A WEEKLY REVIEW SUPPLEMENT TO “ THE GREAT WAR," PART 242.
N aval L o sses in th e W ar
Th e to tal w ar losses incurred by the N avies of
the A llies and the Central Powers have not y e t been
published officially. Th e following figures, how
ever, from an auth oritative source give some idea
of the respective losses :
G reat B ritain : B attleships, 13 ; battle-cruisers, 3 ;
cruisers, 25 ; m onitors, 6 ; destroyers, 64 ; torpedo-
boats, 10; subm arines, 5 0 ; sm all craft, 27. T otal,
550,000 tons.
F ra n c e : B attleships, 4 ; cruisers, 5 ; destroyers
14 ; torpedo-boats, 8 ; subm arines, 14 ; sm all craft,
9. T otal, 110,000 tons.
Ita ly : B attlesh ip s, 3 ; cruisers, 2 ; m onitors, 1 ;
destro y ers, 1 0; torp ed o -b o ats, 5 ; subm arines, 8.
T o tal, 76,000 tons.
J a p a n : B attlesh ip , 1 ; cruisers, 4 ; destroyers, 3 ;
to rp ed o -b o at, 1. T o tal, 50,000 tons.
U nited S tates : C ruiser, 1 ; destroyers, 2 ;
m arine, I. T o tal, 17,000 tons.
T o tal for all th e Allies : 803,000 tons.
E nem y losses are as follows :
G erm any : B attlesh ip , I ; battle-cru iser,
cruisers, 24 ; destroyers, 72 ; torpedo-boats,
subm arines, 205. T o tal, 350,000 tons.
sub-
1 :
51 :
A u stria-H u n g ary : B attlesh ip s, 3 ; cruisers, 2 ;
m onitors, 3 ; destro y ers, 5 ; to rp ed o -b o ats, 4 ; su b
m arines, 8. T o tal, 65,000 tons.
T o ta l for th e C entral Pow ers : 415,000 tons.
It is to be noted th at these figures include vessels
lost through accident as well as those sunk through
enem y action. Th is fact accounts for the large
num ber of battleships figuring in G reat B ritain ’s
losses. Th e to tal losses of G reat B ritain are m uch
larger than the losses of G erm any, her principal
adversary, and the to tal losses of Ita ly are larger
than those of Austria.
G erm any’s sm all losses in big battle craft and the
to tal absence of losses in sm all craft are a rem inder
th at the principal portion of her F leet rem ained
bottled up through the war.
On the other hand, her trem endous losses in
subm arines te stify to the ceaseless w ar w aged, not
against the Fleets of her opponents, but against
m erchantm en and fishing vessels.
G erm any has offered the G overnorship of Silesia
to Prince F elix Lichnow sky, who has accepted.
Historic Cartoons of the G reat W ar
A G R E A T N A V A L T R IU M P H .
German Subm arine O ffice r: “ T h is ought to make them jealous in the sister
service. Belgium saw nothing better than t h is ."
(R ep ro d u ced fr o m “ Punch,” A p r il 7, 1915, by p e r m is s io n o f the I ’ roprietorts.)
S h rap n el H elm ets
A ll the shrapnel helmets used b y the British
troops during the w ar were finished in the centre
of London. O ver seven and a quarter million
helmets were turned out, chiefly b y three thousand
girls w orking in factories in and around Tottenham
Court R oad. W hen the dem and was a t its
m axim um the average output was one hundred
and fifty thousand helmets a week.
This represented a trium ph for the British
m anufacturer in an entirely new field, as it was
acknow ledged before the end of the w ar th at the
British helm et, as finally approved, was the best
in the world.
The British then produced a one-piec# helmet
of m ild steel, which w ould resist a shrapnel bullet
of four hundred feet velocity per second. The
standard aim ed at, however, was seven hundred and
fifty feet velocity per s e c o n d ; and the problem
was to press hardened steel blanks into the now
fam iliar shape w ithout cracking the metal.
A t first, fo rty per cent, of the helmets had to
be rejected after pressing owing to the presence of
hair cracks ; and when the rem aining six ty per cent,
were p u t to the actual firing test the m etal failed.
Meanwhile, the public, not knowing the difficulties
to be contended with, could not understand w hy
the helmets were n ot being issued.
B y October, 1915, the design w as finally approved,
m anufacturing difficulties were overcome, and
issues in quantities made.
G erm any’s Arm y
The decision taken by the Supremo W ar Council
in Paris on March 10th, when the conclusions of the
m ilitary experts fixing the future stren gth of the
Germ an A rm y were adopted, is regarded as very
im portant.
G erm any is to be lim ited to an A rm y of one
hundred thousand men with tw elve years’ service,
and enlistm ent is to be voluntary. The decision,
which gives effect to Mr. L lo yd George’s view , is
regarded as the first step towards the dem ilitarisa
tion of the world and the abolition of conscription.
Other conditions are th at all Germ an war
material is to be handed over or d estro y ed ; no
Tanks to be built or any guns m anufactured over
six inches ; no more poison gas is to be m ade ;
sufficient w ar m aterial for one hundred thousand
men only is to be perm itted ; war colleges are to be
shut down ; and F leet personnel is to be restricted
to fifteen thousand.
Pillage in F ran ce
Th e Germ an depredations in the N orthern D e
partm ent of France from the beginning of the w ar
until A p ril 30th, 1917 (says the “ D aily Telegraph ” )
show figures sufficiently eloquent to disquiet those
pacifists who w ould treat the Germ an w ith leniency.
T h e follow ing m erchandise w as stolen b y the
Germ ans :
W oollen goods . . . . . . . . 274,910,397f
C otton wares . . . . . . . . 6,514,738f
H em p, linen, cloth, th rea d , an d can v as 106,347,324f
T extiles . . . . . . . . . . l,494,200f
R u b b er . . . . . . . . . . 4,531,169f
L eath er . . . . . . . . . . 4,426,612f
W ood .......................................................... 3,190,262f
B uilding m aterials . . . . . . 10,361,956f
T o t a l ............................................ 41 l,776,658f
(A bout £16,470,000).
T o these robberies m ust be added from
£100,000,000 to £150,000,000 dam ages and de
terioration to m ills and workshops, h eavy w ar
contributions, and fines imposed by the Germ ans
during th eir occupation. Th e figures for 1918 are
not known. ----- —
G oth a S creen s
It is officially announced th at the plan of
suspending entanglem ents from balloons to check
aeroplane attacks was patented as early as 1913.
Several hundreds of proposals of this nature had
been received b y the Inventions D epartm ent and
considered b y the responsible authorities by
October, 1917.
The plans actu ally adopted in October, 1917,
were from designs of screens used in the defence of
Venice, and any credit for their initial adoption
and operation is due to the Italian Governm ent.
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