GERMANY. 



385 



end of 1877, but only one of them was actually 

 finished at that time. The second, the Sach- 

 sen, was launched toward the end of 1877, and 

 the third, the Bavaria, was launched in May, 

 1878 ; and great efforts were made to finish 

 the two vessels before the close of the finan- 

 cial year. Three large unarmored spar-decked 

 corvettes were also completed during 1878 : 

 the Prince Adalbert, of 3,925 tons, and the 

 Bismarck and the Moltke, sister-ships, each of 

 2,856 tons. Other vessels finished during the 

 year were, an armored gunboat of 1,000 tons 

 and two unarmored iron gunboats, each of 

 500 tons ; and an unarmored spar-decked cor- 

 vette, the Stosch, a sister-ship to the Bismarck 

 and Moltke, was expected to be finished by 

 the end of the year. 



An explanation has been made, in connec- 

 tion with the increase of the annual conscrip- 

 tion for the army by 20,000 men, that this ad- 

 dition to the army hardly corresponds with 

 the increase of the population since the present 

 peace footing was first fixed. The law pro- 

 vides that there shall be one conscript to every 

 hundred of the population. 



The Grosser Kurfurst, the German ironclad 

 which was run into and destroyed by its con- 

 sort the Konig Wilhelm in the English Channel 

 on the 31st of May (see GREAT BRITAIN), was 

 a vessel of 309 feet extreme length, 52 feet 

 extreme breadth, 34 feet depth, and having a 

 mean load draught of water of 23 feet. With 

 all her guns, ammunition, and stores on board, 

 her total weight was 6,663 tons. She was 

 built in the royal dock-yards at Kiel, and, at 

 the express wish of the Admiralty, all the 

 materials employed in her construction, as well 

 as in that of her sister-ships, the Preussen and 

 Fried rich der Grosse, were obtained as far as 

 possible from German sources. The armor- 

 plates were 9 inches thick in the region of the 

 water-line, 7 inches below and 8 inches above 

 the water, the thickness decreasing to 4 inches 

 at the bow and stern, and the turrets were 

 armored with plates 8 inches thick, except 

 where the port-holes were cut, where the thick- 

 ness was increased to 10 inches. The plates 

 rested on a backing of teak 10 inches thick. 

 Each of the two turrets was armed with two 

 ten-inch Krupp guns, of the newest pattern 

 and weighing 22 tons each, while two seven- 

 inch guns, one mounted fore and the other aft, 

 completed the armament of the vessel. The 

 official report made by Admiral Batsch con- 

 cerning the collision states that he had left the 

 deck of his ship for a minute, and on coming 

 up again saw the Grosser Kurfurst in a diag- 

 onal position across the starboard bow of the 

 flag-ship. The collision appeared then un- 

 avoidable. After being struck, the Grosser 

 Kurfurst filled so rapidly that the captain was 

 not able to carry out the idea he had enter- 

 tained of running the vessel ashore to prevent 

 her foundering. The ship keeled over to such 

 an extent that water entered from above 

 through the ports. After describing the steps 

 VOL. xvin. 25 A 



taken to save life and the damage suffered by 

 the Konig Wilhelm, the report concludes : 

 " With regard to the cause of the collision, I 

 can only state here that an order given by the 

 officer of the watch to put the helm to star- 

 board was misunderstood; and the helm, in- 

 stead of being starboarded, was put hard aport, 

 so that even reversing the engines was of no 

 avail. The formation of the squadron was a 

 double column, with the usual distances, but 

 with a reduced interval of a hectometre (109 

 yards) between the two divisions. The Grosser 

 Kurfurst was, however, considerably in advance 

 of its station. Both the leading ships had to 

 give way to a sailing vessel crossing their bows 

 obliquely, and in doing so the Grosser Kurfurst 

 particularly shot far away to starboard. As 

 soon as the ship had passed, the Grosser Kur- 

 furst turned back again to her course. The 

 Konig Wilhelm purposed doing the same, when 

 the putting the helm in the exactly opposite 

 direction to that ordered took place, and im- 

 mediately brought about the horrible catastro* 

 phe." More than forty of the officers and 

 petty officers of the Grosser Kurfurst were 

 married, and of these especially a great number 

 lost their lives. A court of inquiry was ap- 

 pointed immediately after the collision to ex- 

 amine into the circumstances of the disaster. 

 This court made a decision in July, acquitting 

 of blame the men who were at the helm of the 

 Konig Wilhelm at the time of the disaster. It 

 appeared from all the statements that the acci- 

 dent was due to the misunderstanding of an 

 order which was correctly given by the officer 

 in charge. A court-martial to try the officers 

 of the two vessels was appointed by special 

 order of the Crown Prince, acting in behalf of 

 the Emperor, with the object not only of ascer- 

 taining what persons were in fault, but also of 

 inquiring whether any changes were advisable 

 in the organization of the German navy, or in 

 the regulations in force for vessels at sea. The 

 ready and efficient help which the English 

 authorities gave to the unfortunate fleet on the 

 occasion of the disaster, and the sympathy 

 they displayed, were acknowledged in a com- 

 munication made by Count Munster at the 

 especial command of the Emperor, and in a 

 letter from the Crown Prince to Queefi Vic- 

 toria. An interpellation respecting the loss of 

 the Grosser Kurfurst was brought forward in 

 the Reichstag on September 13th by Herr 

 Mosle. His object, he said, was to enable the 

 Chief of the Admiralty, General von Stosch, 

 to contradict some grave statements made by 

 the press in regard to the system which pre- 

 vailed at the Admiralty. He hoped also that 

 the reports of the court-martial inquiry would 

 be presented to the Reichstag. General von 

 Stosch, having explained that he could not 

 make any statements regarding the court-mar- 

 tial inquiry while judicial proceedings were 

 still pending, proceeded to vindicate himself. 

 With regard to the flood of reproaches which 

 the press had brought against him, it would 



