More than six months ago a thoughtful German, Rudolf Troetsch, wrote a book called Germany’s Fleet in the Decisive Struggle, in which he weighs the different tasks the fleet will be called upon to perform in case of war, and comes ever and again to the conclusion that a battle on the high seas is the only possible option—a battle im grossen Stile, in the grand style. Even if the enemy’s fleet is not conquered it can be greatly weakened and strategy and tactics will go far to make up for want of numbers.
Troetsch begins by showing the different methods an enemy will be likely to pursue; and one sees throughout that he has England in mind. First of all will come—as has already happened—the so-called cruiser war or attempt to destroy the country’s commerce by snapping up her merchant ships. This can eventually end the war by the starvation process; that is, by cutting off all food and other supplies. According to the Paris international agreement of 1856 there shall be no privateering, which means that individuals may not fit out ships and take prizes, but does not mean that the property of individuals, if they are subjects of one or other of the warring powers, may not be seized. Prizes of war may either be towed into the nearest port or, after the crews and passengers have been taken off, may be sent to the bottom with all their cargo. To be effective, however, this method of warfare must be methodically pursued, which means regularly employing a force of swift cruisers. The method had its warm advocates in naval circles, especially in France about thirty years ago. There is a strong feeling at present that the game is not worth the candle and that there are other tasks for the cruisers to perform which are of more importance. For a country which has few foreign coaling stations into which the prizes can be towed but very little is to be gained; while a naval battle is greatly to be preferred to having an enemy try these tactics.
Another method that may be applied against Germany is the blockading of her North Sea coast. A blockade, according to the Paris declaration of 1856 and again according to the London conference of 1908, must be effective in order to be binding; a country may not, in other words, simply declare an enemy’s coasts in a state of blockade, but must have enough ships there to enforce the regulations. A successful blockade hinders even neutral ships from landing and is the best way of preventing the entry of contraband of war and of paralyzing all commerce. The form of Germany’s coast line fairly invites to a blockade, much more than do the coasts either of England or France. A line drawn from Holland to Denmark would form the hypothenuse of a triangle including the mouths of Germany’s chief rivers, her main seaports as well as all her North Sea islands. The Baltic, too, could be easily shut off from the ocean, and with the enemy’s ships all bottled up there would be no fear of a descent on the coasts of England.
This sounds well in theory, but in practise the difficulties will be well-nigh insuperable. Those who know the coast will remember the miles and miles of shallows—the so-called Wattenmeer so difficult to navigate. In time of war all lighthouses and buoys are removed and, if they approach the shore, the English ships will inevitably run aground, while the German torpedo-boats and submarines will be in their very element. Floating mines, too, will get in their deadly work, as will also the strings of fixed mines which are ignited not by percussion but by means of an electric current controlled from the shore. The German fleet can retire well up the great streams and menace the enemy there; while it must not be forgotten that the great cannon of the coast defenses can shoot fifteen kilometers (nine and three-eighths miles) or more. Finally the islands in the neighborhood, notably Borkum and Wangerood, are fortified, and last but not least, there is Helgoland far out in the sea. A whole fleet could not take this Gibraltar of the North. The rocky walls are very hard; indeed, with true German thoroughness, they have been tested to see if they would successfully withstand bombardment. Under their shelter a harbor for torpedo-boats and submarines has been built at a cost of thirty million marks. From here they can issue forth and here, protected from afar by the great guns, they can take refuge and form new projects.
Troetsch considers it more than likely that England will proceed to a blockade, but a blockade not in the narrow but in a broader sense. One objection to the narrower blockade would be that her naval bases, necessary for repairs, fuel and ammunition, would be very far away. But this can be obviated if the blockading line begin somewhere between Dover and Calais, extend along the east coast of Scotland, with bases at Rosyth and Scapa Flow, and end near the southernmost point of Norway, Cape Lindesnaes. This would shut every exit from the North Sea to the Atlantic and at the same time encircle all the exits from the Baltic: the Skager Rak and Cattegat and the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Here England could carry on what is known as an “observation blockade,” biding her time to fall upon the enemy’s fleet.
The great disadvantage is that the blockading line will have to be so very long. The surface of the North Sea is about equal to that of the whole German Empire, and such a line as we have traced would extend for two hundred fifty or three hundred miles. It is a question if even England’s enormous fleet can spare the requisite number of ships. Such a blockading fleet consists not only of a long chain of vessels close together but also of a supporting fleet and, behind that, of the real battle squadrons. The whole force must be nearly double that of the enemy, as it operates on a much broader line. The foggy stormy weather that is apt to prevail in the North Sea will also render the blockade less efficient.
Germany is likely to attempt to break it and to bring about a great naval battle at the earliest opportunity. But that opportunity may not come so very soon. Reventlow, speaking indeed of a hypothetical war, declares that such a blockade may last a year or longer. Germany has too much at stake to risk her small but excellent fleet before the tactical moment has come. Will her Zeppelins help her to victory? That is the question that all are asking now. They are but fragile toys in a stormy sea, but, with circumstances in their favor, may achieve wonderful results.
When it does come to the battle on the high seas into which Germany will surely force England, we shall see modern tactics put to their supreme test, for only by tactical superiority can Germany hope to win. In an old-fashioned battle in which the ships rushed at each other pellmell, or in one in which the rival fleets simply lie to and pound each other she would be sure to lose. A modern battle is much more a game of skill in which the victory is not to the strongest but to the cleverest.
In a modern battle the ships are ever and always moving. Not that the maneuvers are necessarily complicated, but there goes on the whole time a constant thrust and parry. There are different kinds of encounters. First there is the running fight, in which the two fleets, the vessels one behind the other, run in the same direction, firing all the while. Here the strength of the ships, the power of the guns and the quickness of the gunners play the decisive part. The more turrets, funnels, engine-rooms and stearing gear put out of commission, so much the better. The so-called passing fight, where the fleets run not in the same but in opposite directions, is apt to be preferred by a fleet that is numerically weaker. The agony is less prolonged and escape is easier. Then there is the circular fight, in which the fleets are like great serpents trying to catch one another’s tails. The circular fight can follow directly after the passing fight when the fleets have not been seriously crippled.