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-THE FATHERIUAND.
are not fooled even a little bit as to the truth of the great naval
battle of 'May 31. ‘
“It doesn't require a technical education to detennine the facts,”
I heard one of them explain to a member of the Foreign Affairs
Committee.
“The distance from the Orkney Islands to a point midway be-
tween Horn’s Riff and Skagerrack, where the battle took place, is
approximately 450 miles," he said. “It is obvious that the British
fleet did not come all that distance except for one purpose-that of
destroying the German fleet and entering Vllilhelmshaven and the
Kiel Canal. If the battle had taken place within 150 miles of the
English or Scottish coast it would have been evidence that it was the
Germans who had undertaken a sally. But it took place off the
Danish coast, on the opposite side of the North Sea, a great distance
from Great Britain. Hence, I believe Admiral von Hofe’s state-
ment that the Germans, ‘steaming northward, met the British High
Seas fleet appearing from the direction of Scotland in full strength
and confident that it "was about to gain the mastery of the North
Sea.’ Admiral von Hofe is supported by the London Observer’:
naval correspondent, who, as you see in Sunday's dispatches, ques-
tions ‘if it was ever sound strategy to seek the Germans on their
side of the North Sea.’
"Now, it being fairly proven, that the British went over to ‘pull
the German rats out of their holes,’ as Churchill declared-it follows
that the papers are not telling the truth when they say that the
British suffered their greatest losses because they had nothing but
cruisers and small craft engaged in the early stages of the battle.
The English Admiralty could not be so hopelessly dense as to under-
take such an expedition nearly 500 miles from base without their
heaviest battleships.
“This contention is fully supported by VV. Orton Tewson, staff
correspondent of the International News Service, who telegraphs
from London under date of June 2: ‘There were eleven British
battlcsliips which took part in the actual fighting-four of which
arrived early in the fighting and later a division of seven.’
“I attach no importance whatever to the statement that ‘according
to Admiral Jellicoe, the misty weather saved them (the Germans)
from annihiliation.’ The annihiliation seems to have been per-
formed by the other side, for the British lost not only the greater
number of ships but two of their admirals were killed in the battle,
‘besides three times the men lost by the Germans. The Statement
is furthermore disproved by the destruction credited to the German
Zcppelins by the English themselves. If it was too misty for Jelli-
coe to pursue a fleeing foe, it would have been utterly impossible
for the Zcppelins to operate so successfully, for it is inordinately
difficult to drop bombs with any degree of accuracy upon a moving
object like a squadron of warships even in clear weather.
“You win find none of these ‘trimmings’ in the oflicial British
report, which even denies that it has any knowledge of the super-
dreadnought Hindenburg having been sunk, as so loudly announced
in the irresponsible London dispatches.
“I find that the London papers themselves haven’t the ‘heart to
deny that the British got the worst of the fight Tim Daily New‘
is candid enough to admit: ‘Our losses were twice those of the
enemy. Defeat in the Jutland engagement must therefore be ad-
mitted.’ This is more candid than the average New York paper on
the subject. The Pall Mall Gazelle admits: ‘Our losses in sl11P5
evidently were greater than the enemy's.’ And tllc 5lG"dl"’d '5 0f
the opinion that the polio)’ of Sending 11 fleet 0V“ to cwsh the G?"
man fleet was a serious blunder. It says: ‘We fear that the ‘PONY
which resulted in the loss of so man)’ “V95 “d Ships is d”ec”y
traceable to the influence upon naval strategy of Civil alarm 0“ the
east coast and the demand of some of our emotional people-that WE
fleet do something spectacular.’ It might 113"? added that um ""””"
mental failure of the British fleet owes its inception no less to the
demand of England’s allies, France, Russia and Italy.‘ thai the
British fleet make good its boast of 300 years and do a litfle fight‘
ing on its own account. '
"The early German and British ofl-icial reP0l’t5 d0 not ‘"j"y mate’
Tlally. The positive manner in which the German Admiralty an-
nounced the destruction of the lVar5P""’ makes ""3 tl‘’",k that ihe
British may be pursuing the same course that they did in denying
so long the destruction of other of their best vessels on previous
297
occasions. To admit that the best vessel in the British navy had
been sunk would come very near to creating a revolution in Eng-
land. It is admitted that the Wa-r.r[:ite was badly damaged as was
the Marlborough-first reported by the Germans to have been
struck by a torpedo. It is possible that the damage was so great’
that both vessels will be out of the running hereafter. When you
consider that the British Admiralty was guilty of reporting the sink-
ing of the Moltke and decorating the English officer, who it was
alleged sank her, whereas the ship was later reported unharmed by
American investigators, and then recall how often the Gacbcn has
been destroyed, you can form your own idea of the impeccability of
the British reports.
“I can hardly see how England can possibly claim a victory, when
by her own admission she suffered at least twice the material damage
and twice the loss of life that the Germans did, and when both
Rear-Admiral Horace Hood and Rear-Admiral Robert J. Arbuth-
not were killed, while both Vice-Admiral Scheer and Vice-Admiral
Hipper returned to their base.
“As I see it, the Germans were informed by their scouts that the
British High Seas fleet was coming, and they steamed northward to
meet it; they did meet it and defeated it. According to the Nor-
wegian trawler he met from severity to eighty British ships and
from forty to fifty German war vessels of all kinds. Vice-Admiral
Hebbinghaus officially informed the Reichstag that ‘at least thirty-
four British battleships were engaged in the fight.’ This would
be about the proper proportion. Besides the German ofhcial reports
have seldom if ever misstated the facts. If the Wertfalen had been
sunk I believe the German Admiralty would have acknowledged it
as freely as it did the Pommern, the Wiesbaden, Frauenlob and the
Elbing.
“When you consider that in the first reports the British said they
were defeated because of the ‘low visibility’ of the German fleet
and that the'later reports said Jellicoe failed to annihilate the Ger-
mans because of misty weather, you must come to the conclusion
that any old excuse is better than none, and if Archibald Hurcl, ‘the
foremost naval expert in England,’ is right that ‘the British chased
the whole German fleet off the seas,’ one wonders why there is such
a clamor in England for Admiral Fisher to resume chief command
of the British navy.
“The British "Admiralty held the report of the battle twenty-four
hours, and it was not issued until it‘ coiild be seen what the Germans
would say. If the battle had been a British victory, the Admiralty,
of course, would have fairly howled about it. No, the story of the
British victory is supplied by the correspondents.” F. F. S.
‘THE BRITISH ADMIRALTY’S REPORT OF THE
GREAT SEA FIGHT -
EAR FATHERLAND:--In these days of forged “Urkundeii,”
the following forgery is easily inspired by this morning's news:
Report of the British Admiralty.
We are now in position to publish details of the great victory in
the North Sea. The In7;i'nci'bIc and Incomparable were destroyed
by gun-fire. The Defiance had an explosion in the boiler-room and
will need repairs. The Uiisiiikablc, Undaunted and Aiidaciaur were
lost; we have received only unconfirmed reports of the Victory,
while the Prestige has been towed to its base by the Denial, which
has since steamed out of port under sealed orders. Supremacy was
torpcdoed beneath the water-line; Confidence has considerable list
to port; Assurance is leaking badly. Neutral press-reports concern-
ing the dreadnoughts Ilfodcrty and Integrity are entirely without
foundation, as these names do not appear on the admiralty list. lVe
are in position to state, that our victorious fleet has returned almost
unharmed, headed by the flagship Bufiington. Throughout the en-
gagement the Insolence and the Impudence sustained not the slight-
est damage, and continue to be very effective in blockading neutral
trade and mail routes. There is no cause for alarm whatsoever, for
Britannia still waives the rules, and the supply ship Humanity has
just put in from New York with a mixed cargo of American citi-
zens and explosives.
Hoping that you enjoyed this morning's paper as much as I did.
. Truly,
Rev. H. S. vox RAGUE.