Friday, August 9, 2013

The Economist, Dispensing bad advice for 100 years

The Economist has been printing "news" for a long time.  Apparently age does not bring wisdom.  Donald Kagan ("On the Origins of War") quotes the 1910 Economist thus:  "the German fleet which has struck such panic is largely imaginary, and the supposed danger is  entirely due to the fact that the [British] Admiralty invented the Dreadnought and fostered the impression that this type of ship superseded all others."
  This is writing a mere six years before the climactic show down between the Royal Navy and the Imperial High Seas Fleet at Jutland.  Had the Germans had a bit more combat luck they might have sunk the Royal Navy that afternoon.  They came close enough for the Kaiser to claim a great victory for German arms.  Real victory would have put the High Seas Fleet in the Atlantic, breaking the British blockade of Germany and sinking Allied merchantmen bound for England.  Which would have won the war for Germany in a matter of weeks. 
   Dreadnought was a break thru design, so effective that after her launch all battleships were described as "Dreadnoughts" or "Pre dreadnoughts".  She had new technology steam turbine engines that made her the faster ship afloat.  No enemy vessel could get away from Dreadnought if she wished to fight, and no enemy vessel could catch her should she decide to flee.  Her big guns were all the same caliber, which improves the the chances of a hit when gunnery is a matter of firing a salvo and watching for the splashes.  Dreadnought's gunnery officer did not have to sort out splashes from various sizes of guns to correct his aim.  He knew that all Dreadnought's splashes were from the 12 inch main battery, and aiming corrections would bring the 12 inch fire onto the target. 
   Dreadnought was launched in 1905, five years before the Economist's rant quoted above.  She fought in Jellicoe's battle line at Jutland in 1916. 

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