OCR Text |
Show German Navy Increasing Rapidly. Berlin. Captain Persius. a retired naval officer, again draws attention in the Kreuz Zeitung to the rapid increase in-crease in the power, of the German fleet. The first four battleships of the Dreadnought type will, he explains, take their places in the high seas Meet this year, and the first battleship-cruiser, battleship-cruiser, the Von der Tann, w ill probably proba-bly be put in commission next autumn, and thus a homogeneous division of these vessels will be ready for service at the front at the close of the year. With these ships added to it, states Captain Persius. the German fleet win surpass the French fleet, and be only slightly behind that of the United States. . Very shortly. Captain Persius continues, con-tinues, the large cruised G, which was begun in 1908. will leave the stocks, and in the course of next year three battleships of the 1909 program, the Ersatz Frithjof, the Hildebrand and the Heimdall, and probably also the large cruiser H, will be launched. Three battlships of the 1908 program, the Ostfreisland, the Helgoland and the Thuringen, which were launched this autumn, will also be ready for trial trips next year. The fleet is increasing in-creasing so rapidly that in the year 1911 it will be superior to that of the United States. In America, he says, only two large vessels, the Arkansas and the Wyoming, were laid down this year, and the construction of only two battleships is proposed to congress for the coming year. |