Decemljer 19, 1914. 
LAND AND WATER 
tilings are considered, a sliip like the Seydlitz, with lier ten 
11-inch guns and strong protection, has a very equal chance 
against our Lion, with eight 13.5'b and relatively weak pro- 
tection. That is to say, a very fair ehance, perhaps a very 
good chanoo indeed, of putting in a retarding blow and then 
clearing off. 
This, at any rate, was the theory openly propounded in 
Germany in the days before the war; and theories are not 
lightly dropped by those who propound them. 
It has further to bo remembered that there are many 
neutral ports yet untouched, and that the coaling organisation 
of the German Navy has hitherto proved so cleverly conceived 
that we cannot safely presume that it is yet extinguished. 
All told, therefore, I am inclined to predict that 
it is even chances whether we shall not see a recrudescence of 
the trade war on a newer and much more formidable scale. 
For reasons already suggested, I do not see how it could 
possibly succeed in the long run, but the interim possibilities 
may be so alluring that the attempt is made. The original 
conception of battle-cruisers was in this direction. Subse- 
quently, theory put them into the " fast battleship " category; 
though hero again it is significant that there is no such official 
rating in the German navy. Here the Derflmger is rated 
equally with the ScJiarnhorst as an " armoured cruiser." A 
circumstance of this sort may well have significance to those 
who read as they run. 
THE MEDITERRANEAN AND 
BLACK SEA. 
Am inoident of importance to be recorded is that the 
Coeben haa reappeared in the Blaok Sea, where, at about 
2 p.m. on the 11th, she, accompanied by the 22-knot gunboat 
Berki-Saivet, fired fifteen shots at Batura. On the forts reply- 
ing the enemy drew ofi. 
There are certain points el considerable significance in 
this incident. In the first place, it shows that the Goehen was 
very little injured in her recent action with the Efstafi. At 
the time of this fight I drew attention to the fact that her 
armour was mostly impenetrable at the range she was engaged 
at — so that little serious damage could be hoped for. 
The next point is that the Goeben is (on paper, at any 
rate) superior to the entire Russian Black Sea Fleet, but 
instead of endeavouring to destroy it, she merely wasted 
energy in a hasty bombardment which (even had it done any 
serious damage) would have been quife futile so far as main 
issues are concerned. It really looks as though the Germans 
are incapable of grasping the elementary principles of naval 
warfare, which are that to annihilate the hostile fleet must )>e 
the main objective, and that any subsidiary efforts weaken the 
main cause. To have bombarded some town near Sevastopol 
would have been intelligible, for it would have had a fair 
chance of bringing up the Russian Fleet to a possible destruc- 
tion. A hasty bombardment of Batum, on the other hand, 
could not possibly achieve any such object; and it was, there- 
fore, purposeless destruction — probably not worth the cost of 
the ammunition expended. 
For land warfare the German idea of promiscuous 
•laughter of non-combatants may have its uses — for all that it 
does not seem to have broken Belgian resistance. For sea 
warfare, however, it is on a par with the tyro chess player 
who devotes his energies to the capture of odd pawns without 
fegard to other issues. Farther, it is bad for the moral 
•f any ship's company concerned to shell a town and then make 
a bolt for it directly any forts reply. 
A third point is: — Why was the Goeben accompanied by 
the Berki-Satvet, a Turkish vessel of no fighting value, and 
probably (from what one knows of the Turkish navy) in- 
capable of doing more than two-thirds of her designed speed? 
The inference is that the Berki-Satvet was taken as something 
to be left behind to occupy the enemy in case the Goehen had 
to make a bolt for it. This is certainly an idea which sooner 
or later will ooour to the Turks. It is not likely to increase 
their enthusiasm for their German allies. 
Since the above was written the British submarine Bll 
is officially reported to have dived under mines in the Dar- 
danelles on December 13, and to have torpedoed the Turkish 
battleship Messudiyeh, wliicli — since her reconstruction some 
few years ago — had, though old, become the chief battleship 
of the Turkish Navy. 
This is easily the biggest submarine feat of the present 
war. So far submarine successes have been confined to minor 
craft on both sides. The Messudiyeh was in a way a minor 
craft: that is to say she was "no Dreadnouglit." But she 
was the Ijcst ship of the Turkish Navy, and the only vessel 
capable of supporting the Goeben with comparatively modern 
guns. Her destruction, therefore, assumes an importance far 
beyond the paper value of the ship. It should have a very 
strong moral effect on the Turks, and further serve to open 
their eyes to the suicidal policy which they have adopted at 
Germany's bidding. 
In addition to this, on account of the currents in the 
Dardam^lles the feat- was a stupendous one, also carrying its 
moral lesson, both to us and to the Germans. As I reoently 
pointed out there has for some time been among a certain 
eeotion of tl.e public a feeling to the efEect that the German 
submarine service is superior to our own. As readers are 
^^ITraR 
PLAN OF THE TtrUKISII BATTLESHIP MESHVDIYEB (10,000 TONS). 
Destroyed in the Dardanelles after a piece of brilliant daring by Sub- 
marine Bll under Lieut. -Commander Norman D. Holbrook. Itit Ue»rniiyiih 
was built in 1874 and recoostmcted at Genoa In 1902. 
Length, 231 ft. Beam, 59 ft Trial speed, 16 knots. 
The gnna were two 9.2 in., twelve 6 In., fourteen K-pounders, ten B-pounders. 
two 3-pounder8, and two (field) 14-poandeTs. " Janb's Fiohtino Shi™." 
aware, I havo insisted that this is a false idea based on a 
failure to realise that we have had a lack of opportunity. 
Now in Bit Lieut. Holbrook has made his opportunity ; 
and the ultimate result is likely to be " nerves " in the Kiel 
Canal. German submarines (see these notes for issue of 
November 21) have never scored a single success — except per- 
haps against the Belgian refugee transport Amiral Ganteanme 
— without surface aid. They have never aujcomplished wTiat 
the Navy calls " jonic submarine." Also the German Press 
greeted with jeers a whilom reference to their fleet by Mr. 
Ghurclull about " digging them out." They took it as blufi. 
It is yet early days to propliesy too exactly; but I am 
of opinion that this Dardanelles incident will eventually turn 
out to be of considerable value to us. It has conclusively 
proved that the submarine is the weapon of the stronger 
Power. It has also conclusively proved the superiority of our 
submarLne service. It is impossible to overestimate the p.syoho- 
l«gioal value of these conclusions. 
THE NORTH SEA, ETC. 
The main event of the past week has been a luridly 
described attack on Dover by German submarines. It is po.s- 
sible that an enemy submarine did attempt to get into Dover 
Harbour, but two other hypotheses are equally permissible. 
Of these the first is target practice, and the second a false 
alarm, such as is bound to occur in warfare. Pending official 
confirmation, we shall do well to be sceptical as to all tales of 
a concerted submarine attack. 
Even in peace time false alarms were terribly easy: in 
war they are necessarily more so, since the issues at stake are 
so infinitely greater. In the old days of torpedo manoeuvres 
ships were always opening fire on waves, a big wave with a 
bit of foam on it being uncommonly like an approa-diing 
destroyer on a dark night I Similarly nothing is easier than 
to mistake anything drifting for a periscope; which of itself 
has proved hard to detect, even in times of peace, when looked 
for by trained men, who knew that it would approach some 
time during a given period. Save in exceptional circum- 
stances, a periscope is normally not te be detected from a fort 
any more than from a big ship. 
THE BALTIC. 
Beyond v»gue rumours of the blowing up of an old Ger- 
man armoured cruiser, the Friedrieh Earl, nothing of war 
importance has been reported. 
Some considerable importance may, however, attaeh to 
the report of its Swedish correspondent published in the Times 
of December 14. This refers to an inquiry into the destruc- 
tion by mines of three Swedish steamers in the Gulf of 
Bothnia some little while back. The Germans alleged that 
the mines were Russian ones, the Russians that they were Ger- 
man. But it was further adduced that the German naval 
attach^ in Sweden had warned the Swedish steamship company 
concerned — though his warning came too late — and the general 
inference is that in order to cut communications of value to 
Russia the Germans did not hesitato to destroy the Swedish 
liners. 
15* 
kk 
