By Our Naval Correspondent.
The country has now had the Admiralty official and semi-official announcements concerning the Battle of Horn Reef supplemented by many accounts from participators and spectators. Our people can draw but one inference from these narratives and personal experiences, and this should give them the liveliest satisfaction and joy. The British seamen are fully persuaded that they have defeated the German Fleet. They are ready and anxious to meet it again. All the reports of the homecoming of the Grand Fleet after the action agree that the ships’ companies are proud of their achievements, maintain the utmost confidence in their leaders, and are convinced that, if the enemy should give them another chance, British valour and British skill will make the victory a decisive one.
Nothing like this comes from the other side. While our brief and depressing official communiques were not calculated to arouse enthusiasm, those of the German authorities were obviously intended, by their announcements of exaggerated victory, to impose on the credulity of the German public. We may, however, doubt if the German seamen are so proud of themselves, or so completely assured of the competence of their commanders, since they had to run for home to avoid disaster. The crews of the German vessels are composed of men of a high level of general intelligence, and it is inconceivable that they should feel very up-hearted by the inglorious termination of their cruise. Well-disciplined as they are, they may respond with cheers to the visit of the German Emperor, but even the presence of the All-Highest cannot remove the feeling of discomfiture inseparable from their first experience of contact with the British Fleet.
Such few remarks as have been attributed to the men who have been saved, while they exhibit thankfulness for preservation, show none of the jubilation which would be expected from men who believed themselves to be victors in the fight. The German people, too, must presently revise the first impressions drawn from the boastful and misleading statements which caused their premature rejoicings.
THE SUPERB CREWS.
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Every fresh detail of the action, as it becomes known, must increase the faith of the British nation in the protection and security afforded by its Navy. Everybody must feel that the fighting was magnificent, whether or not they agree that the tactics were faultless or the strategical policy incomparably skilful. The tenacity of Beatty’s bull-dog grip must excite admiration, even though the dogged resolution with which the battle-cruiser squadron endeavoured to hold the enemy only partially achieved its purpose. The prowess of the seamen-gunners was only equalled by the endurance of the men in the engine-rooms and stokeholds of the ships, and the imperturbability of the officers directing, under most distracting conditions, the deliberate fire of their batteries.
This also at a time when the force opposed to them was constantly increasing in numbers and strength, and there were other circumstances which manifestly operated to their disadvantage. From many quarters there is evidence of the accuracy of the marksmanship of our gunners, both in the vessels first engaged and those which came to their assistance, as is shown by the terrible hammering given to the German ships. Few things, also, could be finer than the spectacle described by an eye-witness, presented by the conduct of the men directing and fighting the guns of the battleship Marlborough after she had been struck by a torpedo. Coolly and calmly they continued to engage the enemy while another part of her company was occupied in an endeavour to make good some of the damage caused by the mishap. The temporary repairs fortunately proved effective. The efficiency of the Fleet as a machine was as conspicuous as the dauntless courage of the seamen. We are told that the vessels were handled as if on manoeuvres. The torpedoes from the submarines were evaded by the dexterous use of the helm.
Nothing, moreover, speaks so highly of the engineering department of the Fleet as the fact that the ships were taken a voyage of 400 miles, fought the action, and returned without, so far as is known, a single breakdown. This wonderful freedom from serious defect in their mechanism is a tribute to the care and skill of the engineers, the unremitting labour of the firemen, and the high quality of the material put into the vessels by the British manufacturers. It bears out the testimony of Mr Alexander Richardson in the current issue of the Naval Annual that, “alike for its efficiency and reliability, the propelling machinery of our warships has been well able to endure almost continuous high speed steaming in all weathers, and especially amid the wild gales of the northern seas, necessary during the progress of the war.”
Trustworthy and effective motive power in the ships is as essential to victory as perfect marksmanship in the gunnery department.
THE TORPEDO FLOTILLAS.
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Particularly noteworthy was the work accomplished by the torpedo flotillas, upon whom devolved, in addition to the protection of the larger vessels from their submarine assailants, a series of successive attacks upon the enemy’s ships by day and night. That they had to engage more numerous forces of their own character many observations by those present show to be the case. Apart from the fact that the actions occurred in the vicinity of the German ports, which would permit the enemy to bring into play even his oldest and smallest torpedo boats, it appears to be conclusively demonstrated that there was a preponderance of hostile destroyers of later types. From the names of the British torpedo craft mentioned there were with our Fleet at least two flotillas, one composed of the newer “N” class, including the Nomad and Nestor, and the other of the “K” class. The latter, to judge by its larger losses, sustained the brunt of the encounters with the German surface vessels. In this flotilla, which used to be called the Fourth, the Tipperary, flying the pennant of Captain C J Wintour. had succeeded the Swift as leader, and in it were the Acasta, Ardent, Fortune, Porpoise, Shark, and Sparrowhawk.
The indomitable spirit and determination of the men in the destroyers, not less than the practised and adroit proficiency of their young commanders, is indicated by the success of their endeavours, while we know from the semi-official account that, although destroyer onslaughts by the enemy boats were continually attempted, not a single torpedo launched from them got home. It is advisable to reserve comment upon the strategy which led to and the tactics employed in the battle of Horn Reef until the dispatches of the Commander-in-Chief and the squadron leaders are made public. There are, however, some matters clearly beyond the realm of speculation.
Whatever may have been the enterprise or mission which Vice-Admiral von Scheer set out to accomplish on the morning of May 31, it is indisputable that he was forced to return to the shelter of his fortified bases without its fulfilment. As Admiral Mahan has said, “There is such a thing as the sterile glory of fighting battles and still more of running risks the object of which is not worth the possible loss.”
The battle of Horn Reef leaves the general naval situation exactly as it was before, but with this important qualification - that the officers and men of the High Sea Fleet have now all experienced what it is to meet British seamen, and have had a taste of what they must expect if they again venture to challenge an action. More than this, by the move they made last Wednesday, and the treatment they received, they have to a very large extent prejudiced their ability to accomplish any great naval undertaking in the Baltic. At the same time, they have enhanced the excellent spirit which prevails in every section of the British Fleet and its auxiliary services. Not an officer or man but has renewed faith in the issue, and is ready, with sincere resolution and burning ardour, to meet any duty the country may require of him.