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 THE GERMAN FLEET

 _BEING THE COMPANION VOLUME TO "THE FLEETS AT WAR"
 AND "FROM HELIGOLAND TO KEELING ISLAND."_

 BY
 ARCHIBALD HURD

 AUTHOR (JOINT) OF "GERMAN SEA-POWER, ITS RISE, PROGRESS
 AND ECONOMIC BASIS."

 HODDER AND STOUGHTON
 LONDON      NEW YORK      TORONTO
 MCMXV




CONTENTS


 CHAPTER                                                   PAGE

   INTRODUCTION                                              7

   I. PAST ASCENDENCY                                       19

  II. THE FIRST GERMAN FLEET                                26

 III. GERMANY'S FLEET IN THE LAST CENTURY                   51

  IV. BRITISH INFLUENCE ON THE GERMAN NAVY                  80

   V. THE GERMAN NAVY ACTS                                  93

  VI. GERMAN SHIPS, OFFICERS, AND MEN                      142

 VII. WILLIAM II. AND HIS NAVAL MINISTER                   155

 APPENDIX I.--GERMANY'S NAVAL POLICY                       183

 APPENDIX II.--BRITISH AND GERMAN SHIP-BUILDING
 PROGRAMMES                                                189




INTRODUCTION


In the history of nations there is probably no chapter more fascinating
and arresting than that which records the rise and fall and subsequent
resurrection of German sea-power.

In our insular pride, conscious of our glorious naval heritage, we are
apt to forget that Germany had a maritime past, and that long before
the German Empire existed the German people attained pre-eminence in
oversea commerce and created for its protection fleets which exercised
commanding influence in northern waters.

It is an error, therefore, to regard Germany as an up-start naval
Power. The creation of her modern navy represented the revival
of ancient hopes and aspirations. To those ambitions, in their
unaggressive form, her neighbours would have taken little exception;
Germany had become a great commercial Power with colonies overseas, and
it was natural that she should desire to possess a navy corresponding
to her growing maritime interests and the place which she had already
won for herself in the sun.

The more closely the history of German sea-power is studied the more
apparent it must become, that it was not so much Germany's Navy
Acts, as the propaganda by which they were supported and the new and
aggressive spirit which her naval organisation brought into maritime
affairs that caused uneasiness throughout