Admiral von Scheer, who recently gave up the command of
the German Fleet to become Chief of the Admiralty Staff, has persuaded the Emperor to accord " greater freedom than hitherto " to the Staff " with a view to naval warfare." Captain von Leyetzow has been appointed Director of Naval Operations at Main Head- quarters, to issue orders to individual detachments and commanders. According to the Cologne Gazette, the German Navy had hitherto lacked a centralized direction, though Admiral von Tirpitz, when in office as Secretary of State, controlled everything by sheer force of personality. It looks as if the German Government hope to make some use of their battleships and cruisers, now that the submarines have failed and the war on land is going so badly for Germany. Nothing would please our Navy, and the Allied Navies, better than the sight of the German Fleet outside its harbours, but that pleasure may still be deferred.
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