GERMANY. 



365 



longer able to mount a horse. In the letter 

 accepting his resignation, and in an ordinance, 

 dated August 10, relieving him of his former 

 post and appointing him to the presidency of the 

 National Defense Commission, which was filled 

 by the Emperor Friedrich when Crown Prince, 

 Wilhelm II eulogized the services of the retir- 

 ing strategist, who had attained the age of 

 nearly eighty-eight years. The Emperor ap- 

 pointed as Marshal von Moltke's successor Gen. 

 Count von Waldersee, who was born in 1832, 

 first served on the general staff in 18(56, was 

 made a colonel for his services in the Franco- 

 Prussian War, and was appointed qnartermas- 

 ter-general in 1882, in connection with which 

 post he has acted as deputy chief of the general 

 staff and aide-de-camp general to the Emperor. 



The Nayy. The naval forces of the Empire 

 in 1887 consisted of 105 vessels of an aggre- 

 gate displacement of 201,521 tons, mounting 

 COS guns. The ironclad navy comprises 8 

 frigates, 5 corvettes, and 14 gun-boats, 11 of 

 which are built on the same model, and armed 

 each with a single 36-ton gun. Among the 

 unarmored vessels are the cruisers "Zieten," 

 "Hohenzollern, 1 ' " Pfeil," and "Blitz," which 

 are built for offensive ocean warfare, and are 

 capable of steaming 16 miles an hour. The 

 number of first and second class torpedo-boats 

 that were completed was 110, and others were 

 building. The larger vessels in course of 

 construction on Jan. 1, 1888, were two frigate 

 cruisers, of 4.800 tons, the " Prinzessin Wil- 

 helm " and " Irene " ; three corvettes, the 

 '' Eber." >l Schwalbe," and u B " ; a transport, 

 the "Ersatz Eider"; and two dispatch-boats, 

 '"Wachf and "Ersatz Pomrnerania." The 

 last named was completed in July. The per- 

 sonnel of the navy on Jan. 1, 1888, consisted 

 of 7 admirals ; 800 officers, including engineers 

 and surgeons ; and 14,437 non-commissioned 

 officers, marines, and sailors. Germany has 

 three ports of war, viz.. Kiel and Dantzic on 

 the Baltic, and Wilhelmshaven on the North 

 Sea. In the naval manoeuvres the last-named 

 port was subjected to a sham attack, which 

 was repelled in a way to prove in the view of 

 the umpires that the place is impregnable. In 

 a similar attack on the harbor of Kiel, a new 

 method of attacking hostile craft and explod- 

 ing submarine mines was tried by swimmers in 

 inflated rubber suits, who were sent out with 

 explosives from vessels. 



Lieut.-Gen. von Caprivi, who succeeded 

 Herr von Stosch as Chief of the German Ad- 

 miralty in 1883, besides completing the con- 

 struction of the torpedo-flotilla, and building 

 several fast cruisers, formed a training squad- 

 ron, which is an admirable school for sailors, 

 introduced a system that enables Germany to 

 put ships in commission with great prompti- 

 tude, organized a cruising squadron that has 

 been the chief instrument in the formation of 

 the German colonial empire, and raised the 

 entire fleet to such a degree of effectiveness 

 that no accidents and failures, such as marked 



the British and French evolutions in the sum- 

 mer of 1888, occurred during the mana-uvres 

 of the German squadron. When Wilhelm II 

 succeeded to the throne, the project of a 

 further development of the ironclad navy by 

 adding to the number of armored battle-ships 

 and replacing with modern vessels those <>f 

 obsolete types came into favor, and Gen. von 

 Caprivi, who had given his attention chiefly to 

 coast defenses and unarmored fast cruisers. 

 retired from the naval office, to be succeeded 

 by Vice-Admiral Count von Monts, who has 

 undertaken to build up a navy that shall be 

 superior to that of any of the second-rate 

 naval powers, not even excepting Italy, for 

 offensive as well defensive purposes. Of the 

 thirteen squadron ironclads afloat in 1888, 

 only the broadside frigate " Konig Wilhelm," 

 the central-battery ships the '"Kaiser" and 

 " Deutschland," and the corvette " Olden- 

 burg " are regarded as satisfactory by naval 

 critics. The four corvette cruisers, of the 

 " Saehsen v type, having only deck-armor at 

 the ends, are considered weak. The broad- 

 side ship "Hansa," with six-inch armor, was 

 removed from the navy list in 1888. and two 

 others, the "Kronprinz" and "Friedrich 

 Karl " are to go out of commission as soon as 

 more modern ironclads can be built to take 

 their places. The class of corvette cruiser 

 now approved of, which was under construc- 

 tion in the beginning of 1888, is a vessel of 

 from 3,000 to 4,000 tons displacement, with a 

 complete belt of armor at the water-line, car- 

 rying a few heavy guns in a thickly armored 

 central battery. It is proposed to construct 

 ten such vessels altogether, of which five are 

 to be begun immediately. For the defense of 

 the North Sea and Baltic Ship-canal twelve 

 gun-boats are to be constructed of similar de- 

 sign to the existing ones, but larger. In the 

 naval budget estimates for 1889-'90 the Gov- 

 ernment proposes the expenditure, in the 

 space of six years, of 116,800,000 marks on 

 the construction of 28 new vessels. 4 of which 

 will be first-class ironclads of the latest design, 

 costing 9,300,000 marks each ; 9 will be coast- 

 guard ironclads ; 7 are to be protected cruis- 

 er corvettes, costing 5,500,000 marks each ; 

 and of the others 4 will be unprotected cruis- 

 er-. ~2 avisos, and 2 torpedo division boats. 



The Baltic and North Sea Ship-canal, which 

 is intended primarily for strategical purposes, 

 will facilitate navigation and commerce in this 

 part of Europe and alter the course of trade 

 in favor of Germany. The canal will run 

 from Iloltenau, in the Gulf of Kiel, in a south- 

 westerly direction, by way of Rendsburg, to a 

 point on the Elbe below Hamburg, about 

 half-way between Brunsbuttel and St. Marga- 

 rethan. Its length will be 61 miles ; its breadth 

 at the surface of the water 196 feet, and at 

 bottom 84 feet ; and its depth 27 feet. There 

 will be one lock at each end. The work will be 

 completed by 1895. Dantzic is to be converted 

 into a second-class naval station to counter- 



