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462 ILLUSTRATE.,
IS NEW YOR:
(Continued
the main British fleet. It is now in latitude
x, longitude y. It is steaming northeast.
Weather conditions, sky graying,
mist rising off Jutland. Wind conditions,
thirty knots. Breeze blowing from
northeast, heavy water developing along
line of Beatty's course. Will keep in
touch with him and report."
The message was from one of the
Zeppelins that had left Heligoland.
"Attack," ordered the German Admiral.
Ready for just such a moment, the German
High Sea's fleet got under way,
moving like a perfect peace of mechanism.
It was as if the wireless message
from the Zeppelin touched a button, setting
things in motion. Surrounded by
his staff the German Admiral studied the
information in the message. The Zeppelin
had told him the latitude and
longitude Admiral Beatty's fleet was in
at the moment of the observation.
It had given him the time the observation
was made. It had given him the
direction the English fleet was steaming.
The rest was a simple calculation. He
knew how fast the English fleet could
steam. Therefore, he knew that at such
and such an hour following such and
such a course, it would be in a given
place. The Zeppelin had told him where
the water was rough, the direction of the
wind, the fact that there was a mist
rising off the Danish Coast. That made
everything very simple.
The German Admiral's problem was
to take his fleet to a part of the North
Sea where it would be hidden in gathering
mist banks, yet where it would come
in contact with the British. He also had
to select such a position that would give
the British rough water to fight in—for
rough water seesaws the decks of a ship,
and makes it more difficult to aim a gun.
What else happened you have read in
the newspapers. How with overwhelming
odds in their favor the German's
High Seas Fleet caught Beatty's battle
cruiser squadron and played havoc with
it until the British main fleet could come
L IN DANv.
rotn page 335)
up to the rescue, J. have also read
that the Germans made their escape to
Cuxhaven before the big English fleet
under Jellicoe could get them. Have
you ever wondered why? Was it luck
that they just got the Germans away in
time ?
But after all, the question that agitates
the American public at present is not the
problem whether Zeppelins can harass
and help destroy the United States Navy,
but whether our Atlantic Coast cities are
in any danger from an invasion of these
monstrous air dreadnaughts. Is New
York, is Boston, is Baltimore, is Atlanta
threatened seriously ?
London has had a number of airship
raids as we all know. At no one time,
however, did more than six Zeppelins
appear in the sky above London, and
these remained for only a short space of
time. It is probable that the purpose of
sending out these expeditions was more
for psychological effect than for the
actual damage the air-craft could inflict.
Millions of dollars worth of property
was destroyed, of course, and a few lives
were sacrificed, but on the whole these
airship raids cost England less than they
cost Germany.
At the time I left Germany, there were
ninety-eight Zeppelins in commission.
Even if all of this fleet—a great number
of which are used constantly for border
scouting work and cannot be released—
were to assault London, they could not
demolish the whole city, because of the
limited bomb equipment which they
could carry.
Even supposing that this whole fleet
could be released to attack New York
City, that it could negotiate the transatlantic
voyage intact, and it should
appear in the skies of our Eastern
metropolis with the intention of doing the
greatest possible damage, the result would
be a catastrophe for certain property
owners in New York City but would
disturb the welfare of the whole city very
little.