OCR Text |
Show WILL THE BIG WARSHIPS FIGHT? Repeatedly the question is asked: Will the British fleet attempt to dig the German navy out of its hole? " . Of late English papers have been expressing their impatience because the great warships of the allies do not proceed to the mouth of the Kiel canal and destroy the waterway. Much of this criticism is from the outsider who knows little of the problems prob-lems involved. Before our navy went into the fighting zone, American, officers of-ficers were quoted as favoring a more aggressive policy than Admiral Beatty was pursuing, but our warships so far have made no move toward Heligoland. Heligo-land. One big essential in an offensive at sea today is protection against submarine sub-marine and mines, and while both remain re-main a source of extreme danger, battleships bat-tleships will be slow to enter into hostile waters. Exports, who know all the difficulties difficul-ties and who weigh the prospects of defeat or vlctdry, have been dealing wltjh the strategy involved in an attack on the German warships at their base, and they, no doubt, have decided the risk is too great except as a last resort. re-sort. But should the allies work out a complete defense against the U-boats and mines, at least a closer blockade of German porta may be expected. |