February 13, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
am inclined to tliink that, as in the past wars, our trade will 
have to be carried on under the Red Ensign, and the risks 
of such damage as enemy submarines can do taken in the 
same chapter of accidents as stray mines have to be taken. 
And we shall probably find that the threat is far worse than 
the accomplishment. 
The North Sea Action. 
There is a tendency in some quarters to criticise 
Admiral Beatty on the grounds that he did not allow the 
Germans to get nearer to our shores and commence bombard- 
ing while he cut off their retreat. Criticism of this sort is 
easy on paper; but apart from the fact that a raid may not 
have been the German objective, is the circumstance that the 
Germans appear to have turned tail directly they sighted our 
light squadron — though here, incidentally, their aircraft may 
have spotted our battle cruisers likewise. 
Undoubtedly this is the main purpose for which aerial 
scouts at present exist, and a fleet seeking to evade action 
with a stronger force is probably strengthened accordingly. 
In a word, the attack is far more difficult to-day than il was 
ten years ago. Before the war speculations to this effect were 
many and various. It is curious that what appears to be the 
first practical demonstration should have happened without 
comment of any sort. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
A. D. (Corstorphine). — If the Germans took the Bliicher 
to be a British warship sinking they would have been quite as 
justified in dropping bombs on her as we were in torpedo- 
ing her. So long as a ship keeps her colours flying she is 
deemed to be still fighting. 
R. R. O. (Birkenhead). — A periscope is a difficult thing 
to see at the best of times, and no one but a submarine officer 
would have any chance whatever of detecting the nationality 
of an attacking periscope. When boats are on the surface 
there is no difficulty whatever in recognising a German boat 
on account of a peculiar rise in the bow. 
G. S. W. (Tunbridge Wells).— In discussing the North 
Sea action I was guided entirely by Admiral Beafty's state- 
ment that the Lion and Tiger were separated from the rest 
of the Fleet. Hipper was certainly capable of seeing that, 
and equally seeing that the Lion was hit, and had an oppor- 
tunity of which he did not or could not avail himself. As 
regards the speed at which the battle was fought, it was cer- 
tainly nothing approaching the maximum speeds which have 
been recorded of the various vessels engaged. Very high 
trial speeds have been recorded for various ships. For 
example, the Bliicher on her trials reached 25.8, but it is 
doubtful if she could have maintained more than a speed of 
23 knots during the chase, and that was probably the speed 
of the German squadron. 
As regards the more modern vessels, they are all tur- 
bine-driven, and speed with turbine ships is somewhat of an 
elusive quantity. That is to say, there is a certain high speed 
which can be maintained for several hours on end, and there 
19 abo a considerably higher speed which can be reached 
during a short special spurt. 
B. S. (Cambridge). — As a rule, large ships are always 
accompanied by small craft. Light cruisers and destroyers 
are more capable of picking up a crew in the water than 
any extemporised slow vessel would be. 
F. W. (Lincoln). — ^At the time the loop was made the 
Scharnhorst was clearly in a critical condition, and probably 
the Gneistnau was considerably winged. Neither ship prob- 
dbly was in a position to attempt anything tactical. The 
Ipop of the British Fleet was presumably to get clear of the 
smoke (as stated). Incidentally a ship end-on is more likely 
to be hit than one broadside-on, the difference between a hit 
and a miss being mainly a matter of elevation. Supposing a 
ship to have a freeboard of 25 feet, the target offered by her 
would be approximately 30 feet, as a shot passing at, say, 27 
feet would pitch on the deck somewhere on the other side of the 
vessel. The beam of a ship 75 feet or so broad is roughly 
equivalent to a vertical target of five feet. Supposing a ship 
to be end-on, instead of the target representing 30 feet it 
would for a ship 500 feet long bo something like 65 feet, and 
therefore twice as likely to be hit. 
J. R. C. (Dublin). — The German armoured cruiser to 
which you refer is the Ersatz Hertha, which was laid down in 
July, 1913. Nothing very definite is known about her, i.e., 
whether she is a sister to the Derfflingtr, with eight 12-inch 
guns, Or whether she carries a lesser number of 15-inch. It 
is more probable that she is a sister of the Derffliirger and 
Lvtzow. In any case, the idea that she can be both faster 
and more heavily armed than anything we possess or have 
building strikes me as highly improbable, the more so as the 
.German practice for the last few years has been to sacrifice a 
certain amount of gun power for the sake of better protec- 
tion. Our 1914 Naval Estimates provided for one ship of 
the Queen Elizabeth class, and three battleships. When war 
broke out there were five " battleship cruisers" of the Queen 
Elizabeth class under construction. In any case, the war will 
probably be over some while before the Ersatz Eertha is com- 
pleted. 
Lieutenant (Sheffield). — (1) The Agincourt was originally 
the Sultan Mchmet Rechad V. All her guns are mounted in 
the centre line, and she is practically the same as British 
ships of equal date. 
(2) The Chilian ships at the beginning of the war were 
the Almirante Latorre (taken over), and the Almirante Coch- 
rane. The ships building for foreign countries in German 
yqrds at the outbreak of the war were the Greek battle cruiser 
Salamis, two small Russian cruisers, Mooraviev Amxcrsl-y and 
Nevelskoij, and two destroyers for Holland. These were all 
taken over by the German Navy. Two or three other Chine.jo 
destroyers were reported to be on order, but it is doubtful if 
thej' have been commenced. 
At Monfalcone, in Austria, there were building for 
China one cruiser of 4,900 tons and throe cruisers of 1,900 
tons. In addition, at the Stabilimento Tecnico, twelve de- 
stroyers were on order for China, but it is doubtful if any 
of them were laid down at the outbreak of war. 
(3) The Lion and Tiger have the same armament, but 
the disposition is such that, whereas the former only bears 
two guns right aft, the latter bears four. Our first ship to 
carry 15-inch guns was laid down so long ago as October, 
1912, whereas the first German ship mounting 15-inch guns 
was not laid down until April, 1913, and they can hardly 
complete her much before the end of the present year. 
J. L. G. (Westminster). — (1) I think that it is extremely 
probable, if not certain, that the East Coast raids were 
" managered " by German agents in this country. 
(2) The question you raise as to why, if the Formidable 
was really sunk by a German submarine, the German Ad- 
miralty has not published the number of that vessel, is very 
intricate. Personally I still keep an open mind on the ques- 
tion, and think that it is quite on the cards that she blun- 
dered into a mine which had broken adrift, and that the 
second explosion had something to do with the boilers. 
An alternate possibility is that if it were a German sub- 
marine she went down with her victim. 
(3) So far as attrition is concerned, the Germans are cer- 
tainly making nothing out of it, nor are they ever likely to 
do so. 
H. H. (Le Court). — As regards your query about the 
German submarine coming alongside a victim flying the whito 
ensign, it is idle to discuss whether the Germans were right 
or wrong in doing so. Up to a certain point the rules of naval 
warfare allow of the misuse of flags, but the Germans are 
bound by no laws or rules whatever; and there is nothing 
more to be said. 
M. H. L. S. (Reading). — Many thanks for yours. la 
reply : If the Admiralty suppresses good news they have 
probably some strategical object in view in doing so, and 
their reticence should be supported at all costs. 
8. M. M. (Edi4;iburgh). — I am sorry, but I do not think 
that it is advisable to discuss the scheme to which you refer, 
though it may interest you to know that it was invented by 
a German, and that if our people make use of it the Kaiser 
is being hoist by his own petard. 
M. T. W. (Scarborough). — I am greatly interested in your 
letter. The figure eleven on a piece of shell which landed 
near you does not go for anything, because the Germans use 
the metric system. 
The " washers " to which you refer are probably the 
bands round the shell, which enable it to grip the rifling when 
leaving the gun. If there was an 8.2, that would probably 
have come from the Torek, which was known to have been 
there. 
The only other German armoured cruiser with four fun- 
nels which could have paid attention to you is the Boon ; 
the other two four-funnellers, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 
were attended to by Admiral Sturdee off the Falkland Islands. 
All the battle cruisers have two funnels only, and the 
Bliicher only had two funnels. I think you may take it that 
it was either the Boon or the Torch which paid its attentions 
to you and your fellow-townsmen, although the story exists 
to the effect that the Von der Tann was in that particular 
" baby-killing expedition," and got hit from behind by a 
torpedo from a British destroyer. 
J. R. P. (Grantham). — (1) I am afraid that it is outside 
my province to advise the particular newspaper you mention 
" not to make an ass of itself over the perspective of naval 
operations." It is the prerogative of the halfpenny press to 
lay things on thick. The reason they do so is that their 
public demands it. 
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