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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 4 (August 1, 1932)

Lessons of Raiding

Lessons of Raiding.

In the late Count Felix von Luckner, the German naval spirit has something to counter the memory of Scapa Flow. Von Luckner's Seeadler was the farthest-ranging of the German raiders, and mined even the coasts of the Antipodes; and though he ended the war in captivity in New Zealand, his record was such as to eminently fit him to take part in the rebuilding of Germany's navy by leading, in a training ship, “the flower of German youth.” It is one of the tricks of fate that so adventurous a war voyager should die in a time of peace, with many of his lads, through a mere storm in the Baltic. But his memory will remain green in German naval annals. And it shows why, under disarmament, Britain requires a larger number of smaller cruisers rather than a smaller number of larger. The Seven Seas need a large number of police units when raiders are so hard to find.