When I had memorized all the charts,
they covered the names of the battle ships thereon and made me repeat
the types. For instance, I would say, "That is a _Queen Mary_ type of
battle cruiser. The other is of the _Ajax_ type. That destroyer is
of the _Viper_ type." And so on. There are well-defined
architectural lines to every group of ships in the British navy and
these silhouettes I learned to know by heart before I was permitted to
leave Berlin.
Moreover, I had to brush myself up in topography and trigonometry. In
England--so I learned from my instructions--it would be necessary to
calculate distances, to take observations on the exact nature of the
newly reconstructed Rossyth base near Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth;
besides keeping in touch with things in Cromarty.
I was to watch especially the new Rossyth base and to report progress
on armaments, new equipment, anything of use to the German Admiralty.
I was to keep tab on all the British Beet maneuvers then in progress
on the Scottish coast. It must be understood that the bases at
Rossyth and Cromarty were Great Britain's answer to Germany's powerful
naval base at Helgoland. So far as Germany's northern coasts are
concerned, the Scottish coast is the most convenient point of attack
for Great Britain. Fearing the unforeseen spark firing the hostile
minds of the people of the two nations, Germany was thus preparing to
be instantly informed of any sudden demonstration by the English
fleets off Scotland.
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