one of
its three most powerful commerce
raiders. But it has suffered a far
heavier loss. It has yielded up that
which has been the pride of sea
fighters since navies existed-the
sacred tradition of facing the enemy
as long as there is shot left in the
locker and inflicting upon him every
shred of damage possible before sue
cumbing to the inevitable.