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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdf65aa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56027 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56027) diff --git a/old/56027-0.txt b/old/56027-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d4f866f..0000000 --- a/old/56027-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2829 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Achievement of the British Navy in the -World-War, by John Leyland - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Achievement of the British Navy in the World-War - -Author: John Leyland - -Release Date: November 22, 2017 [EBook #56027] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACHIEVEMENT--BRITISH NAVY--WORLD-WAR *** - - - - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. The -book cover image was created by the transcriber and is -placed in the public domain. (This book was produced from -images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: Bold text is enclosed in =equals signs=; italic -text is enclosed in _underscores_. - - - - - THE ACHIEVEMENT - OF THE BRITISH - NAVY IN THE - WORLD - WAR - - [Illustration] - - By - JOHN LEYLAND - - - HODDER AND STOUGHTON - LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO - MCMXVII - - _E SHILLING_ - - - - - THE ACHIEVEMENT _of the_ BRITISH NAVY - IN THE WORLD-WAR :: JOHN LEYLAND - -[Illustration: THE KING CHATTING WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY] - - - - - THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE - BRITISH NAVY IN THE - WORLD-WAR - - BY - JOHN LEYLAND - - - [Illustration] - - - ILLUSTRATED - - - NEW YORK - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SEA SERVICE 1 - - II. THE CENTRE OF SEA-POWER 11 - - III. SWEEPING THE ENEMY FROM THE OCEANS 21 - - IV. THE GRASP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN: SEA- AND LAND-POWER 29 - - V. DEALING WITH THE SUBMARINES 37 - - VI. THE NAVY AND THE MINE 46 - - VII. THE NAVY AND ARMY TRANSPORT 55 - - VIII. THE NAVY THAT FLIES 64 - - IX. OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NAVY 71 - - X. WHAT THE BRITISH NAVY IS AND WHAT IT FIGHTS FOR 79 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - THE KING CHATTING WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - A BRITISH FLEET STEAMING IN LINE AHEAD 6 - - DRIFTERS WORKING AT SEA 6 - - A DRIFTER AT SEA: LOOKING FOR SUBMARINES AND MINES 22 - - A DRIFTER LAYING ANTI-SUBMARINE NETS 22 - - FLEETS IN ALLIANCE: BRITISH AND ITALIAN SHIPS IN THE ADRIATIC 38 - - ON BOARD THE _Queen Elizabeth_ AT MUDROS 38 - - A FLEET MANŒUVRING AT SEA 64 - - THE CAPTURED GERMAN SUBMARINE MINE-LAYER UC5 64 - - A BRITISH SUBMARINE 80 - - JOURNALISTS ON BOARD A MONITOR 80 - - -_MAPS:_ - - I. THE CENTRE OF SEA-POWER: THE NORTH SEA _At end of book_ - - II. THE GRASP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN: SEA- AND LAND-POWER - _At end of book_ - - - - - THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE BRITISH - NAVY IN THE WORLD-WAR - - - - -CHAPTER I - -DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SEA SERVICE - - Had I the fabled herb - That brought to life the dead, - Whom would I dare disturb - In his eternal bed? - Great Grenville would I wake, - And with glad tidings make - The soul of mighty Drake - Lift an exulting head. - - _William Watson._ - - -When King George returned from the visit he paid to the Grand Fleet -in June, 1917, he sent a message to Admiral Sir David Beatty, who had -succeeded Sir John Jellicoe in the command, in which he said that -“never had the British Navy stood higher in the estimation of friend -or foe.” His Majesty spoke of people who reason and understand. But -it is certainly true that the work of the Sea Service during this -unparalleled war has never been properly appreciated by many of -those who have benefited by it most. The silent Navy does its work -unobserved. The record of its heroism and the services it renders pass -unobserved by the multitude. Sometimes it emerges to strike a blow, -engage in a “scrap,” or, it may be, to fight a battle, and then it -retires into obscurity again. Its achievements are forgotten. Only the -bombardment of a coast town or the torpedoing of a big ship, which -the Navy did not frustrate, is remembered. Such has been the case in -all the naval campaigns of the past. Englishmen, who depend upon the -Navy for their security and the means of their life and livelihood, as -well as for their power of action against their enemies, are but half -conscious of what the Fleet is doing for them. On this matter, British -statesmen, when they speak about the war, almost invariably fail to -enlighten them. - -Who can wonder that people in the Allied countries are still less able -to realise that behind all the fighting of their own armies lies the -influence of sea-power, exercised by the British Fleet and the fleets -that came one after another into co-operation with it? Without this -power of the sea there could have been no hope of success in the war. -As the King said, the Navy defends British shores and commerce, and -secures for England and her Allies the ocean highways of the world. The -purpose of this book is to show how these things are done. - -On the first day of hostilities the British Navy laid hold upon the -road that would lead to victory. There is no hyperbole in saying that -the Grand Fleet, in its northern anchorages, from the very beginning, -influenced the military situation throughout the world, and made -possible many of the operations of the armies, which could neither have -been successfully initiated nor continued without it. But in the early -days of August, 1914, when, from the war cloud which had overshadowed -Europe, broke forth the lurid horrors of the conflict, the situation -was extremely critical. What was required to be done had to be done -quickly and unhesitatingly, lest the enemy should strike an unforeseen -blow. Happily, with faultless knowledge, the strategy of the emergency -was realised, and with unerring instinct and sagacity it was applied. -The foresight of great naval administrators, and chiefly of Lord -Fisher, who had brought about the regeneration of the British Navy, -shaping it for modern conditions, was justified a thousandfold. - -Never was the need of exerting sea command more urgent than at the -outbreak of war. Everything that Englishmen had won in all the -centuries of the storied past was involved in the quarrel. Only by -mastery of the sea could the country be made secure. Its soil had never -been trodden by an invader since Norman William came in 1066. The very -food that was eaten and the things by which the industries and commerce -of the country existed demanded control at sea. If the British Empire -was to be safe from aggression it must be safeguarded on every sea. If -England was to set armies in any foreign field of operations, and to -retain and maintain them there, with the gigantic supplies they would -require; if she was to render help to her Allies in men or munitions or -anything else, whether they came from England, or the United States, or -any other country, and were landed in France, Russia, Italy, or Greece, -or in Egypt, Mesopotamia, or East or West Africa, for the defeat of -the enemy, that must be done by virtue of power at sea. Therefore, in -this war, as John Hollond, writing his _Discourse of the Navy_ in 1638, -said of the wars of his time, “the naval part is the thread that runs -through the whole wooft, the burden of the song, the scope of the text.” - -The moment when the First Fleet, as it was then called, slipped away -from its anchorage at Portland on the morning of Wednesday, July -29th, 1914, will yet be regarded as one of the decisive moments of -history. The initiative had been seized, and all real initiative was -thenceforward denied to the enemy. The gauge of victory had been won. -“Time is everything; five minutes makes the difference between a -victory and a defeat,” said Nelson. “The advantage and gain of time and -place will be the only and chief means for our good,” Drake had said -before him. By a fortunate circumstance, which should have arrested -the imagination as with a presage of victory—a circumstance arranged -five months before, as the result of a series of most intricate -preparations—time and place were both on the British side. - -The First, Second, and Third Fleets, and the flotillas attached -to them, had been mobilised as a test operation, and inspected at -Spithead by King George, on July 20th. The First Fleet had returned to -Portland and the other fleets to their home ports, where the surplus or -“balance” crews of the Naval Reserves were to be sent on shore. Then -had come the now famous order to “stand fast,” issued on the night of -Sunday, July 26th, which had stopped the process of demobilisation. -Dark clouds had shadowed the international horizon. Austria-Hungary had -presented her ultimatum to Serbia. She declared war on the 28th. The -Second Fleet remained, therefore, in proximity to its reserves of men, -and the men were ready to be re-embarked in the Third Fleet. - -Few people realised at the time the immense significance of the -memorable eastward movement of the squadrons from Portland Roads, or -of the assembly of those powerful forces at their northern strategic -anchorages. Those forces became the Grand Fleet, that unexampled -organisation of fighting force, under command of that fine sea officer, -Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. War was declared by Great Britain on August -4th. Successive steps of supreme importance were taken, which, in very -truth, saved the cause of the Allies. Disaster and surprise attack were -forestalled. The Fleet, fully mobilised, and growing daily in strength, -was already exerting command of the sea, and the safe transport of the -Expeditionary Force to France was assured. Co-operation with the French -Fleet was immediately established—its cruiser squadron in the Channel -and its battle squadrons in the Mediterranean. - -Fighting episodes were not delayed, but for many months the operations -of the Grand Fleet remained shrouded as by a veil, lifted only on rare -occasions. Few people knew the tremendous anxieties and responsibility -of the British Commander-in-Chief. His vast command of vessels of all -classes and uses had to be organised into a mighty fleet, complete in -every element—battle squadrons, battle-cruiser squadrons, light-cruiser -squadrons, flotillas and auxiliaries, transports, hospital ships, -and every ship and thing that a fleet can require. A whole series of -intricate dispositions had to be made. Officers were to be inspired -with the ideas of the Commander-in-Chief and the whole Fleet was to be -so trained, under squadron and flotilla commanders, that each would -know on the instant how he should act. - -If Nelson, in 1789, spent many hours in explaining to his “band -of brothers” his plans for his attack at the Nile, with fourteen -sail-of-the-line, what must it have been for Sir John Jellicoe to -communicate to his officers, and discuss with them, all his plans for -every emergency or call for the service of every squadron and ship in -his vast command? All this must be realised now. And during the anxious -early months of the war, as the winter was drawing near, the great -anchorages were as yet unprotected, and safety from hostile submarines -could often only be found in rapid steaming at sea. The mining -campaign of the enemy had also to be overcome. The anxieties were -enormous, and it was only the power of command, the sea instinct, the -deep understanding, the readiness to act in moments of extraordinary -responsibility, and the resource and professional skill of the -Commander-in-Chief and his staff and officers in command, that enabled -the tremendous work to be accomplished. - -[Illustration: A BRITISH FLEET STEAMING IN LINE AHEAD] - -[Illustration: DRIFTERS WORKING AT SEA] - -While this was in progress other work of immense significance had been -going on. The Admiralty had undertaken a gigantic task of supreme -importance with complete success. Great defensive preparations were -made in British waters, where all traffic was regulated and controlled. -The vast maritime resources of the country were added to the naval -service. Two battleships building for Turkey, another for Chile, -and certain flotilla leaders and other craft building in the -country, were taken over. Officers and men in abundance were ready. -The magnificent seafaring populations of the merchant marine and the -fisheries were drawn into the naval service, and subsequently the whole -mercantile marine was brought under naval control, and for practical -purposes was embodied with the Navy. Officers and men of these services -showed splendid heroism in situations of terror and responsibility -never anticipated. - -A wide network of patrols was brought into being; the blockade was -organised and strengthened; the examination services were set on -foot and perfected; and the coast sectors of defence, with their -flotillas, were raised to a standard of high efficiency. Mine-sweepers -and net-drifters were at work. Every shipyard in the country and a -multitude of engineering and ammunition works began to buzz with work -for the Navy and the mercantile marine. Provision was made for dealing -with the raiding cruisers and armed merchantmen of the enemy. - -At the time, the public knew little or nothing of what was in progress. -Imagination fails even now to grasp the magnitude of what was achieved. -The naval share in the campaign was of baffling obscurity, while the -stage of the war on land became crowded with fighting men, locked in -a terrible conflict, which at that time seemed to bode no good to -the Allies. After the brush in the Heligoland Bight on August 28th, -1914, the Fleet was lost to view. Not at first, but slowly, did it -become realised that the prognostications of peace-time alarmists had -proved baseless. There had been no “bolt from the blue,” as had been -foretold; neither invasion, nor raid, nor foray was attempted upon -British shores, and there was no anxiety about food. There was always, -with economy, enough to eat. - -But popular confidence seemed for a time to be unreasonably -disturbed by a record of successive alarming and generally -unexplained incidents—the escape of the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ in -the Mediterranean, the sinking of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, _Hogue_, -_Formidable_, and other vessels, the depredations of German raiding -cruisers on the distant lines of our trade, the bombardment of -Hartlepool, Whitby, and Scarborough, and other disquieting episodes. -Strange as it may seem, there were people who went about asking, “What -is the Fleet doing?” Was it not the ancient inspiration of the Navy to -seek out the enemy and to capture or sink or burn his ships wherever -they were to be found? Yet there was no battle. The German coast was -not attacked. Allied shipping to the value of millions of pounds was -being sunk. Why, then, was the Navy inactive? When, later on, the -submarine menace assumed formidable proportions, alarm began again -to seize upon the newspapers, when there was justification only for -precaution. - -The hidden truth was not comprehended. Victories were expected when, -owing to the coyness of the enemy’s strategy, none were possible. -The Seven Years’ War—the most successful in British annals, the -turning-point in British history, the war in which Horace Walpole asked -each morning what victory there was to record—began with the disaster -of Minorca, followed by the tragedy of Byng. The central facts of naval -history were but little known. Yet the Navy was, and is, in truth, all -in all to the country, the Empire, and the Allies. - -Before we enter into the main purpose of this book, in which we shall -discover in several theatres of war the real nature of sea-power, as -well as the character and momentous consequences of the antagonism -which grew up between England and Germany, we may inquire what services -could in reason have been expected from the Navy in the great cataclysm -which was about to sweep with destruction over the nations. It would -not have been expected to fight a battle every month or even every -year, for battles are rare events in naval history. It would not -have been expected to attack fortified coasts, though it might do so -on occasions, because ships are designed and built to fight at sea. -The Navy would not have been expected to forestall every untoward -incident. Fish often slip through the net, as raiders have slipped -through our guard in this and other wars. Nor, in these days of the -stealthy submarine and the blind death-dealing mine, could the Fleet -have been expected to remain immune from every misfortune. No one could -have expected the Navy to devise a single conclusive defence against -the attack of the submarine, any more than it was asked to find an -infallible remedy for the effects of gunfire. - -What we should have expected was that it would make the sea again the -protecting wall, as Shakespeare says, of the British Isles, - - Or as a moat defensive to a house - Against the envy of less happier lands. - -We should have expected it to safeguard the incoming of the supplies -without which neither the people nor their industries could exist—to -be the panoply of all trade and interests afloat, whether in the -nature of imports or exports. We should have expected it to deny all -external activity to the enemy at sea—we might not have anticipated the -advent of the submarine as a pirate commerce-destroyer—to shut off his -sea-borne supplies, and to exert that noiseless pressure on the vitals -of the adversary of which Admiral Mahan speaks—“that compulsion, whose -silence, when once noted, becomes to the observer the most striking -and awful mark of the working of sea-power.” We should have expected -the Navy to become the support, in thrust and holding, of the armies -in the field—the shaft to their spearhead; their flank and rearguard -also. Inasmuch as the war is world-wide, and we have powerful Allies, -we should have expected naval influence and pressure to be manifested -in the oceans, in the Mediterranean, and, indeed, wherever the enemy is -and the seas are. Finally, we should have expected the Navy to be to -the British Empire what it has always been to the Empire’s heart—its -safeguard from injury and disruption, and the bond that holds it -together. - -Each one of these functions has been executed by in Navy with -triumphant success in the war, and history would show that it is -executing them now as the Sea Service has accomplished them in all the -wars of the past. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE CENTRE OF SEA-POWER[A] - - Of speedy victory let no man doubt, - Our worst work’s past, now we have found them out. - Behold, their navy does at anchor lie, - And they are ours, for now they cannot fly. - - _Andrew Marvel_, 1653. - - -Of all the theatres of the war, on sea or land, the North Sea is the -most important. It is vital to all the operations of the Allies. -Command of its waters and its outlets is the thing that matters most. -In that sea is the centre of naval influence. It is the key of all -the hostilities. From either side of it the great protagonists in the -struggle look at one another. There the great constriction of the -blockade is exerted upon Germany. It is the _mare clausum_ against -which she protests. Geography is there in the scales against her. She -rebels against British sea supremacy. The “freedom of the seas” is, -therefore, her claim—though she is endeavouring to qualify to be the -tyrant of them. Her only outlook towards the outer seas is from the -Bight of Heligoland and the fringe of coast behind the East Frisian -Islands, or from the Baltic, if her ships pass the Sound or the Belt, -issuing into the North Sea through the Skager-Rak. But they cannot -reach the ocean, except through the North Passage, where the Grand -Fleet holds the guard. Only isolated raiders, bent upon predatory -enterprise, have stealthily gone that way after nightfall. At the -southern gate of the North Sea, through the Straits of Dover and in -the Channel, the way is barred. The guns of Dover, the Dover Patrol, -and certain other deterrents forbid the enemy to adventure in that -direction. - -[A] See Map I., at end of book. - -The new engines of naval warfare—the mine, submarine, airship, and -aeroplane—found their first and greatest use in the North Sea; and only -by employing craft which hide beneath the water, and, on rare occasion, -by destroyers which seek the cover of darkness for local forays, have -the Germans been able to exert their efforts in any waters outside the -North Sea. At the beginning of the war they had raiding cruisers in the -Pacific and Atlantic, and a detached squadron in the Far East; but the -British Fleet reached out to those regions, and, aided by the warships -of Japan and France, it drove every vestige of German naval power from -the oceans. - -In the North Sea, therefore, sea-power has exerted its greatest, most -vital, and most far-reaching effect. There the Germans, if they had -possessed the power, could have struck a blow which, if successful for -them, would have proved a mortal stroke at the British Empire and would -have rendered useless all the efforts of the Allies. Millions of men, -incalculable volumes of guns, munitions, and stores of every imaginable -kind for the use of the greatest armies ever set in the field, have -entered the French ports solely because the Grand Fleet holds the guard -in the North Sea. The whole face of the world would have been changed -by German naval victory. England would have been subjected by invasion -and famine. If the heart of the Empire had been struck, what would have -been the future of its members? If sea communication with the Allies -had been cut, what would have been their fate at the hands of the -victors? The attacks of sallying cruisers and destroyers upon the coast -towns of England, the “tip and run” raids, as they have been called, -and the visits of bomb-dropping airships and aeroplanes are the signs -of the naval impotence of Germany. - -The situation in the North Sea is, therefore, of absorbing interest. -It may be studied chiefly from the two points of view of the strategy -of the opposing fleets and the exercise of the blockade. There is a -peculiarity in naval warfare, which is not found in warfare upon land, -that a belligerent can withdraw his naval forces entirely from the -theatre of war by retaining them, as with a threat, or in a position of -weakness, behind the guns of his shore defences. Nothing of the kind -is possible with land armies. A general can always find his enemy, and -attack or invest him, and, if successful, drive him back, or cause him -to surrender, and occupy the territory he has held. The Germans have -chosen the reticent strategy of the sea. They have never come out to -make a fight to a finish, to put the matter to the touch, “to gain or -lose it all.” The _animus pugnandi_ is wanting to their fleet. It was -necessary that they should do something. They could not lie for ever -stagnant at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. They could keep their officers and -men in training by making brief cruises in and outside the Bight of -Heligoland. They might, with luck, meet some portion of the Grand Fleet -detached and at a disadvantage. - -In any case, they were bold enough to take their chance on occasions, -always with their fortified ports and mined waters and their submarines -under their lee. They might succeed in reducing British superiority -by the “attrition” of some encounters. Such was the genesis of the -Dogger Bank battle of January 24th, 1915, when that gallant officer -Sir David Beatty inflicted a severe defeat upon Admiral Hipper, and -drove him back in flight, with the loss of the _Blücher_ and much -other injury. The same causes brought the German High Sea Fleet, under -Admiral Scheer, into the great conflict, first with Sir David Beatty, -and then with the main force of the Grand Fleet, under command of Sir -John Jellicoe, on May 31st, 1916. The events of the great engagement of -the Jutland Bank will not be related here. All that it is necessary to -note is that the Germans had so chosen their time that they were able -to avoid decisive battle with Sir John Jellicoe’s fleet by retreating -in the failing light of the day, and that their adventure availed them -nothing to break the blockade or otherwise to modify the impotent -position in which they are placed at sea. That action operated to the -disadvantage of England and her Allies in no degree whatever. The -superiority of the British Fleet as a fighting engine had been placed -beyond dispute. - -The mine and the submarine have put an end to the system of naval -blockade as practised by St. Vincent and Cornwallis. No fleet can now -lie off, or within striking range of, an enemy’s port. Battleships -cannot be risked against submarines, acting either as torpedo craft -or mine-layers, nor against swift destroyers at night. That is the -explanation of the situation which has arisen in the North Sea. The -blockade is necessarily of a distant kind. There are no places on -the British coasts where the Grand Fleet could be located, except -those in which it lies and from which it issues to sweep the North -Sea periodically. The first essential is to control the enemy’s -communications, which is done effectively at the North Passage—between -the Orkneys and Shetlands, and the Norwegian coast—and at the Straits -of Dover. If the enemy desired a final struggle for supremacy at sea, -with all its tremendous consequences, he could have it. But he can be -attacked only when he is accessible. “There shall be neither sickness -nor death which shall make us yield until this service be ended,” wrote -Howard in 1588. That is the spirit of the British Navy to-day. But, -then, the Spanish Armada was at sea. It was not hiding behind its shore -defences. Be it noted that the Germans, thus hiding themselves, enjoy -a certain opportunity of undertaking raiding operations in the North -Sea. It is not a difficult thing to rush a force of destroyers on a -dark night against some point in an extended line of patrols and effect -a little damage somewhere. What advantage the Germans hope to gain by -such proceedings is difficult to discover. - -The magnificence of the work of the British patrol flotillas and -the auxiliary patrols must be recognised. In the North Sea these -are subsidiary services of the Grand Fleet. Day and night, in every -weather—in summer heats and winter blasts and blizzards, when icy -seas wash the boats from stem to stern and the cold penetrates to the -bone—these patrols are at work. The records of heroism at sea in these -services have never been surpassed, and England owes a very great deal -to the men who came to her service. The mercantile marine has given its -vessels to the State, from the luxurious liner to the fishing trawler, -and officers and men have come in who have rendered priceless services. -The trawlers have carried on their perilous work of bringing up the -strange harvest of horned mines by the score. The patrol boats have -examined suspicious vessels, controlled sea traffic, and watched the -sea passages. The destroyer flotillas have been constantly at work and -ready at any time to bring raiding enemy forces to action. The Royal -Naval Air Service has never relaxed its activity and has engaged in -countless combats. - -It has sometimes been wondered why the Grand Fleet did not take some -aggressive action: Why did it not attack the North German sea coast, -or rout out the pestilent hornets’ nest of Zeebrugge, which the enemy, -by internal communications impregnable to sea-power, had provided with -the most powerful guns, besides defending it by great mine-fields? This -matter requires to be examined. Naval history abounds with evidence -that to attack coast defences is not the proper or even the permissible -work of warships. It is the business of military forces, though naval -forces may often assist, and even give the means of victory. Moreover, -what was once possible is not possible now. Would Nelson have attacked -the French Fleet at the Nile if it had lain under the powerful guns -of these days, and behind mine-fields, through the secret passages of -which submarines could have issued to destroy him? It would be absurd -to compare Nelson’s attack upon a line of block-ships and rafts at -Copenhagen, covered by a few forts armed with old smoothbores, to an -attack upon coast positions defended by modern guns. - -When old Sir Charles Napier was in the Baltic in 1854 he was denounced -at home because he did not destroy Kronstadt or Helsingfors. He rightly -refused to play his enemy’s game by endangering his ships. Captain -(afterwards Admiral Sir) B. J. Sulivan, who was with the fleet, put the -situation quite clearly in a letter written at the time. A military -operation was really required then, as it would be now, to accomplish -such a task. - - We know that two guns have beaten off two large ships with great - loss. Had Nelson been here with thirty English ships he would - have blockaded the gulf for years, without thinking of attacking - such fortresses to get at ships inside. Brest, Toulon, and Cadiz - were probably much weaker than these places.... I suppose there - will be an outcry at home about doing nothing here, but we might - as well try to reach the moon. - -But the Navy has never left the Belgian coast secure from attack. It -has never lost its aggressive spirit. It has attacked from the ship -and the air. The seaplanes of the Royal Naval Air Service spotted for -the guns when the monitors were bombarding. Bombs have repeatedly been -dropped on Ostend, Zeebrugge, and the places in the rear. When the guns -were silent there were reasons for it. A conjoint naval and military -expedition was required. The enemy began to feel his hold on the coast -precarious. Continued operations by sea and land might compel him to -relax his grasp. Ships may not attack places defended by big guns, -mine-fields, and submarines and destroyers issuing from secret passages -through them, but it is certain the British naval offensive will never -be paralysed. - -Such is the magnificent work of the British Navy in blockading the -German Fleet, molesting the enemy’s coast positions, and controlling -his communications with the oceans. - -The commercial blockade, by which the enemy’s supplies and commodities -are cut off and his exports paralysed, is too large a subject to be -dealt with here. The object is to bring the full measure of sea-power -to bear in crushing the national life of the enemy. It is vital but -“silent” work of the Navy, and does not lend itself to discussion -or description. Questions of contraband and the right and method of -search, which arise from the blockade, caused discussions with the -United States before the States came into the war. The only object -of the British Navy and the Foreign Office was to put an end to the -transit of the enemy’s commodities, and to do so with the utmost -consideration for the interests of neutrals, and complete protection -for the lives of the officers and crews in their ships and in the -examining ships. For these reasons neutral vessels were taken into port -for examination, safe from the attentions of the enemy’s submarines. -One great hope of the Germans was that the neutrals would become more -and more exasperated with England. They remembered that the war of -1812 arose from this very cause. But they were completely disappointed -in all such hopes, and they themselves, by interfering with the free -navigation of other countries, brought the United States into the war -against them. - -The blockade work of the examination service and of the armed boarding -steamers has been extremely hazardous. It has called for the greatest -qualities of seamanship, because conducted in every condition of -weather and when storm and fog have made it extremely perilous to -approach the neutral vessels—which, moreover, have sometimes proved to -be armed enemies in disguise. Hundreds of vessels have been brought -into port by the Navy in those northern waters. Sleepless vigilance -has been required and the highest skill of the sea in every possible -condition of the service, while the seaman has become a statesman in -his dealings with the neutral shipmaster. It has been for the Navy to -bring the ships into port, and for other authorities to inquire into -their status and to take them before the Prize Court if required. - -The German High Sea Fleet having failed, the submarine campaign was -instituted, and began chiefly in the North Sea. It has never answered -the expectations of its authors. It has not changed the strategic -situation in any degree whatever. Great damage has been inflicted upon -British interests, and valuable ships and cargoes have been sunk, and -officers and men cast adrift in situations of ruthless hardship. The -tale of the sea has never had a more terrible record, nor one lighted -by so much noble self-sacrifice and unfailing courage. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -SWEEPING THE ENEMY FROM THE OCEANS - - Far flung the Fleet then, - Freeing the seas, - Clearing the way for men, - Merchantmen these. - Sinking or flying, - Broken their power, - The enemy dying - Left England Her dower. - - _J. L._ - - -In the foregoing chapter some reference was made to the campaign of the -German raiding cruisers and armed liners against British and Allied -commerce in the distant waters of the Atlantic and Pacific during the -early months of hostilities, and before we go any further this aspect -of the war must be discussed. One object of the enemy was to lead to -a scattering of British naval strength, but in this he was wholly -disappointed. The distribution of the British Fleet remained unchanged, -and the great numbers of swift cruisers and armed liners, which had -been apprehended as presenting a formidable menace to commerce, made -but a feeble appearance. The commerce-raiding campaign gave rise, -however, to a good deal of alarm at the time, though it surprised no -one who understood the means made available by the scientific and -mechanical developments of modern naval warfare, and who had studied -them in the light of history. - -The interruption or destruction of the enemy’s commerce has always -been one of the objects in naval warfare. British floating commerce -offered a very large target, and the swift German cruisers, directed by -wireless telegraphy and supplied by friendly neutrals, were at work on -the lines followed by shipping, making it inevitable that there should -at first be considerable losses to the Allies. Admiral Mahan thought -that the British total losses in the long wars of the French Revolution -and Empire did not exceed 2½ per cent. of the commerce of the Empire. -The Royal Commission on the Supply of Food in Time of War expressed the -opinion that 4 per cent. would have been a more accurate estimate. - -[Illustration: A DRIFTER AT SEA: LOOKING FOR SUBMARINES AND MINES] - -[Illustration: A DRIFTER LAYING ANTI-SUBMARINE NETS.] - -German cruisers, destructive as a few of them were, did not inflict -losses amounting to anything like the figures of the old wars. -In those contests of power, notwithstanding the depredations of -commerce-destroying frigates, British oversea trade grew, while that -of the enemy withered away. If the enemy captured ten British ships -out of a thousand the loss might be considered serious, but if the -British frigates captured ten out of the enemy’s hundred the injury -inflicted was ten times more effective. Towards the end of the long war -with France very few French traders were captured because scarcely any -ventured to sea, while the French continued to capture English ships -up to the very end of the war, ten years after their fleet had been -destroyed at Trafalgar. The loss by capture and sinking was at the -rate of 500 ships a year, and even in 1810, 619 English ships were lost. - -In the present war the German commerce-destroying campaign, by means -of cruisers and armed liners, though very effective at the beginning, -collapsed with great rapidity. Hostile action against trade has never -before been so rapidly brought under control. Steam, the telegraph, -and wireless have enormously increased, as compared with the sailing -days, the thoroughness and efficiency of superior sea-power. Difficulty -of providing for coal and oil supply, the want of naval repairing and -docking bases, and, above all, the immense superiority brought quickly -to bear by the combined naval forces of England, France, and Japan, -aided by the Australian Navy (auxiliary to the British, to which it -belonged), within a comparatively short time caused the whole of -German commerce to disappear from the oceans. Soon not a single ship -remained—trader, cruiser, or armed liner—as a target, except that -such isolated raiders as the _Möwe_ might offer rare opportunities of -attack. This failure of the Germans seemed the more remarkable because -they had long recognised the floating commerce of England to be her -Achilles’ heel. Prince Bülow described it as such. They had expressly -reserved, at The Hague Conference, the right to convert merchantmen -into cruisers on the high seas to serve as commerce-destroyers. They -used this right in some instances, as in that of the _Cap Trafalgar_, -which was sunk in single-ship action by the British converted liner -_Carmania_. Yet this procedure proved of no effect in the war. - -It would be a great mistake to regard the German cruiser campaign -against commerce apart from the general distribution of German warships -and the means taken to supply them with their requirements. The writer -is inclined to the belief that the impotence of the Germans in distant -waters shows that their Navy was not ready nor effectively prepared -for the war. The great expenditure on the High Sea Fleet proved -unavailing. The submarine boats did not exist in any considerable -number. Only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight of them were completed -in August, 1914, of which about a dozen were of early experimental -type, fit only for local use, and the programme provided only for the -building of half a dozen in each year. The German Navy possessed not -more than a couple of big airships, and a few effective aeroplanes. -The cruisers on foreign service were scattered about the world without -plan. The battle-cruiser _Goeben_ and the light cruiser _Breslau_ -had been detached in the Mediterranean during the Balkan War, and, -according to the Greek White Book, Turkey having entered into alliance -with Germany on August 4th, the two cruisers fled to the Dardanelles -in conformity with orders received from Berlin. The Germans were -apprehensive as to their safety, and their naval authorities never -intended to leave them in their dangerous situation of isolation in an -Italian port. The business of controlling and directing the operations -of the commerce-destroying cruisers and armed liners, and providing -their supplies, was admittedly dexterously arranged by the agency -of wireless, mainly through the means placed at disposal by German -sympathisers in the United States, the States of Southern America, and -other neutral countries, though nothing they did could withstand the -steady pressure of sea-power. - -The most considerable German force in distant waters was the East Asian -Squadron, under command of Admiral Count von Spee. It was located -at Kiao-Chau, and its principal elements were the armoured cruisers -_Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_. Sooner or later this squadron was -bound to be defeated, as its commanding officer fully realised. The -Japanese declared war on August 23rd, and the fleets of Admiral Baron -Dewa and Admiral Kato were stretched out to blockade and intercept -him; but he extricated himself very dexterously, crossed the Pacific, -defeated Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock off Coronel on November 1st, -rounded Cape Horn, and was himself defeated with the loss of his whole -squadron in the battle of the Falkland Isles on December 8th. One of -his cruisers, the _Emden_, which had escaped the Japanese, made a great -noise in the world. Her captain was a very capable and also a very -gallant officer, who bombarded oil tanks at Madras, sank the Russian -cruiser _Jemtchug_ and the French destroyer _Mousquet_ at Penang, and -sent to the bottom seventeen British vessels, representing a value of -£2,211,000, besides three sent into port. The _Emden_ was destroyed -by H.M. Australian cruiser _Sydney_ at the Cocos-Keeling Islands on -November 8th. The _Karlsruhe_ sank vessels representing a value of -£1,662,000. - -It is not the purpose here to describe the depredations and ocean -wanderings of the other German cruisers or auxiliary cruisers. The -object is to show how, by the all-compassing pressure of naval power, -they were successively destroyed. It would be folly to deny that there -was something defective in the disposition of the British naval forces -at the beginning. Admiral von Spee was at large, with two powerful -armoured cruisers, but Sir Christopher Craddock was left in inferior -force off the coast of Chile. The obsolescent battleship _Canopus_, -which had inferior speed, was to join him, but did not reach him in -time. The Australian battle-cruiser _Australia_, which would have been -an extremely valuable aid to Craddock’s squadron, did not pursue the -German squadron across the Pacific. - -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher returned to the Admiralty as First -Sea Lord on October 29th, 1914, and at once set about to use the -naval instrument he had been so largely instrumental in creating. -In dead secrecy and with incredible speed a force was prepared -and dispatched. Admiral Sturdee had with him the magnificent -battle-cruisers _Invincible_ and _Inflexible_, the armoured cruisers -_Kent_, _Cornwall_, and _Carnarvon_, the light cruisers _Bristol_ and -_Glasgow_, and the armed liner _Macedonia_. The battleship _Canopus_ -was already at Port Stanley. Before anyone knew he had left England, he -arrived at the Falkland Islands on December 7th, after having steamed a -distance of 7,000 miles. The German Admiral was known to be approaching -with the object of utilising the islands as a base. He arrived on the -next day, but was taken by complete surprise, though he was conscious -of impending fate, and his squadron ceased to exist. - -This was one of the master-strokes of the war, made with lightning -rapidity. Strategy was seen in action, and thenceforward the control -of the ocean was secured. There remained the business of rounding -up the enemy cruisers which were still preying upon shipping on the -routes of commerce. Cruisers of sufficient force were dispatched, with -instructions to remain at certain rendezvous, each forming a base upon -which lighter cruisers could fall back, or to the support of which -they could proceed. The lighter vessels cruised on specified curves or -lines of search, and in this way a network was spread over the oceans -comparable to a spider’s web. Thus in due course every enemy cruiser -and auxiliary was intercepted, or, conscious of the toils which were -spread for her, abandoned her task and sought safety in the internment -of a neutral port. The Grand Fleet in the North Sea was the master of -the situation, and made possible the decisive blow which was struck at -enemy power in the oceans. - -Thenceforward the enemy was impotent in every sea. Not a man could -he send afloat to bring aid to his colonies and protectorates. His -distant possessions collapsed like a house built of cards. No means -had he to interrupt the transport of troops which have brought about -the darkening of every German “place in the sun.” “_Deutschland ist -Weltreich geworden_,” it was said. But distant possessions are the -ripe fruit which falls into the lap of the ultimate sea-power, and -the _Weltreich_ exists no more. By means of sea-power it has been -destroyed. The submarine is an effective weapon within its sphere, -but no victory has ever been won by evasion, and no sea-power can be -exercised by stealthy craft which hide beneath the surface of the sea. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE GRASP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN[B] - -SEA- AND LAND-POWER - - Others may use the ocean as their road, - Only the English make it their abode; - Our oaks secure, as if they there took root, - We tread on billows with a steady foot. - - _Edmund Waller_, 1656. - - -It is important next to consider the situation in the Mediterranean, -where sea-power is of momentous importance to the Allies. In those -historic waters the fate of many nations has been decided. They are a -vital link and the highway of the British Empire. Between Gibraltar -and Port Said two thousand miles of British welfare lie outrolled. To -France, with her great possessions in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunis, -the importance of this sea highway is supreme. She must, in this war -and at all times, traverse its waters or she will be undone. Italy -has won a great position In the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, and -she would wither away and perish if either fell under enemy control. -Trieste is her object, and she has proclaimed a protectorate over -Albania the better to establish her power in the Adriatic, and she has -her new possessions in the Libia Italiana of Northern Africa. From -the operations in the Mediterranean we shall learn something more of -the relation of sea-power to land operations, and of the limitations -of that power, and we shall see the allied navies of England, France, -Russia, Italy, and Japan in co-operation. We shall know why the enemy -made a great submarine stroke in the Mediterranean when everything else -at sea had failed. - -[B] See Map II., at end of book. - -The French battleship squadrons were concentrated in the Mediterranean -before the war. The cruiser squadron in the Channel, like David against -Goliath, was willing to encounter even the whole German High Sea Fleet; -but the French had been assured of British co-operation, and all danger -was forestalled. In the Mediterranean the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ had -come west, and had bombarded Bona and Philippeville; but the French -Admiral, going south from Toulon, was on their heels, and they fled to -the east again, running the gauntlet of the British squadron on their -way to join the Turks. - -They had intended to raid the French transports at sea. At this -time the French were bringing their troops from Algeria and Tunis, -amounting in all to nearly 100,000 men, with guns, horses, mules, -stores, ammunition, hospitals, tent equipment, and all the requirements -for field service, to join the main army in France. It was a great -responsibility for the French Navy, increased many-fold when troops -began to come from their eastern possessions through the Suez Canal. - -Failure would have meant disaster. But the whole of the transport work -was managed without the loss of a man or a horse, and was a wonderful -success. It could hardly have taken place with so much security if the -British squadron had not been in the Mediterranean, and not at all if -the Grand Fleet had not held the German High Sea Fleet fast in its -ports by the blockade in the North Sea. From that time forward for many -months, until the Italians came into the war, on May 23rd, 1915, the -French squadron was employed in neutralising the Austro-Hungarian Fleet -in the Adriatic, which did not dare to move. The blockading squadron -was extended across the Strait of Otranto, with occasional sweeps to -the northward, to control hostile operations, if possible, at Cattaro -and along the Dalmatian coast up to the approaches to Pola, where -the submarine _Curie_ was entangled, and lost to the Austrians. The -French base for these operations was at Malta, but an advanced base -was established in the island of Lissa. The blockade was completely -successful in checking every effort of the Austrians to strike at the -stream of transport in the Mediterranean, though it could not avail -to save Montenegro or hold back the Austrians in their advance into -Albania. No fleet can operate beyond the range of its guns, unless its -flying officers carry their bombs into inland countries. - -The blockade maintained through the winter at the Strait of Otranto -was exceedingly arduous and filled with peril. Enemy destroyers and -submarines were at work, issuing from the wonderful island fringe of -the Dalmatian coast, and the French knew their peril. The armoured -cruiser _Léon Gambetta_ was sunk by submarine attack, with the loss -of Rear-Admiral Sénès, who was in command, and every officer on board, -as well as nearly 600 men. The armoured cruiser _Waldeck-Rousseau_ -suffered damage by torpedo, and the new Dreadnought _Jean Bart_, with -Admiral Boué de Lapéyrère, the French Admiralissimo of the combined -fleets, on board, was touched, though only slightly injured. There -were other submarine attacks and losses of small craft, and some -losses were inflicted upon the enemy. British cruisers were attached -to the French Flag during these operations, and they continued to -co-operate with the French and Italians in Adriatic waters and in the -Ægean, where the French and Allied naval forces were the guard of all -the operations at Salonika and in the Piræus. Fleets and armies have -co-operated in the Mediterranean from the very beginning of the war. In -May, 1917, the British monitors, which, with the converted cruisers, -had been operating with the military expedition against the Turks and -Bulgarians, appeared in the Adriatic, and rendered valuable aid to the -Italians in their advance towards Trieste. The naval coalition has been -a marvel of effective organisation. - -German professors have sometimes said that the land would sooner or -later beat the sea—that “Moltke” would become the victor over “Mahan.” -That is the convinced opinion of the Pan-Germans, who say that the -railway will yet prove the more rapid and the more secure means of -transport than the steamship. The lines from Antwerp by Cologne to -Vienna, and from Hamburg to Berlin, and thence through the very heart -of Europe to Vienna, and on by Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople, -and from the opposite shore of the Bosphorus to Baghdad and down to the -Gulf, and by a branch through Persia to the confines of India, were to -give commercial and, perchance, military command of two continents. -Enterprise by the branch railway through Aleppo and Damascus against -Egypt, with a view to further developments in Africa, was related to -this conception of land-power. The measures adopted by the Allies for -the reconstitution of Serbia, the expeditions to the Dardanelles and -Salonika, the strong action taken in Greece, the naval movements on the -coast of Syria, the operations in the Sinai peninsula and Palestine, -and the expedition from the Persian Gulf to Baghdad were the answer to -these gigantesque projects of the enemy. - -Behind them all lay the working of the fleets. Every class of ship and -almost every kind of vessel employed in naval warfare has been used in -one or other of these operations—the battleship, cruiser, destroyer, -torpedo-boat, submarine, mother ship, aeroplane, aircraft-carrier, -mining vessel, river gunboat, motor launch, mine-trawler, armed -auxiliary, special service vessel, transport, store ship, collier, -oiler, tank, distilling ship, ordnance vessel, hospital ship, tug, -lighter, and a crowd of other craft. All these are required for the -work of the Navy in the Mediterranean, as elsewhere, and they have been -employed with a quality of seamanlike skill, enterprise, resource, -courage, and success such as the history of the sea has no previous -record of. The appearance at the Golden Horn of a British submarine, -which had traversed a Turkish mine-field, was the sign of new powers -in naval warfare. We are lost in admiration of the self-sacrifice -of officers and men, both of the regular naval service and of the -mercantile marine and the fisheries, the latter being the heroes of -the perilous work of mine-sweeping. The British and French navies, -and the vessel representing the Russian Navy, acted in the closest -co-operation, and all the naval forces worked in intimate association -with the armies. - -Where there was failure, the failure was due to the inevitable -limitations of sea-power, which has already been suggested with -reference to the North German coast, Zeebrugge, and the Montenegrin and -Albanian coasts. The history of the Dardanelles expedition will not be -written here. Beginning with a bombardment of the entrance forts on -November 3rd, 1914, which had little other effect than to stimulate -the defence, continued after an interval of months by the great naval -attacks in March, 1915, in which enormous damage was done to the forts -at the entrance and, to some extent, at the Narrows, but with the loss -of British and French battleships by the action of gunfire and drifting -mines, the enterprise concluded with the landing of the Allied armies -in the Gallipoli peninsula. The troops were compelled by outnumbering -forces and concentrated gunfire to withdraw. The combined attack should -have been made at the beginning. The unaided naval attack had merely -stimulated the defence. Here was the greatest demonstration of which -there is record of the limitation of sea-power. In the attack of such -a military position naval forces are essential, but military operations -are required if the desired success is to be attained. - -This is true of all the operations in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. -Sea-power gave the means by which the army drove back the Turks from -Egypt, and it was the support of the advance in Sinai and Palestine. -It gave protection to the transports which carried troops and Army -requirements to Salonika and the Piræus, patrolling the routes or -providing convoy for the ships. The enemy realised his opportunity, and -his submarines began to develop great activity in the Mediterranean. -Certain transports were sunk and an attempt was made to cut the -communications of the expeditionary forces with their base. Some -considerable losses were suffered thereby, but gradually systems were -developed which gave a reasonable sense of security. The British, -French, and Italian flotillas were employed, and that of Japan came to -their aid. Never had such naval co-operation been witnessed before. -We cannot separate the advance in Mesopotamia from the Mediterranean -operations because the same object inspired both—viz., that of -arresting the threatened development of German commercial and military -power, through Asiatic Turkey to the Persian Gulf, and through Persia -to the borders of India. The first advance to Kut-el-Amara and -Ctesiphon proved disastrous because undertaken with inadequate means; -but the Navy rendered brilliant service, and, in the second advance, a -sufficient river flotilla of gunboats and transports made possible the -advance to Baghdad and beyond. The naval flotilla co-operated with -most excellent effect in this advance, played havoc with enemy’s craft, -and recaptured H.M.S. _Firefly_, which had been lost in the retreat -from Ctesiphon. - -Thus we see the Navy operating in the great central theatre of war and -on its outlook to the East, exerting influence, transporting troops, -forming the base of armies, and everywhere proving an essential factor -in all that was done. It was confronted in the Mediterranean, as -elsewhere, with the new weapon of the submarine in very active form. -That menace, and the campaign against it, shall be the subject of the -next chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -DEALING WITH THE SUBMARINES - - My name is Captain Kidd, - Captain Kidd. - My name is Captain Kidd, - Captain Kidd. - My name is Captain Kidd, - And wickedly I did; - God’s laws I did forbid, - As I sailed. - - _Old Nautical Ballad._ - - -Having seen the British Fleet and the fleets allied with it operating -in the North Sea, the Oceans, and the Mediterranean, we may suitably -turn to some special features of the duties and work of the Navy in the -war. The submarine came as a sign and a portent of new developments -in the means and the practice of warfare at sea. Regarded once as the -weapon of the weaker Power, it was adopted into the naval armoury of -the strongest. When, in 1901, under Lord Fisher’s administration as -First Sea Lord, a beginning was made in submarine construction by -the ordering of five Holland boats, many people were taken aback. -Confessedly the part to be played by the submarine lay at that time -in the realm of speculation, but the British Navy could not afford to -ignore it. Every advance must be watched and studied as it developed. -The development has been rapid, and there are British submarines -of astonishing powers, which have no equals in the world. They have -made their mark in many a theatre of war. The French had led the way. -The Germans followed in 1906. There is, indeed, the best reason to -believe that Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, chief of the Navy Department, -looked with no kindly eye upon submarine boats. He was a believer in -battleships and the creator of the High Sea Fleet, with its battle -squadrons and cruiser divisions. Concessions were made to the Admiralty -Staff, and a few submarines were put in hand; but it was not until the -beginning of the war that Tirpitz became inspired with the fervour of -the convert. - -Even now the relative position of the submarine in the category of -warships is obscure. Admiral Sir Percy Scott thought that the knell -of the battleship had been rung by its growing power; yet ships of -the battleship class, carrying incredible armaments, possessing speed -beyond the dreams of _ante-bellum_ naval constructors, and infinitely -superior for a dozen reasons to anything the Germans had thought of, -have recently been completed, and will probably play a decisive part in -any future naval engagement. - -[Illustration: FLEETS IN ALLIANCE: BRITISH AND ITALIAN SHIPS IN THE -ADRIATIC] - -[Illustration: ON BOARD THE “QUEEN ELIZABETH” AT MUDROS] - -But if the submarine has not dethroned the battleship, she has, in -the hands of the enemy, done other remarkable things. She has struck -a mortal blow at what many excellent people have hitherto regarded as -the settled and accepted code of International Law; she has appeared -as a pirate commerce-destroyer. Without warning and without pity -she has sunk fishing vessels, tramp steamers, stately liners, and -hospital ships. The code of honour is not observed by her. The -German submarine officer has orders to run no risks, although in the -old wars naval officers—who had no means of submerging either to attack -or to escape—gladly ran every risk incidental to the service in which -they were engaged. When the _Lusitania_ was sunk it was explained that -if the commander of the submarine had permitted the passengers to take -to the boats before firing his torpedo, “this would have meant the -certain destruction of his own vessel.” There was no evidence that such -would have been the case, but the risk, which implied a danger merely -incidental to naval service, was held to justify the sinking of the -great liner with 1,200 souls on board. The wildest imagination could -not have conceived that any human being could take such a distorted -view of right and wrong, and of the plain duty of the seaman. - -The submarine has accomplished other remarkable things in the war. -She has converted benevolent neutrals into resolute enemies. She has -brought the United States into the war in support of the Allies. She -has transformed the mercantile marines opposed to her into actual -fighting forces. A few merchant ships were armed before the war began, -but now, because of ruthless submarine attack, the British mercantile -marine is for practical purposes embodied with the Navy, in the sense -that it is under naval control, is provided with means of defence, -and acts directly under naval orders. Moreover, one-half or more of -its shipping has been taken over by the naval service. The same is -true of the merchant ships of the Allies. The German submarine has had -a further effect. She has created a whole array of means directed -to her destruction. Countless inventors have been set at work, and -extraordinarily ingenious methods have been employed with the purpose -of putting an end to submarine activities by sinking every boat as she -appeared. - -In the early days of the submarine it was believed that she might be -sunk by using spar torpedoes fixed in swift boats, which would bear -down upon the submarine as she submerged and explode the charge against -her hull. But it soon occurred to seamen that if a swift vessel, -destroyer or other, could run down a submarine she might more easily -sink her by the impact of her sharp stem or a special keel. This method -has been practised in the war, and by this means a number of enemy -submarines have been dispatched to Davy Jones’s locker. There was an -early case in which a certain destroyer, going at high speed, actually -impaled a German submarine on her stem, and carried her onward, so -injured that she sank. Another early case was that of the German -submarine rammed and sent to the bottom off Beachy Head on March 28th, -1915, by the _Thordis_, commanded by that plucky skipper, Captain Bell, -who set an example to many. - -Another plan was to use suitable vessels in pairs, each pair dragging -a cable connecting them, from which hung, on short lines, small mines -to be electrically exploded when a submerged obstruction, probably a -periscope or conning-tower, put a tension upon the connecting cable. -The disadvantage of this system was that the entrapping vessels could -not travel swiftly without bringing the cable near to the surface, -and the chance of a submarine fouling the cable was remote. Yet it may -be conjectured that the features of this system may have furnished -the germ of procedures now in use. Capture or sinking by the use of -nets was also an early idea, probably suggested by the nets used by -big ships at anchor for protection against torpedoes, and Admiral Sir -Arthur Wilson devised a large steel net for the purpose. Possibly this -method, too, has developed into the nets employed in dealing with -enemy submarines at the present time. But submarines were continually -increasing in strength of structure, speed, and handiness, so that new -systems were necessary and have developed with the requirements. - -What the actual methods employed by the Navy are cannot be explained. -When Mr. Frederick Palmer, the American writer, visited the Grand -Fleet he asked how the thing was done, and officers said: “Sometimes -by ramming; sometimes by gunfire; sometimes by explosives; and in many -other ways which we do not tell.” M. Joseph Reinach also visited the -Fleet, and said in the _Figaro_ that the submarine was pursued “by net, -gun, explosive bomb, and other means.” Squadron-Commander Bigsworth on -August 26th, 1915, destroyed a submarine off Ostend by dropping bombs -upon her from his aeroplane, and there have been several other episodes -of the same kind. When the first American transports were attacked in -the Atlantic, bombs fitted with a short-time fuse were employed which -burst at a determined depth below the surface of the sea. - -The Royal Naval Air Service plays a large part in the anti-submarine -campaign. Its seaplanes are always scouting over our waters and sight -enemy submarines from afar. Flying high, they can and do discover -submarines navigating below the surface, and by wireless or other -signals bring destroyers or other craft to the scene, where by special -means submarines are destroyed. - -Probably gunfire is the chief means by which submarines are sent to the -bottom. A German submarine may attain complete submergence from the -cruising trim within about three minutes; but the time may be longer, -if she has a gun mounted, wireless rigged, and other top hamper. From -the awash position, in which her speed is reduced, she may submerge in -about two minutes. A swift destroyer, knowing the position of such a -submarine, may advance toward her, covering a nautical mile within two -minutes, so that she has an excellent chance of coming within range -and putting in shots with effect. Gunnery is carried to a high pitch -of proficiency in the Navy, and one destroyer may be mentioned which -knocked out the periscope of a German submarine at a range of over -2,000 yards with her first round. There is nothing an enemy submarine -likes less than to see destroyers tearing down towards her at high -speed as she is getting in her gun, withdrawing her periscope, lowering -her masts—often a disguise—and filling her tanks. Moreover, complete -submergence may not be a sure protection for her if she is watched, for -she may be destroyed by an explosive bomb. - -German submarines have also learned to fear armed merchantmen, which -have not seldom used their guns with effect, sometimes compelling their -assailants to submerge, and so evading their attack, and sometimes by -obtaining direct hits. The _Dunrobin_ in September, 1916, carried on a -lively action for some minutes, hitting her assailant in the vicinity -of her conning-tower with a T.N.T. shell—thereby causing an internal -explosion, from which dense smoke arose—followed by three common shell, -each of them making a direct hit, after which the enemy suddenly -plunged at a sharp angle, evidently going to the bottom. In March, -1917, the _Bellorado_ was attacked by gunfire from a submarine, whereby -her master, chief officer, and a seaman were killed, while her gunners -put such shot into the assailant that she was silenced and manifestly -disabled. - -Further it is not permissible to go on describing how submarines are -accounted for. The catalogue of methods is a long one. There could -certainly be no single and decisive weapon for the destruction of this -new engine of warfare. There is no remedy for the effects of gunfire, -and if submarines discover targets possible to be attacked they will -certainly attack them. Some surprise was expressed that the British -Admiralty did not at once suppress the submarine menace. When the -submarine campaign began in February, 1915, it resulted in the sinking -of a number of British merchantmen; but, having risen to its height, it -declined, with fluctuations, until it was described as being “well in -hand.” The methods employed had been successful. Then, after several -months, the submarines began their depredations again, carrying them -into the Atlantic and the Mediterranean with great violence. They also -penetrated the Channel, though they never checked the great stream of -transport for the armies between English and French ports, which the -Navy was guarding with complete success. - -The reason for this recrudescence of submarine piracy was the intense -energy which the Germans devoted to the production of standardised -and powerful classes of submarines, whose parts were produced in -many districts of the German Empire. The new boats were practically -submarine cruisers, capable of high surface speed, which enabled them -to overhaul slow merchantmen, and they were armed with powerful guns. -The early enemy submarine carried a 1.4-inch gun, but a 2.9-inch -12-pounder was provided. There is now reason to believe that the -calibre has risen to 4.1 inches and, in the case of some of the -more powerful boats, to 5.1 inches, these larger guns being shorter -and lighter than the same guns mounted in cruisers. But obviously -submarines of these classes, carrying on their work over wider areas -and in distant places, will not be so easy to destroy as the smaller -boats of the early submarine campaign, and this may account for -the difficulty in providing a complete protection from the attack. -Submarine sections have been sent overland and assembled at Trieste for -the Adriatic and Mediterranean, and at Varna for use in the Black Sea, -and also doubtless at the Golden Horn or in the Gulf of Ismid. - -There is much uncertainty about the future of the submarine. She -exercises no command at sea, and she makes many fruitless attacks upon -armed merchantmen; but she is dangerous, nevertheless. The British -Navy has devoted exhaustless energy in applying every possible agency -for dealing with hostile submarines, and its great success encourages -the hope and belief that the scourge will yet be exterminated. -Destroyers, motor launches, patrolling ships of many classes, -seaplanes, observation balloons, and other craft are at work every day -and many of them every night. But whatever element of uncertainty there -may be as to the complete success of these agencies, there is none in -the conclusion that the submarine will never bring England, still less -her Allies, to the verge of famine or anywhere near it. Scarcity of -food is not due so much to the submarine as to the great demand on the -world’s supplies, and the enormous volume of shipping absorbed by the -naval and military requirements of England and her Allies. The Navy, -which has done such wonderful work in the war, is not and will not be -ineffective against the submarine. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE NAVY AND THE MINE - - They sink, they slink, they seek the boat, - Grisly horns stuck through their skin, - Ready to sink all things that float, - These villain boxes shaped of tin. - The fisher sees the death therein, - But reaches down with his long fling, - And grasps the chain that holds them in, - And draws the fangs they hoped would sting. - - _Anon._ - - -The British Navy fights for the great ideals of the people, acting upon -the lines of old and loyal traditions; but, while doing so, it has -encountered the desperate devices of the enemy, who has used the latest -achievements of scientific and mechanical invention in such a manner -as to overthrow many preconceived methods and accepted conventions of -naval warfare. We have already spoken of the submarine. Now we shall -see what the mine is, and how it is dealt with by the Navy and the -services the Navy controls. It has been said, with much truth, that -the essence of war is violence and that moderation in war is futility. -It is also true, as we see, in the cruel operations of Zeppelins and -bomb-dropping aeroplanes, and not less in the attacks of submarines, -as directed by the Germans and their allies, that the non-military -populations suffer the horrors of war in much greater degree than was -the case in the wars even of recent times. - -But the Germans, at the very beginning of the war, outraged neutral -sentiment by employing ostensible merchant and passenger vessels, -flying neutral flags, and without giving warning to the neutrals, in -the deadly work of scattering mines indiscriminately in the open sea -on the main lines of trade. They acted in direct contravention of the -rules of war as previously accepted. These disguised mining vessels -had traversed the trade routes as if pursuing peaceful purposes, thus -enjoying the immunities which had always been accorded to innocent -neutral vessels, and yet they had wantonly endangered the lives of all -who traversed the sea, whether neutral or enemy. The Admiralty were -soon able to declare publicly that this mine-laying under a neutral -flag, as well as reconnaissance conducted by trawlers and even by -hospital ships and neutral vessels, had become the ordinary methods -of German naval warfare. The later history of the war shows how far -the Germans were prepared to go in casting off any restraint in their -efforts to do injury to their enemies. They compelled the British -Admiralty to adopt counter-measures. - -For years past the Germans had devoted unremitting attention to the -study and practice of mining and the production of very powerful types -of mines. In that respect they were undoubtedly ready. The state of -war between England and Germany began at 11 p.m. on August 4th, 1914, -and on the morning of the next day German mines were being laid on the -east coast of England. The _Königin Luise_, a former Hamburg-Amerika -liner of 2,163 tons, was caught in the act, off the Suffolk coast, -and was sunk by the light cruiser _Amphion_ and the Third Torpedo -Flotilla. On the next day the _Amphion_ herself, the first British -warship destroyed in the war, fell a victim to the mines she had laid. -This disguised mine-layer had initiated a practice, which has since -been many times followed in the war, of throwing mines overboard in the -track of pursuing vessels. It was resorted to by the retreating Germans -in the battle of the Dogger Bank. Here it may be remarked that the -Germans have always claimed the right to subject every consideration to -their necessity to win, though at The Hague Conference of 1907, Baron -Marschall von Bieberstein, the German delegate, said that conscience, -good sense, and the duty imposed by the principles of humanity -would constitute the most effective guarantee against abuse, and he -proclaimed—“_je le dis à haute voix_”—that German naval officers would -always fulfil “in the strictest fashion the duties which emanate from -the unwritten law of humanity and civilisation.” - -Any technical description of German mines would be out of place here; -but it may be said that generally they approximate to a spherical -shape, and are provided with projecting “horns,” almost in the shape of -drumsticks, concussion with which is calculated to break a small phial -within, whose contents cause the detonation of the enormous charge of -T.N.T. explosive. Each mine is provided with a sinker, which drops to -the bottom, and is attached to the mine by a cable or sounding-line -paid out by special mechanism to any desired length, whereby the mine -may be kept at the intended depth below the surface. There are other -types of mines, and in particular one of cylindrical form, containing a -prodigious quantity of explosive and capable of the widest destruction. -This has probably been used only in special situations. The ordinary -mines can be laid with great rapidity by a specially fitted mine-layer, -provided with rotary gear, bringing mine after mine along a special -track to the dropping position. The drifting mines which the Germans -at the very beginning of the war set afloat in the main trade route -from America to Liverpool, _viâ_ the North of Ireland, can be laid with -still greater rapidity. - -When mine-laying in British waters by surface boats was made extremely -risky, or almost impossible, the Germans resorted to the employment -of submarine mine-layers, one of which was exhibited in the Thames. -Vessels of this class, so far as they are known, probably carry a -maximum of twelve big mines in six shoots or air-locks, the lower mine -in each shoot being released by means of a lever, after which the -other drops into its place, ready to be let go in the same way. The -boat exhibited in London and elsewhere was of a rough, rudimentary -character, indifferently built, and her speed was probably not more -than six or eight knots. Undoubtedly many of the submarine mine-layers -are of better type. They are constantly at work especially on the east -coast of England, and some losses have resulted; but the effect of -their operations is nearly always overcome by the means adopted by the -Navy. - -The first measure set on foot by the Admiralty was to organise a -system of search for suspicious craft, and to declare the North Sea -a war area, within which it was dangerous for any vessel to navigate -except through channels indicated by the naval authorities. The Germans -replied with their now famous and futile blockade order of February, -1915. New regulations were issued from time to time regulating -navigation through the British mine-fields, and the result has been, in -association with the patrols, to exercise a very close supervision over -the navigation in home waters. As to distant mining operations of the -enemy, the First Lord of the Admiralty stated, on March 8th, 1917, that -they had been carried very far, and the P. & O. liner _Mongolia_, sunk -off Bombay on June 23rd, 1917, was not the only vessel mined in the -Arabian Sea. From time to time it has been announced that mails for and -from the East and Australia have been lost at sea. - -It is an inspiring thing to turn from this picture of mines and the -scattering of them by the enemy to another picture—that of the gallant -and successful manner in which the Navy, and the mine-trawlers and -other vessels embodied in its service and employed in the ceaseless -patrols, have grappled with the deadly menace of the mine. Ever -patrolling the British coasts, ever facing death, often speeding -to the help of vessels mined, torpedoed, or otherwise in distress, -the glorious men who man these craft have inscribed their names in -letters of gold on the roll of British honour and fame at sea. It was -a marvellous thing, this embodiment of the vast mine-sweeping and -patrolling service in the work of the Navy in the war. From all the -coasts fishermen have come, with their trawlers converted from the -craft of winning fish at sea, to the sterner work of bringing up and -destroying the strange harvest of deadly mines which endanger all -life at sea. Many a trawler has been sunk by contact with her fatal -captures; others have been sunk by hostile fire and bombing by enemy -aeroplanes, but never have the brave seamen quailed in the service of -the country and the Allies, and in every port men are to be met whose -craft have been sunk under them, and who have hastened to sea again. - -Hundreds of ships, drawn from the mercantile marine and the fisheries, -steam yachts, motor boats, armed launches, and vessels of other -classes, are employed in such dangerous work. They share the trials -of war, wind, and weather with the regular naval patrols. Sir Edward -Carson, when First Lord of the Admiralty, directed attention to the -magnificent work of the mine-trawlers of these patrols. The force -employed at the beginning of the war numbered about 150 small vessels, -but increased to 3,000 or more. The whole nation should understand -what mine-sweepers were doing. “The thousands of men engaged in this -operation are the men who are feeding the whole population of this -country, from morning till night, battling with the elements as well -as the enemy, facing dangers under the sea. A mine-sweeper carries -his life in his hands at every moment, and he does it willingly.” -Later again he expressed his thanks and the thanks of the nation for -the splendid work they had accomplished. Of all the seamen who had -so deservedly earned the gratitude of the country none had had more -arduous and dangerous duties to perform than the gallant fellows in the -patrols. - -They have worked in reliefs day and night at sea, though sometimes -driven to port by the fury of the elements, and they brave every kind -of weather. As Admiral Bacon, commanding the Dover Patrol, has said, -with reference to the security with which thousands of merchantmen had -passed through the waters in his control, “no figures could emphasise -more thoroughly the sacrifice made by the personnel of the patrols and -the relative immunity ensured to the commerce of their country.” They -have trawled for mines not only in British but in distant waters. Their -magnificent work under fire, and attacked by bomb-dropping aeroplanes, -at the Dardanelles will never be forgotten. - -An American correspondent, Mr. Gordon Brace, who sailed in a -mine-trawler to learn its work, concluded an article in the _New York -Tribune_ in these words:— - - I looked at those men who go out day after day; who wear their - lifebelts continuously; who take their tea on the decks while - they peer over the rims of their cups for the death that lurks - in those sombre waters. I thought how fine was their devotion - to their duty; how great a part they are playing in the war—out - there alone, where their deeds are attended with no sounding - of trumpets, where they give to their work the same quality of - bravery as is required of the man in the trenches. And as I - glanced at the inscription over the cabin, which read “England - expects every man to do his duty,” I knew that England would not - be disappointed. - -The practical methods by which the Navy and its brave mine-trawlers -conduct their operations are of great interest, but description -cannot go too far. The enemy is certainly well acquainted with all -British methods previous to the war; but mine-sweeping systems do not -stand still, but develop with the progress of armaments generally. -Mine-trawling is developed from the system of trawling for fish, which -before the war had reached a high degree of technical efficiency, and -in the application of that system to their work in the war the men -have attained great proficiency and become extraordinarily successful. -The trawl-net varies in size with the dimensions of the vessel using -it. An average size would be about 100 feet in length, with a spread -of from 80 to 90 feet. The principal features in fishing trawlers are -fore and after frameworks, with fairleaders, a towing-block, a powerful -steam-winch, and towing-warps. A trawler would pay out hundreds of -fathoms of heavy wire warp, the handling of which called for great -skill and dexterity. It was not a very difficult thing to adapt this -method of trawling to the sweeping for mines. The fishing trawler goes -unaided, but in mine-sweeping the trawlers work in pairs, and the -towing-warp is replaced by the sweeping-wire. Two trawlers, steaming -abreast at a certain interval, drag a weighted steel hawser which, upon -striking the mooring of a mine, brings the deadly catch to the surface, -where it is exploded by gunfire from a destroyer or by rifle fire from -an armed trawler or motor boat. The mine-sweepers have encountered -perils and hardships which have never been recorded, and fishing -trawlers pursuing their peaceful occupations have often incurred the -same risks. - -Next after the destruction of the enemy’s fighting vessels comes -the destruction of his death-dealing mines, and the mine-trawlers, -confronted with an unparalleled task, attended with extreme peril, have -rendered magnificent service to England and her Allies. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE NAVY AND ARMY TRANSPORT - - What of the mark? - Ah! seek it not in England; - A bold mark, an old mark - Is waiting over-sea; - Where the string harps in chorus, - And the lion flag is o’er us, - It is there our work shall be. - - _Sir A. Conan Doyle._ - - -The stupendous and scarcely calculable operation of transporting -by sea the enormous armies which are employed in many theatres of -the hostilities is the index and measure of the greatest of all the -triumphs of naval power in the war, namely, that of establishing and -maintaining essential command of the sea. Against this bulwark the -enemy’s naval forces have battled in vain. The submarine may, in some -degree and in some circumstances, affect command of the sea, but it -cannot exercise it. - -It is difficult to realise all that the transport of millions of men, -organised as armies and provided with all that armies require, has -meant to the Allies, or to bring home to ourselves a full sense of -what the responsibilities of the Navy have been in safeguarding them. -The armies of Frederick and Napoleon were pygmies compared with the -vast hosts which are set in the field to-day. When Frederick invaded -Silesia he had with him not more than 30,000 men. The motley army with -which Napoleon invaded Russia—the greatest that had ever been brought -under a single command—did not greatly exceed 600,000 on a liberal -computation. Wellington in the Peninsula never commanded 50,000 men. -But in March, 1916, Mr. Balfour, then First Lord of the Admiralty, -said that 4,000,000 combatants had already been transported under the -guardianship of the British Fleet, with 1,000,000 horses and other -animals, 2,500,000 tons of stores, and 22,000,000 gallons of oil, for -British use and the use of the Allies. In January, 1917, Admiral Sir -John Jellicoe, First Sea Lord, said that over 7,000,000 men had been -transported, together with all the guns, munitions, and stores they -required. Six months later, when the United States troops began to -arrive, the figure may be estimated to have reached 10,000,000. - -The victory of Germany would have been swift and decisive if the great -armies represented by these figures had not come to the support of -France. French troops from Northern Africa and the East also joined -her brave army, because transport in the Mediterranean was secure. The -great army of Russia could have made no offensive movement if she had -not received the immense supplies of guns, munitions, motors, and other -material which came to her from abroad. Because of British supremacy -at sea and the shipping that consequently came there, Archangel, from -being a sleepy harbour, developed into one of the busiest ports on -the continent of Europe. Italy could have made no headway if many of -the things she required had not come to her by sea. Greece would have -remained permanently on the side of the enemy if sea-power and the -troops transported there had not rallied her to the Allies. The German -colonies would not have been occupied if fleets had not carried to them -the troops for their subjection. England, by virtue of sea command -guaranteed by her Fleet, has gathered her armies from India, Canada, -Australia, New Zealand, and from every colony and possession, and -has sent them to serve in France, Belgium, Greece, Gallipoli, Egypt, -Palestine, Macedonia, Mesopotamia, and Africa. Not a soldier has gone -afloat but a seaman has carried him on his back. - -Before we can appreciate this aspect of the work of the Navy in the -war, we must gain some idea of what is implied by the military service -of these armies in the field. It is not enough to dispatch armies. -They must be maintained and supplied. The communications of an army -are vital to its operations, and the communications of all the armies -that England is employing are by sea, and are guarded by the Navy. -It would not be an easy thing to estimate the vast requirements of -fighting forces; but that is unnecessary. They are on an infinitely -greater scale, in proportion to the strength of the troops employed, -than in any previous war. Guns are far more numerous and much heavier -than they were. The expenditure of ammunition has gone beyond all -anticipation, and a real fleet is required for its transport. Horses, -mules, many descriptions of heavy and light ordnance and ammunition for -them, warlike and general stores of innumerable kinds, aeroplanes, -balloons, the gigantic “tanks,” hospitals and hospital requisites, -clothing, food, forage, camp equipment, transport vehicles, traction -engines, pontooning, railway, telegraph, building, and mining material, -locomotives of many kinds, petrol, and a hundred other stores and -things are necessary, and they must day and night be in transit, -without rest or pause. It will illustrate the gigantic nature of the -operation if we record that between November, 1916, and June, 1917, -2,000 miles of complete railway track were shipped, with nearly 1,000 -locomotives, and other supplies by railway companies. Labour and work -for a hundred different services have to be provided also. The United -States and other countries have contributed enormous supplies, and, -with the coming of the American Army, the volume of the ceaseless -torrent—the veritable Niagara—will increase still more. History has no -parallel for such operations. - -This vast business being the charge of the British Navy and of the -navies allied with it, we see how great an object it must be of the -enemy to strike at the lines of supply. That they have completely -failed would appear almost miraculous, if we did not know that the -reasons for the failure are altogether of a practical character. It -was inevitable that there should be some losses when submarines and -mine-layers were at work, but the destruction effected has been a -mere fraction of the whole, and the influence upon the campaigns is -entirely negligible. The Ministry of Munitions imports 1,500,000 tons -of material every month. The most considerable loss due to attack -has been in the matter of shell components, but it did not amount to -more than 5.9 per cent. of the whole supply from the beginning of the -submarine campaign up to June, 1917. The most serious disasters were -in the Mediterranean, where submarines sank the French transports -_Provence II._ and _Gallia_, engaged in the Salonika expedition, with -the loss of about 1,600 lives. The enemy will certainly continue his -efforts. - -Never was a more seriously planned attempt made than that of June 22nd, -1917, when General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force was crossing -the Atlantic. German submarines, in considerable force, made two -attacks upon the transports, and on both occasions were beaten off with -every appearance of loss. One submarine was certainly sunk, and there -was reason to believe that the accurate fire of the American gunners -sent others to the bottom. For purposes of convenience the expedition -had been divided into contingents, each composed of troop-ships and a -naval escort designed to keep off such raiders as might be met with. -An ocean rendezvous was arranged with the American destroyers then -operating in European waters, in order that the passage through the -danger zone might be attended by every possible protection. There -was reason to believe that the Germans had secret intelligence of -the course taken by the transports to the rendezvous and of the time -appointed for their arrival there. - -The first attack occurred at 10.30 p.m. at a point well on the American -side of the rendezvous, in a part of the Atlantic which might have -been presumed free from submarines. The heavy gunfire of the American -destroyers scattered the enemy boats, and five torpedoes were seen. -The second attack was launched a few days later, against the other -contingent, on the European side of the rendezvous. Not only did -destroyers hold the boats at a safe distance, but their speed resulted -in sinking at least one submarine. Bombs were dropped firing a charge -of explosive timed to go off at a certain distance under water. In -one instance the wreckage covered the surface of the sea after a shot -at a periscope. “Protected by our high seas convoy destroyers and by -French war vessels,” said the Secretary of the United States Navy, “the -contingent proceeded, and joined the others at a French port. The whole -nation will rejoice that so great a peril has passed for the vanguard -of the men who will fight our battles in France.” - -This incident illustrates the method of protection chiefly employed by -the British Navy. When the original Expeditionary Force was sent to -France, the Grand Fleet was in readiness if the High Sea Fleet should -venture to issue to sea. Cruisers, destroyers, naval aircraft, and -submarines were on watch and guard in the North Sea and the Channel, -and the patrol was maintained, day and night, without intermission -until the army had been effectively transported. The patrol was then -organised upon a greater scale as the transport grew in volume. The -Dover Patrol undertook a work of the highest importance, and was -instrumental in holding off all destroyer attacks from the eastward. -Cruisers, destroyers, armed motor launches, mine-trawlers and drifters, -and other vessels have been constantly at work, and observation -balloons and seaplanes have never ceased their vigil. The triumph has -been complete, the enemy submarines have never penetrated the guard, -and the Channel communications of all the armies in France have been -made secure. There are certain features of this organisation which -cannot be dealt with here. The same system has been carried into the -Mediterranean and elsewhere, and the French, Italian, and Japanese -navies have shared in the work. - -In this matter of transport protection the British Navy has rendered -magnificent service to all the Allies. General Sir Charles Munro, after -the evacuation of Gallipoli, said it was a stroke of good fortune -for the Army to be associated with a service “whose work remained -throughout this anxious period beyond the power of criticism or -cavil,” and General Sir Ian Hamilton reported that “one tiny flaw in -the mutual trust and confidence animating the two services would have -wrecked the whole enterprise.” This is true not only of Gallipoli but -of every place in which the Navy has been serving as the guard of the -communications, and the base and support of the military forces. - -It will be understood that the Transport Department of the British -Admiralty undertook a colossal work at the beginning of the war. It -possessed the unrivalled experience gained during the South African -War, 1899–1901, when about 275,000 men were dispatched and supplied -with all army requirements over a distance of 7,000 miles of sea and -land. Then there was no enemy afloat, but the operation was greater -than any previously undertaken, and evoked the admiration of the world -as a revelation of resource, energy, organisation, national spirit, -good management, and business-like capacity. What will be said when -the now incalculable work of the Transport Department in this war can -be estimated and described? The inspection and selection of ships and -the conversion of them for the accommodation of troops and horses was a -great business. In 1899 it was estimated that a satisfactory transport -should be capable of carrying a number of men equal to 25 per cent. of -her tonnage. What is the rule now one cannot say. There are important -considerations of ballasting, speed, coal consumption, and other -matters in such business, and the removal or adaptation of existing -fittings and the allotting of space for various purposes have occupied -the Admiralty officers and officials. - -It was a business both of embarkation and disembarkation, on both sides -of the Channel, and special provision was required for the wounded -and sick. The Naval Transport and Embarkation Officers have had a -very exhausting and anxious time in taking up, fitting, coaling, and -otherwise preparing vessels for sea, and in giving orders for the -movements of ships at the ports on arrival and departure, as well as -in providing for the safety and expedition of all embarkations of men, -horses, and stores, and arranging for docking and like matters. They -merit the gratitude of the country and the Allies. It may be said -that in all the naval and commercial ports of the United Kingdom, -and in the French ports as well, work of this or like kind has been -in progress uninterruptedly since the beginning of the war. It is -strictly naval work, and was set on an excellent and satisfactory -footing by the Admiralty; but, as the war progressed, and the pressure -grew greater, imposing additional duties on the Transport Department, -some matters dealt with by certain of its branches, and concerned with -ship construction, modification, and repair, were placed in charge of -competent civilians. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE NAVY THAT FLIES - - Heard the Heavens fill with shouting, and there rain’d a - ghastly dew - From the nations’ airy navies grappling in the central blue. - - _Tennyson._ - - -From an account of the work of the British Navy in the war there must -not be omitted some exposition of the gallant doings of the men of -the Royal Naval Air Service. They have made their mark in the war, -in every theatre of it, and no one can tell what part they will play -before the struggle is at an end. Of some of their work very little is -known. They render “silent” service, like that of the Navy to which -they belong. They do not always carry on their duty alone. On occasions -they participate in that of the Royal Flying Corps of the Army. They -have been associated with the gallant French airmen, and the Americans -come with a new burst of energy. The Germans know British naval airmen -at Zeebrugge and Ostend, and in all the country behind those places; -at sea also, when the German raiders return from their exploits; and -on the West front of the Army, too, where they go at times far behind -the line, spying out the land, taking number and note of the enemy, -dropping bombs on his store and ammunition dumps, disturbing all -his rearward services, and stirring up his aerodromes and the nursing -places, where his fledglings, whom they call “quirks,” are taking to -themselves wings and learning to fly. - -[Illustration: A FLEET MANŒUVERING AT SEA] - -[Illustration: THE CAPTURED GERMAN SUBMARINE MINE-LAYER UC5] - -The Royal Naval Air Service has lent its aid to the Italians, has -provided unpleasant experiences for the Bulgarians, has dropped bombs -on the Turks at Gaza and thereabout, has rendered good service in -the Mesopotamian business, and was invaluable in “spotting” for the -guns which destroyed the fugitive German cruiser _Königsberg_ in the -jungle-clad reaches of the Rufiji River. From dawn to dusk these -knights of the air have been flying in many parts of the world, and -night-flying is their particular pleasure when there is great work -to be done. Their “game book” is very full of astounding episodes -of fighting which, in exciting experiences, put into the shade the -thrilling narratives which for generations have delighted the hearts -of boys. Few people know the sleepless vigil which the naval airmen -keep all round the British coasts, constantly flying to keep watch upon -the enemy, to spot his submarines, to discover his mine-fields, and -to defeat any efforts he may make when transports are moving at sea. -Such is an outline of the occupations and duties of the Royal Naval Air -Service. - -There was an “Air Department” at the Admiralty before the war, and a -Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps with its “Central Air Office,” -its Flying School at Eastchurch, and seaplane and aeroplane stations -at six places on the coasts, as well as airships at Farnborough and -Kingsnorth. At the Royal inspection at Spithead of the great mobilised -Fleet, just before the war, naval aeroplanes, seaplanes, and airships -gave a fine display. Development was rapid, the Royal Naval Air Service -came into independent existence, and there is now the Fifth Sea Lord -at the Admiralty charged with the supervision of the Royal Naval Air -Service, and representing it on the Air Board. - -Some of the most useful work of the Royal Naval Air Service is in -“spotting” for the guns of the warships. Its officers made a methodical -photographic survey of the coast from Nieuport to the Dutch frontier -early in the war to assist the monitors which were then bombarding -the coast, and to observe and correct their fire. They worked from a -height of about 12,000 feet, constantly observing the development of -the enemy’s gun emplacements, all in despite of hostile aeroplanes and -shells. That survey has been continued, and the result is the finest -thing in aerial cartography which has ever been achieved. - -It will illustrate this part of the special work of the seaplanes if we -describe how they began, which we are enabled to do by a lively-witted -official scribe, who examined the records of their operations, and has -given his impressions:— - - “I can’t see where they’re pitching,” said the Navy-that-Floats, - referring to the shells of the monitors bursting twelve miles - away. “What about spotting for us, old son?” “That will I do,” - replied the Navy-that-Flies. “And more also. But I shall have to - wear khaki, because it’s done out here; by everybody, apparently.” - - “Wear anything you like,” replied the Navy-that-Floats, “as long - as you help us to hit those shore-batteries. Only—because you - wear khaki (the Royal Naval Air Service does not usually wear - khaki) and see life, don’t forget you’re still the same old Navy, - as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.” - - The Navy-that-Flies added “Amen,” and said that it wouldn’t - forget. Wherever its squadrons were based they rigged a flagstaff - and flew the White Ensign at the peak. They erected wooden huts - and painted them Service grey, labelling them “Mess-deck,” - “Ward-room,” “Gun-room,” etc., as the case might be. They divided - the flights into port and starboard watches, and solemnly asked - leave to “go ashore” for recreation. They filled in shell-holes - and levelled the ground for aerodromes; they ran up hangars and - excavated dug-outs—whither they retired in a strong silent rush - (the expression is theirs) when the apprehensive Boche attempted - to curtail their activity with bombs. - -Not all the good work of the Royal Naval Air Service in its -co-operation with the Fleet comes into public notice. It rendered -excellent service at the Dardanelles, the seaplane carrier _Arc Royal_ -being present. There were many fine achievements, including the bombing -of a transport in the Straits by Flight-Commander C. H. K. Edmonds, -R.N. Seaplanes may take the place of scouting cruisers, as the eyes of -the Fleet, and relieve destroyers of some of their scouting duties. -What would Nelson not have given for the help of seaplanes when he -was crying out for frigates, and was groping for the French in the -Mediterranean in 1798, and came unknowingly within a short distance -of them; or, again, when, in 1805, they eluded him off Toulon? -Intelligence of the movements of our enemy is of the utmost importance -to officers commanding at sea, and this is the service which the naval -airmen have been rendering. - -At the beginning of the war the Germans enjoyed an advantage in the -possession of some dirigible airships, which sailed in calm airs, -unimpeded, over the North Sea, surveyed its full extent, and reported -what they saw to the German naval authorities. Their number rapidly -increased. Thus the British Fleet was to a certain extent hampered in -its operations. Now the situation is changed. The enemy’s airships -know the peril of coming within range of anti-aircraft guns, and they -dread the “hornets” which carry special means of setting them on fire. -There are British airships, too, and observation captive balloons, -fixed and towed, as well as seaplanes, maintained in adequate numbers. -The seaplane played a useful part in the battle of the Jutland Bank, -and craft of the class will astonish the enemy in any subsequent naval -engagement. - -The dropping of bombs by the seaplanes or aeroplanes of the Royal -Naval Air Service has become the most prominent of its activities. -The machines are of great power, and, acting in numbers, they have -been able to drop an enormous weight of bombs on the enemy positions, -particularly in the districts behind the coast of West Flanders. Within -the space of four or five months 70 tons of explosives were dropped -on the German aerodromes in Northern Belgium. Brave naval airmen in -July, 1917, from a height of 800 feet, dropped bombs on the _Goeben_ -and other enemy warships at the Golden Horn, and hit the Turkish War -Office also. In this work the young officers—for the service demands -youth—have given proof of exceeding keenness. It would be difficult to -catalogue the expeditions of the naval airmen on the Belgian coast. -They have assisted in most important operations. - -How far such work may be continued, to what range carried, or what will -be the full effect, we do not know. The Navy-that-Flies will leave -nothing undone that is capable of accomplishment. It has operated in -association with the work of French flying men on many occasions, at -the bombardment of Zeebrugge and elsewhere. It will find a powerful -co-worker in the new and gallant allies who are bringing all their -force to bear from beyond the Atlantic. The United States air service -will develop with extraordinary rapidity, and its co-operation will be -warmly welcomed by British naval airmen. So abundant is the confidence -of Americans, so strong and virile their faith in themselves, that some -of them look to the aeroplane to end the war. Rear-Admiral Bradley A. -Fiske has demanded an immediate naval attack on the German fleet and -submarine bases in the Baltic by a monster fleet of aeroplanes and -seaplanes. He believes that the importance of naval aerial operations -is not sufficiently realised by the Allies and that Essen may be -destroyed by bombardment from the air. - -The field of speculation does not fall within the scope of this little -book, the object of which is to illustrate the work of the Fleet and -its associated services in all the theatres of war. The Royal Naval -Air Service is still young, and has undoubtedly a great future. -Already it has proved a valuable auxiliary. It has assisted in the -important business of providing complete strategical observations. It -has aided the work of the commercial blockade, in making more easy on -many occasions the operations of the much-tried examination service. -Undoubtedly the transport of the armies and their stores across the -Channel and in many seas, which was the subject of the last chapter, -would have been conducted with less certainty, and perhaps with less -confidence, if it had not been for the active co-operation, as the -eyes of the Fleet, of the naval flying men. The long-range gunnery of -warships against permanent fortifications, both at the Dardanelles and -on the Belgian coast, has gained in accuracy from the observation by -the aircraft of the Navy. - -This subject might have been pursued further, but enough has been said -to show that, among the agencies employed by the British Fleet in the -accomplishment of the supreme duties which it exercises for the safety -of the country and the support of the Allies, the Royal Naval Air -Service holds an important place. It has evoked enthusiasm among its -officers, who have maintained in a high degree, in many a battle in the -air, the fearlessness, resource, and daring of the Naval Service to -which they belong. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NAVY - - Sailor, what of the debt we owe you? - Day or night is the peril more? - Who so dull that he fails to know you, - Sleepless guard of our island shore? - Safe the corn to the farmyard taken; - Grain ships safe upon all the seas; - Homes in peace and a faith unshaken— - Sailor, what do we owe for these? - - _The late Viscount Stuart._ - - -No picture of the war work of the British Navy could be complete -without some account of its officers and men. From what has already -been said, the nature of the qualities demanded of them will have -been realised. In the general direction of the Navy by the Admiralty -there have been required calm reflection, profound insight, strategic -imagination, sound and swift judgment as to the full use and the -yet ill-understood limitations of sea-power, an abundant spring of -action, and the unflinching resolution to give effect to the utmost -to the striking and controlling force of the naval arm. In the -Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet there was needed the high ability -to administer and exercise the command, to inspire officers and men of -every rank and rating in the Fleet with zeal, efficiency, and devotion, -as well as sleepless vigilance in the long waiting for the enemy, and -instant readiness for action at all times. The Commander-in-Chief does -not work alone. He has a staff who collaborate in these duties and give -effect to his plans; and admirals secondary in command, who have no -light task in directing the work and operations of the larger elements -of the Fleet. Sir John Jellicoe, who was appointed to the Grand Fleet -at the beginning of the war, was a master of the high attainments -required for his office, and it was he who created the base of his -operations, organised all the agencies of his command, and exercised -that command with consummate ability. The instrument he had shaped -and handled so capably fell to the charge of Sir David Beatty, a most -gallant officer, eminently fitted to use it, whose temperament is the -very spirit of action, and yet who forms his plans in the mould of cool -reflection. Happily for the British Navy, the fire of action is mingled -in its officers with the ice of thought. They know when to strike, and -when they strike they strike hard. - -Great responsibilities have rested on the captains of His Majesty’s -ships. They showed in the Jutland battle, in which they were tried by -the searching test of decisive action, that they possessed the ability -to inspire and discipline their men, and to put forth the maximum of -the fighting power of the ships. Officers in detached command away -from the Fleet have rendered very great services. The junior officers -are beyond praise. By universal testimony, their devotion, courage, -and ever-ready professional skill, in every test of emergency and -endurance, have never been excelled. The officers of the destroyers are -men above price. The commanders of submarines, who have even carried -their enterprise into the Baltic, and risked the perils of mine and gun -in the narrow waters of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are officers -who have won new laurels for the Fleet. - -The men of the lower deck, wherever they serve, give daily proof of the -bravery, hardihood, cheerfulness, and long endurance which have always -been the qualities of British seamen. Let Sir John Jellicoe speak of -them as he knew them:— - - Nothing can ever have been finer than the coolness and courage - shown in every case where ships have been sunk by mines or - torpedoes; discipline has been perfect, and men have gone to - their deaths not only most gallantly, but most unselfishly. One - heard on all sides of numerous instances of men giving up on - these occasions the plank which had supported them to some more - feeble comrade, and I feel prouder every day that passes that I - command such men. During the period of waiting and watching they - are cheerful and contented, in spite of the grey dullness of - their lives. - -It would not be difficult to single out instances from the records of -the war of constructive power in thought, and sound and swift judgment -in action, as well as of splendid courage, enterprise, dash, and -resolution—call it what you will—in the crisis of battle and in moments -of stress, exhibited in a manner rarely exampled in naval warfare. The -British Fleet has been rich in the mental endowments of its officers, -showing them to possess grasp and insight, and moral force, to dominate -hesitation and sustain action in the tremendous emergencies of battle -and when confronted with the most formidable responsibilities. -Excitement has never carried them away. Judgment has worked through all -their endeavours as, in the long watches and waiting, it has sustained -them. - -Eulogy is not required. Nothing that has been said exceeds the -merits of officers and men. It is right that these things should be -understood. The man is more than the machine, and the finest fleet and -most compete material equipment are dead and inert without the living -power of the officers who command, and the men who man the ships and -vessels of every class. It is they who have done and are doing the work -of the Navy in the war. They, and not their ships, have given security -to the British Isles, have kept the seas and oceans open for the -Allies, have safeguarded every interest afloat, and have worked and are -working, day and night, to defeat the purposes of the enemy. - -We now turn to a consideration which is of paramount importance for -a right understanding of the Navy’s work in the war. England is the -support of all her Continental Allies. If she should suffer or lose -her power of supplying them with armies and arms, or should weaken in -her offensive, the Allies would collapse. This is a fact of primary -importance. The Germans realise it fully. They hesitate at nothing in -their efforts to strike at England. They publicly declared that they -would reduce her by famine. They struck at her mercantile marine, not -merely at ships which were armed and engaged in the naval service -in such large numbers, but at the ordinary cargo vessels, including -neutral vessels carrying British supplies, and at fishermen pursuing -their regular avocations, who, under The Hague Conventions, were, -with their boats, tackle, rigging, gear, and cargoes, to be exempt -from capture, and still more from destruction. Of the officers and -men of these services we must speak also. It became necessary, in the -conditions which had arisen, to bring the whole mercantile marine under -naval direction and orders, and practically it is embodied with the -Navy, and provided for the most part with armaments for defence, and -closely in touch with a great protective organisation. - -When Mr. Balfour was First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking in the -House of Commons on March 7th, 1916, he directed special attention to -this aspect of naval work, not merely to the service of ships flying -the White Ensign, but to that of transports and of merchant and cargo -vessels, and their officers and men, conveying imports and exports, -and the supplies required by the Allied armies. “On them,” he said, -“we depend, not less than on our armed forces, for maintaining the -necessary economic basis upon which all war must ultimately be waged.” -There were, as he said, thousands of officers and men whose ships had -been sunk under them by mine and submarine, and yet who had cheerfully -signed on again, and were not to be driven from their ancient heritage -of the sea. England depends upon her mercantile marine for her national -existence. To a great extent, her food and raw materials are in its -charge; and it also brings without ceasing hundreds of thousands -of tons of munitions of many kinds required by the Allies. When, -therefore, we estimate the work of the Navy in the war, we must give -to the merchant branch of the Sea Service the position it deserves, as -an absolute and primary necessity to England and her Allies. - -The nobility of the work carried on by the officers and men of -the merchant service and the fishermen, whether in armed ships, -mine-trawlers, or cargo vessels, is a dominant note of the war. Their -heroism has been conspicuous, and, as was stated by Admiral Sir Henry -Jackson, when he was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, the facility -with which they learned to carry out their duties as part of a trained -fighting force was extraordinary. “The Allied nations,” he said, “owe -them a deep debt of gratitude for their response, as well as for their -indomitable pluck and endurance.” “There is no room in the Navy for -anything but the most sincere admiration and respect for the officers -and men of the mercantile marine,” said Sir John Jellicoe. They had -practically become a part of the fighting force, sharing in the work -of the Navy in the war, and their courageous conduct and unflinching -devotion to duty have gained the testimony of naval officers -everywhere, not only in the British service, but in the Allied navies -which have come into contact with them. Of the magnificent service of -the mine-trawlers we have spoken in a previous chapter. - -Let this chapter conclude with an appeal to England and her Allies to -remember the great and enduring services of British seamen. They do -not often speak of one another. Sometimes, as by a flash, as when Sir -John Jellicoe wrote of his men, the truth is revealed. It was that -taciturn old officer, Sir John Jervis, who said of Troubridge that he -had “honour and courage as bright as his sword.” The torch is handed on -from one officer to another. There are many qualities among them. The -fire of Drake meets the resolute gravity of Blake; the long reflection -of Kempenfelt is the foil to the fierce glow of Nelson. The tradition -is continuous. Sir John Jellicoe could find no words to do justice -to his officers and men in the day and night actions of the Jutland -Battle. The glorious traditions of the past were worthily upheld. Sir -David Beatty showed his fine qualities of gallant leadership, high -determination, and correct strategic insight. Great qualities were -manifested by every rank and rating. Down in the engine-rooms, seeing -nothing of the battle, men were working like Titans, and some ships -reached speeds which they had never before attained. This was great -service for England and her Allies. - -There is sometimes a tendency to forget—to lose proportion, also—in -censuring seamen for not doing what the power of the sea alone can -never achieve. Howe was burned in effigy in London almost at the very -time when he was fighting his glorious battle of Quiberon Bay, braving -the perils of rocks which were charted and known, and not, be it -noted, of submarines and mines which are invisible and unknown. As the -sarcastic songster wrote at the time: - - When Hawke did bang - Monsieur Conflans, - You sent us beef and beer; - Now Monsieur’s beat, - We’ve naught to eat, - Since you have naught to fear. - -And so Nelson spoke. “I will only apply,” he said, “some very old lines -wrote at the end of some former war: - - “Our God and sailor we adore - In times of danger—not before! - The danger past, both are alike requited: - God is forgotten, and the sailor slighted!” - -Now, the object of this book is to show what are the services of the -British Navy to England and to the Allies. Its influence has been -visible throughout the world, working everywhere with unexampled -success. It operates solely because of the qualities and sacrifices of -its officers and men. To them a high tribute must be paid. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -WHAT THE BRITISH NAVY IS AND WHAT IT FIGHTS FOR - - Where shall the watchful sun, - England, my England, - Match the master-work you’ve done, - England, my own? - When shall he rejoice agen - Such a breed of mighty men - As come forward, one to ten, - To the song on your bugles blown, - England— - Down the years on your bugles blown? - - _W. E. Henley._ - - -Antagonism between England and Germany became the central fact in the -international situation many years before the war. There seemed to be -a fundamental antithesis between the ideals of the two peoples. The -freedom of the Englishman, guaranteed to him by sea-power, appeared -effeminate and undisciplined weakness to the German; the freedom of -the German, guaranteed to him only by the military strength of his -autocratic State, was regarded as feudal dependence by the Englishman. -Not to bring about a conflict, but to avert one—or, if the worst -came to the worst, to engage in one with success—was the motive of -British policy. There was no visible ground for German aggression, but -deep-seated antagonism was the element of danger which successive -Premiers and Foreign Ministers had had to take account of in appraising -their country’s future, and, with the guidance of their colleague at -the Admiralty, who based his judgment on that of his naval advisers, -they had obtained the means to build up the Fleet, which was to be the -country’s and Empire’s defence. - -[Illustration: A BRITISH SUBMARINE] - -[Illustration: JOURNALISTS ON BOARD A MONITOR] - -Armageddon was foreseen, though there was hope against hope that, in -the great crisis, the dire struggle might be averted. It was known -that Belgium and France would have need of England if the dogs of war -were let slip. Many soldiers and writers had pointed out that Belgium -would become the inevitable pathway of aggression. German writers had -declared it an injury that the Congress of Vienna had not established -Germany on the North Sea, and Arndt had expressed the ardent desire -of the German heart to reconquer the great western rivers, implying -the domination of the seas. There were dangers in these lesser -countries. They were full of possibilities. _Qui trop embrasse mal -étreint._ Belgium would cry aloud for English help. As to Italy, it -was difficult to believe that she could hold to her compact with the -Central Powers. Russia, it was known, would be against them. Thus in -all her naval efforts, long before the war, England, while guarding -her own interests, was working and building up her naval strength, in -conscious knowledge of the duty she might one day have to her friends -who have now become her Allies. This is a very important point, and it -leads to a brief survey of great sacrifices and unstinted efforts which -Englishmen have made in the past. - -The Fleet that went into the war was the most powerful, best organised, -and best equipped in every essential particular in the world. Yet, -for a very long anterior period, Englishmen had remained unconscious -of what they owed to the Fleet. They had fought brilliant campaigns -in China, Afghanistan, India, Burma, the Crimea, Abyssinia, and -elsewhere, in which the Navy was a most essential factor, though it -had scarcely appeared in the public eye. It was therefore from a low -ebb that the British Navy rose to the high-water mark of the war. It -was not until about the year 1882 that the tide began to turn, driven -forward by the lively breeze of a very useful agitation, in which the -late Mr. W. T. Stead took a prominent part, and which is believed to -have been inspired by the present Lord Fisher and the late Mr. Arnold -Forster. A great shipbuilding scheme was put in hand in 1889. Ever -since that time, under far-seeing First Lords and First Sea Lords of -the Admiralty, the task of asserting British naval supremacy has gone -forward. Expenditure on the Navy mounted from £31,000,000 in 1901 to -£51,500,000 in 1914, which latter was thought a monstrous figure; but -it was not a penny too much for the great interests which had to be -safeguarded. - -Battleships of increasing power, cruisers of many classes, destroyers, -submarines, and auxiliaries were built. Lord Fisher came to the -Admiralty as First Sea Lord in 1904, and during the subsequent six -years an enormous work was carried on. The battleships culminated -in the Dreadnoughts—that class of ships with a main armament of all -big guns—the cruisers in the battle-cruisers, destroyers grew more -numerous and of much greater power, submarines were developed in range -and sea-keeping qualities. None of these types have stood still. The -Dreadnought developed into the Super-Dreadnought, and the latter has -developed into the ships of powers before undreamed of, which no one -has yet described. The submarine has been changed out of recognition, -and no one suspects what these British vessels can and will do when -“The Day” really comes. - -All these mechanical developments of the Fleet, which are so essential -at the present time, grew out of the impetus given in and after the -year 1904. But that was not the only thing which placed the country -in such a position of advantage at the beginning of the war. The -battle-fleet and cruiser squadrons had been reorganised to coincide -with the needs of the Empire, owing to the shifting of the stress of -naval power from the Atlantic and the Channel to the North Sea. Some -squadrons in distant waters were reduced in strength to correspond -with the requirements, and non-fighting ships—vessels too weak to -fight and too slow to run away—were brought home from distant seas, -and their officers and men were made available for modern ships. A -system of nucleus crews was adopted for the reserve ships to facilitate -mobilisation and to make sure that the ships would be really fit -for sea. Before that time the whole Fleet had been pivoted on the -Mediterranean, and a British warship was rarely seen in the North Sea. -By progressive steps the naval front was changed from the South to the -East. On the east coast of the United Kingdom destroyer and submarine -flotillas were based on ports prepared for them. A great dockyard was -erected at Rosyth, and all along the coast naval bases were developed, -and every preparation was made for the possibility of war. These -were developments of great significance, and the immense and growing -strength of the British Fleet justified the French in concentrating -their battle squadrons in the Mediterranean, and leaving at Brest and -in the Channel only a division of cruisers, supported by flotillas. - -Fleets of warships are meant to fight when the need for fighting -comes; but there was no affront to Germany, no cause for resentment or -agitation, in the concentration of the main strength of the British -Fleet in such places, and with such bases, that they could carry their -power into the North Sea. Force attracts force in strategy as in -physics, and the growth of the German High Sea Fleet at Wilhelmshaven, -with the great sea canal thence to Kiel on the Baltic, inevitably -brought about the British concentration. How magnificently advantageous -was the position secured has already been shown. In an earlier chapter -it has also been explained that by the strategic position occupied by -the Grand Fleet, and the grip held on the entrance to the Channel at -Dover, the North Sea became strategically a closed sea—a _mare clausum_. - -This fact, which is a fact of geography as well as of strategic -concentration, has made the enemy restive and resentful. We are -described as the “tyrants of the seas,” and the “freedom of the seas” -became a catchword of the Germans. Every ruler who has felt the hard -pressure of British sea-power, whether his name was Louis, or Napoleon, -or Wilhelm, has, perhaps inevitably, taken this line in denouncing -us to neutrals and endeavouring to array neutrals against us. In an -earlier stage of the present war this was the consistent plea of -German statesmen. But when they instructed their sea officers to sink -the _Lusitania_ and many other ships, and when they threatened with -disaster neutral ships which approached the British Isles, they became -themselves the tyrants of the sea in a very real sense, and they thus -arrayed the United States and other States against themselves, and -brought a new Armada to strengthen the already superior British Fleet. - -The war is a fight for freedom. The British Navy is fighting, and glad -to have the Allied navies fighting in co-ordination with it, for the -liberation of oppressed nations and countries from military domination. -Command of the sea implies no restriction of navigation. It exists only -in war time. In time of peace the British Navy guaranteed the freedom -of the seas, and will guarantee it again when the war is at an end. We -cannot do better than quote on this question what that distinguished -American writer Admiral Mahan said:— - - Why do English innate political conceptions of popular - representative Government, of the balance of law and liberty, - prevail in North America from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of - Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific? Because the command of - the sea at the decisive era belonged to Great Britain. In India - and Egypt administrative efficiency has taken the place of a - welter of tyranny, feudal struggle, and bloodshed, achieving - thereby the comparative welfare of the once harried populations. - What underlies this administrative efficiency? The British Navy, - assuring in the first place British control and thereafter - communication with the home country, whence comes the local - power without which administration everywhere is futile. What, - at the moment when the Monroe doctrine was proclaimed, insured - beyond peradventure the immunity from foreign oppression of the - Spanish-American colonies in their struggle for independence? The - command of the sea by Great Britain, backed by the feeble Navy - but imposing strategic position of the United States, with her - swarm of potential commerce-destroyers, which, a decade before, - had harassed the trade even of the Mistress of the Seas. - -In concluding, therefore, we see how the British Navy, having served -Great Britain and the British Empire so efficiently and so well in -every interest and possession, fighting constantly against every -stealthy device of the enemy, has served the Allies not less well and -worthily. And we discover, too, that the Navy is ever friendly to -neutral Powers, and that the command of the sea which it exercises in -the war is the panoply of freedom and liberty throughout the world. - -[Illustration: I. THE CENTRE OF SEA POWER: THE NORTH SEA] - -[Illustration: II. THE GRASP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN—LAND AND SEA POWER] - - - - -BOOKS TO BE READ NOW - - - =THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME= =_By John Buchan_= - -“A clear and brilliant presentation of the whole vast maneuver and its -tactical and strategic development.”—_Springfield Republican._ - - Illus. 12mo. =Net $1.50= - - - =THE GERMAN FURY IN BELGIUM= =_By L. Mokveld_= - -Written by an eye-witness, who chronicles not what he heard, but what -he saw. - - =Net $1.00= - - - =THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM= =_By Arnold J. Toynbee_= - -The treatment of the civil population in the districts overrun by the -German armies. - - 8vo. =Net $1.00= - - - =THE LAND OF DEEPENING SHADOW= =_By D. 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Hodder Williams_= - -The experiences of a young clerk who enlisted in 1914. - - =Net $0.75= - - - =WHEN BLOOD IS THEIR ARGUMENT= =_By Ford Madox Hueffer_= - -A powerful, deep-probing exposition of German ideals. - - 12mo. =Net $1.00= - - - =GERMAN BARBARISM= =_By Leon Maccas_= - -A picture of German atrocities, based entirely on documentary evidence. -By a neutral. - - 12mo. =Net $1.00= - - - =COLLECTED DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS= - -The original diplomatic papers of the various European nations at the -outbreak of the war. - - Quarto. =Net $1.00= - - - =THE ROAD TO LIEGE= =_By M. Gustave Somville_= - -The work of the German “destruction squads.” (From German evidence.) - - 12mo. =Net $1.00= - - - =MY HOME IN THE FIELD OF HONOUR= =_By Frances Wilson Huard_= - -The simple, intimate, classic narrative which has taken rank as one of -the few distinguished books produced since the outbreak of the war. - - Illustrated. 12mo. =Net $1.30= - - - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY _Publishers_ New York - Publishers in America for HODDER & STOUGHTON - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained. - -Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of -inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed. - -Page 6: “If Nelson, in 1789,” should be 1798. - -Page 10: “by in Navy” was printed that way; probably should be “by the -Navy”. - -Pages 11 and 29: Footnotes were unmarked in original, but have been -marked as footnotes here. - -Page 66: “Nieuport” was printed that way; should be “Nieuwpoort”. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Achievement of the British Navy in -the World-War, by John Leyland - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACHIEVEMENT--BRITISH NAVY--WORLD-WAR *** - -***** This file should be named 56027-0.txt or 56027-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/2/56027/ - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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- margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - padding: .5em; - } - -} - </style> - </head> - -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Achievement of the British Navy in the -World-War, by John Leyland - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Achievement of the British Navy in the World-War - -Author: John Leyland - -Release Date: November 22, 2017 [EBook #56027] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACHIEVEMENT--BRITISH NAVY--WORLD-WAR *** - - - - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. The -book cover image was created by the transcriber and is -placed in the public domain. (This book was produced from -images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="transnote covernote"> -<p class="center">Transcriber’s Note: Cover created by Transcriber, using -materials from the original book, and placed into the Public Domain.</p></div> - - -<h1>THE ACHIEVEMENT<br /> -OF THE BRITISH<br /> -NAVY IN THE<br /> -WORLD<br /> -WAR</h1> - -<div id="if_i_001" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 28.0625em;"> - <img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="449" height="341" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="p2 center">By<br /> -<span class="smcap large">John Leyland</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace wspace larger">HODDER AND STOUGHTON<br /> -<span class="small">LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO</span> -<span class="small">MCMXVII</span></p> - -<p class="right"><i>E SHILLING</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage center vspace larger"> -THE ACHIEVEMENT <i>of the</i> BRITISH NAVY<br /> -IN THE WORLD-WAR :: JOHN LEYLAND -</p> - -<hr /> -<div id="i_frontis" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 26.8125em;"> - <img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="429" height="605" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">THE KING CHATTING WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage p4 center vspace xlarge"> -THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE<br /> -BRITISH NAVY IN THE<br /> -WORLD-WAR</p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace">BY<br /> -<span class="large">JOHN LEYLAND</span></p> - -<div id="if_i_003" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 5.1875em;"> - <img src="images/i_003.jpg" width="83" height="73" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="p2 center">ILLUSTRATED</p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace large">NEW YORK<br /> -GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">v</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> - <tr class="small nobpad"> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER</td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Duties and Responsibilities of the Sea Service</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Centre of Sea-Power</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">11</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Sweeping the Enemy from the Oceans</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">21</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grasp of the Mediterranean: Sea- and Land-Power</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">29</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dealing with the Submarines</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">37</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Navy and the Mine</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">46</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Navy and Army Transport</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">55</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Navy that Flies</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">64</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Officers and Men of the Navy</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">71</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">X.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">What the British Navy is and What it Fights for</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">79</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table id="loi" summary="Illustrations"> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The King Chatting with Admiral Beatty</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - <tr class="small nobpad"> - <td colspan="2"> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">A British Fleet Steaming in Line Ahead</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_6">6</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Drifters Working at Sea</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_6b">6</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">A Drifter at Sea: looking for Submarines and Mines</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_22">22</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">A Drifter Laying Anti-Submarine Nets</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_22b">22</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Fleets in Alliance: British and Italian Ships in the Adriatic</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_38">38</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">On Board the</span> <i>Queen Elizabeth</i> <span class="smcap">at Mudros</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_38b">38</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">A Fleet Manœuvring at Sea</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_65">64</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The Captured German Submarine Mine-layer</span> UC5</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_65b">64</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">A British Submarine</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_80">80</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Journalists on Board a Monitor</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_80b">80</a></td></tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdl p1 b1 larger" colspan="3"><i>MAPS:</i></td></tr> - - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Centre of Sea-Power: The North Sea</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_85"><i>At end of book</i></a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grasp of the Mediterranean: Sea- and Land-Power</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_85b"><i>At end of book</i></a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<h2 class="vspace"><span class="larger"> -THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE BRITISH<br /> -NAVY IN THE WORLD-WAR</span> -</h2> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_I" class="vspace">CHAPTER I<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Duties and Responsibilities of the Sea Service</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Had I the fabled herb<br /></span> -<span class="i1">That brought to life the dead,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whom would I dare disturb<br /></span> -<span class="i1">In his eternal bed?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Great Grenville would I wake,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And with glad tidings make<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The soul of mighty Drake<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Lift an exulting head.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>William Watson.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">When</span> King George returned from the visit -he paid to the Grand Fleet in June, 1917, -he sent a message to Admiral Sir David -Beatty, who had succeeded Sir John Jellicoe in the -command, in which he said that “never had the -British Navy stood higher in the estimation of friend -or foe.” His Majesty spoke of people who reason -and understand. But it is certainly true that the -work of the Sea Service during this unparalleled war -has never been properly appreciated by many of -those who have benefited by it most. The silent -Navy does its work unobserved. The record of its -heroism and the services it renders pass unobserved -by the multitude. Sometimes it emerges to strike a -blow, engage in a “scrap,” or, it may be, to fight -a battle, and then it retires into obscurity again. Its -achievements are forgotten. Only the bombardment -of a coast town or the torpedoing of a big ship, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span> -the Navy did not frustrate, is remembered. Such has -been the case in all the naval campaigns of the past. -Englishmen, who depend upon the Navy for their -security and the means of their life and livelihood, -as well as for their power of action against their -enemies, are but half conscious of what the Fleet is -doing for them. On this matter, British statesmen, -when they speak about the war, almost invariably -fail to enlighten them.</p> - -<p>Who can wonder that people in the Allied countries -are still less able to realise that behind all the fighting -of their own armies lies the influence of sea-power, -exercised by the British Fleet and the fleets that -came one after another into co-operation with it? -Without this power of the sea there could have been -no hope of success in the war. As the King said, -the Navy defends British shores and commerce, and -secures for England and her Allies the ocean highways -of the world. The purpose of this book is to show -how these things are done.</p> - -<p>On the first day of hostilities the British Navy -laid hold upon the road that would lead to victory. -There is no hyperbole in saying that the Grand -Fleet, in its northern anchorages, from the very -beginning, influenced the military situation throughout -the world, and made possible many of the operations -of the armies, which could neither have been -successfully initiated nor continued without it. But -in the early days of August, 1914, when, from the -war cloud which had overshadowed Europe, broke -forth the lurid horrors of the conflict, the situation -was extremely critical. What was required to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -done had to be done quickly and unhesitatingly, lest -the enemy should strike an unforeseen blow. Happily, -with faultless knowledge, the strategy of the emergency -was realised, and with unerring instinct and -sagacity it was applied. The foresight of great naval -administrators, and chiefly of Lord Fisher, who had -brought about the regeneration of the British Navy, -shaping it for modern conditions, was justified a -thousandfold.</p> - -<p>Never was the need of exerting sea command more -urgent than at the outbreak of war. Everything -that Englishmen had won in all the centuries of the -storied past was involved in the quarrel. Only by -mastery of the sea could the country be made -secure. Its soil had never been trodden by an -invader since Norman William came in 1066. The -very food that was eaten and the things by which -the industries and commerce of the country existed -demanded control at sea. If the British Empire was -to be safe from aggression it must be safeguarded on -every sea. If England was to set armies in any -foreign field of operations, and to retain and maintain -them there, with the gigantic supplies they -would require; if she was to render help to her -Allies in men or munitions or anything else, whether -they came from England, or the United States, or -any other country, and were landed in France, -Russia, Italy, or Greece, or in Egypt, Mesopotamia, -or East or West Africa, for the defeat of the enemy, -that must be done by virtue of power at sea. Therefore, -in this war, as John Hollond, writing his <cite>Discourse -of the Navy</cite> in 1638, said of the wars of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -time, “the naval part is the thread that runs through -the whole wooft, the burden of the song, the scope of -the text.”</p> - -<p>The moment when the First Fleet, as it was then -called, slipped away from its anchorage at Portland -on the morning of Wednesday, July 29th, 1914, will -yet be regarded as one of the decisive moments of -history. The initiative had been seized, and all real -initiative was thenceforward denied to the enemy. -The gauge of victory had been won. “Time is everything; -five minutes makes the difference between a -victory and a defeat,” said Nelson. “The advantage -and gain of time and place will be the only and -chief means for our good,” Drake had said before -him. By a fortunate circumstance, which should -have arrested the imagination as with a presage of -victory—a circumstance arranged five months before, -as the result of a series of most intricate preparations—time -and place were both on the British side.</p> - -<p>The First, Second, and Third Fleets, and the -flotillas attached to them, had been mobilised as a -test operation, and inspected at Spithead by King -George, on July 20th. The First Fleet had returned -to Portland and the other fleets to their home ports, -where the surplus or “balance” crews of the Naval -Reserves were to be sent on shore. Then had come -the now famous order to “stand fast,” issued on -the night of Sunday, July 26th, which had stopped -the process of demobilisation. Dark clouds had -shadowed the international horizon. Austria-Hungary -had presented her ultimatum to Serbia. She declared -war on the 28th. The Second Fleet remained,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -therefore, in proximity to its reserves of men, and the -men were ready to be re-embarked in the Third Fleet.</p> - -<p>Few people realised at the time the immense significance -of the memorable eastward movement of the -squadrons from Portland Roads, or of the assembly -of those powerful forces at their northern strategic -anchorages. Those forces became the Grand Fleet, -that unexampled organisation of fighting force, under -command of that fine sea officer, Admiral Sir John -Jellicoe. War was declared by Great Britain on -August 4th. Successive steps of supreme importance -were taken, which, in very truth, saved the cause of -the Allies. Disaster and surprise attack were forestalled. -The Fleet, fully mobilised, and growing daily -in strength, was already exerting command of the -sea, and the safe transport of the Expeditionary Force -to France was assured. Co-operation with the -French Fleet was immediately established—its cruiser -squadron in the Channel and its battle squadrons in -the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>Fighting episodes were not delayed, but for many -months the operations of the Grand Fleet remained -shrouded as by a veil, lifted only on rare occasions. -Few people knew the tremendous anxieties and -responsibility of the British Commander-in-Chief. -His vast command of vessels of all classes and uses -had to be organised into a mighty fleet, complete in -every element—battle squadrons, battle-cruiser squadrons, -light-cruiser squadrons, flotillas and auxiliaries, -transports, hospital ships, and every ship and thing -that a fleet can require. A whole series of intricate -dispositions had to be made. Officers were to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -inspired with the ideas of the Commander-in-Chief and -the whole Fleet was to be so trained, under squadron -and flotilla commanders, that each would know on the -instant how he should act.</p> - -<p>If Nelson, in 1789, spent many hours in explaining -to his “band of brothers” his plans for his attack at -the Nile, with fourteen sail-of-the-line, what must it -have been for Sir John Jellicoe to communicate to his -officers, and discuss with them, all his plans for every -emergency or call for the service of every squadron -and ship in his vast command? All this must be -realised now. And during the anxious early months -of the war, as the winter was drawing near, the great -anchorages were as yet unprotected, and safety from -hostile submarines could often only be found in rapid -steaming at sea. The mining campaign of the enemy -had also to be overcome. The anxieties were -enormous, and it was only the power of command, the -sea instinct, the deep understanding, the readiness to -act in moments of extraordinary responsibility, and -the resource and professional skill of the Commander-in-Chief -and his staff and officers in command, that -enabled the tremendous work to be accomplished.</p> - -<div id="ip_6" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.9375em;"> - <img src="images/i_006a.jpg" width="607" height="406" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">A BRITISH FLEET STEAMING IN LINE AHEAD</div></div> - -<div id="ip_6b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.625em;"> - <img src="images/i_006b.jpg" width="602" height="425" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">DRIFTERS WORKING AT SEA</div></div> - -<p>While this was in progress other work of immense -significance had been going on. The Admiralty had -undertaken a gigantic task of supreme importance -with complete success. Great defensive preparations -were made in British waters, where all traffic was -regulated and controlled. The vast maritime resources -of the country were added to the naval -service. Two battleships building for Turkey, another -for Chile, and certain flotilla leaders and other craft<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -building in the country, were taken over. Officers -and men in abundance were ready. The magnificent -seafaring populations of the merchant marine and -the fisheries were drawn into the naval service, and -subsequently the whole mercantile marine was -brought under naval control, and for practical -purposes was embodied with the Navy. Officers and -men of these services showed splendid heroism in situations -of terror and responsibility never anticipated.</p> - -<p>A wide network of patrols was brought into being; -the blockade was organised and strengthened; the -examination services were set on foot and perfected; -and the coast sectors of defence, with their flotillas, -were raised to a standard of high efficiency. Mine-sweepers -and net-drifters were at work. Every shipyard -in the country and a multitude of engineering -and ammunition works began to buzz with work for -the Navy and the mercantile marine. Provision was -made for dealing with the raiding cruisers and armed -merchantmen of the enemy.</p> - -<p>At the time, the public knew little or nothing of -what was in progress. Imagination fails even now -to grasp the magnitude of what was achieved. The -naval share in the campaign was of baffling obscurity, -while the stage of the war on land became crowded -with fighting men, locked in a terrible conflict, which -at that time seemed to bode no good to the Allies. -After the brush in the Heligoland Bight on August -28th, 1914, the Fleet was lost to view. Not -at first, but slowly, did it become realised that -the prognostications of peace-time alarmists had -proved baseless. There had been no “bolt from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -the blue,” as had been foretold; neither invasion, -nor raid, nor foray was attempted upon British shores, -and there was no anxiety about food. There was -always, with economy, enough to eat.</p> - -<p>But popular confidence seemed for a time to be -unreasonably disturbed by a record of successive -alarming and generally unexplained incidents—the -escape of the <i>Goeben</i> and <i>Breslau</i> in the Mediterranean, -the sinking of the <i>Aboukir</i>, <i>Cressy</i>, <i>Hogue</i>, -<i>Formidable</i>, and other vessels, the depredations of -German raiding cruisers on the distant lines of our -trade, the bombardment of Hartlepool, Whitby, and -Scarborough, and other disquieting episodes. Strange -as it may seem, there were people who went about -asking, “What is the Fleet doing?” Was it not the -ancient inspiration of the Navy to seek out the -enemy and to capture or sink or burn his ships -wherever they were to be found? Yet there was no -battle. The German coast was not attacked. Allied -shipping to the value of millions of pounds -was being sunk. Why, then, was the Navy inactive? -When, later on, the submarine menace assumed -formidable proportions, alarm began again to seize -upon the newspapers, when there was justification -only for precaution.</p> - -<p>The hidden truth was not comprehended. Victories -were expected when, owing to the coyness of -the enemy’s strategy, none were possible. The Seven -Years’ War—the most successful in British annals, -the turning-point in British history, the war in -which Horace Walpole asked each morning what -victory there was to record—began with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -disaster of Minorca, followed by the tragedy of -Byng. The central facts of naval history were -but little known. Yet the Navy was, and is, in -truth, all in all to the country, the Empire, and -the Allies.</p> - -<p>Before we enter into the main purpose of this book, -in which we shall discover in several theatres of war -the real nature of sea-power, as well as the character -and momentous consequences of the antagonism which -grew up between England and Germany, we may -inquire what services could in reason have been -expected from the Navy in the great cataclysm which -was about to sweep with destruction over the nations. -It would not have been expected to fight a battle -every month or even every year, for battles are rare -events in naval history. It would not have been -expected to attack fortified coasts, though it might do -so on occasions, because ships are designed and built -to fight at sea. The Navy would not have been -expected to forestall every untoward incident. Fish -often slip through the net, as raiders have slipped -through our guard in this and other wars. Nor, in -these days of the stealthy submarine and the blind -death-dealing mine, could the Fleet have been -expected to remain immune from every misfortune. -No one could have expected the Navy to devise a -single conclusive defence against the attack of the -submarine, any more than it was asked to find an -infallible remedy for the effects of gunfire.</p> - -<p>What we should have expected was that it would -make the sea again the protecting wall, as Shakespeare -says, of the British Isles,</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Or as a moat defensive to a house<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Against the envy of less happier lands.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">We should have expected it to safeguard the incoming -of the supplies without which neither the people nor -their industries could exist—to be the panoply of all -trade and interests afloat, whether in the nature of -imports or exports. We should have expected it to -deny all external activity to the enemy at sea—we -might not have anticipated the advent of the submarine -as a pirate commerce-destroyer—to shut off -his sea-borne supplies, and to exert that noiseless -pressure on the vitals of the adversary of which -Admiral Mahan speaks—“that compulsion, whose -silence, when once noted, becomes to the observer -the most striking and awful mark of the working of -sea-power.” We should have expected the Navy to -become the support, in thrust and holding, of the -armies in the field—the shaft to their spearhead; -their flank and rearguard also. Inasmuch as the -war is world-wide, and we have powerful Allies, we -should have expected naval influence and pressure to -be manifested in the oceans, in the Mediterranean, -and, indeed, wherever the enemy is and the seas are. -Finally, we should have expected the Navy to be to -the British Empire what it has always been to the -Empire’s heart—its safeguard from injury and disruption, -and the bond that holds it together.</p> - -<p>Each one of these functions has been executed by -in Navy with triumphant success in the war, and -history would show that it is executing them now as -the Sea Service has accomplished them in all the wars -of the past.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_II" class="vspace">CHAPTER II<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Centre of Sea-Power</span><a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">A</a></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Of speedy victory let no man doubt,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Our worst work’s past, now we have found them out.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Behold, their navy does at anchor lie,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And they are ours, for now they cannot fly.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Andrew Marvel</i>, 1653. -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Of</span> all the theatres of the war, on sea or land, -the North Sea is the most important. It is -vital to all the operations of the Allies. -Command of its waters and its outlets is the thing -that matters most. In that sea is the centre of -naval influence. It is the key of all the hostilities. -From either side of it the great protagonists in the -struggle look at one another. There the great -constriction of the blockade is exerted upon -Germany. It is the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">mare clausum</i> against which she -protests. Geography is there in the scales against -her. She rebels against British sea supremacy. -The “freedom of the seas” is, therefore, her claim—though -she is endeavouring to qualify to be the tyrant -of them. Her only outlook towards the outer seas is -from the Bight of Heligoland and the fringe of coast -behind the East Frisian Islands, or from the Baltic, -if her ships pass the Sound or the Belt, issuing into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -the North Sea through the Skager-Rak. But they -cannot reach the ocean, except through the North -Passage, where the Grand Fleet holds the guard. -Only isolated raiders, bent upon predatory enterprise, -have stealthily gone that way after nightfall. At the -southern gate of the North Sea, through the Straits -of Dover and in the Channel, the way is barred. -The guns of Dover, the Dover Patrol, and certain -other deterrents forbid the enemy to adventure in -that direction.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> See <a href="#ip_85">Map I.</a>, at end of book.</p></div> - -<p>The new engines of naval warfare—the mine, -submarine, airship, and aeroplane—found their first -and greatest use in the North Sea; and only by -employing craft which hide beneath the water, and, -on rare occasion, by destroyers which seek the cover -of darkness for local forays, have the Germans been -able to exert their efforts in any waters outside the -North Sea. At the beginning of the war they had -raiding cruisers in the Pacific and Atlantic, and a -detached squadron in the Far East; but the British -Fleet reached out to those regions, and, aided by the -warships of Japan and France, it drove every vestige -of German naval power from the oceans.</p> - -<p>In the North Sea, therefore, sea-power has exerted -its greatest, most vital, and most far-reaching effect. -There the Germans, if they had possessed the power, -could have struck a blow which, if successful for -them, would have proved a mortal stroke at the -British Empire and would have rendered useless all -the efforts of the Allies. Millions of men, incalculable -volumes of guns, munitions, and stores of every imaginable -kind for the use of the greatest armies ever<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> -set in the field, have entered the French ports solely -because the Grand Fleet holds the guard in the -North Sea. The whole face of the world would have -been changed by German naval victory. England -would have been subjected by invasion and famine. -If the heart of the Empire had been struck, what -would have been the future of its members? If sea -communication with the Allies had been cut, what -would have been their fate at the hands of the victors? -The attacks of sallying cruisers and destroyers upon -the coast towns of England, the “tip and run” raids, -as they have been called, and the visits of bomb-dropping -airships and aeroplanes are the signs of the -naval impotence of Germany.</p> - -<p>The situation in the North Sea is, therefore, of -absorbing interest. It may be studied chiefly from -the two points of view of the strategy of the opposing -fleets and the exercise of the blockade. There is a -peculiarity in naval warfare, which is not found in -warfare upon land, that a belligerent can withdraw -his naval forces entirely from the theatre of war by -retaining them, as with a threat, or in a position of -weakness, behind the guns of his shore defences. -Nothing of the kind is possible with land armies. A -general can always find his enemy, and attack or -invest him, and, if successful, drive him back, or -cause him to surrender, and occupy the territory he -has held. The Germans have chosen the reticent -strategy of the sea. They have never come out to -make a fight to a finish, to put the matter to the -touch, “to gain or lose it all.” The <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">animus pugnandi</i> -is wanting to their fleet. It was necessary that they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -should do something. They could not lie for ever -stagnant at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. They could -keep their officers and men in training by making -brief cruises in and outside the Bight of Heligoland. -They might, with luck, meet some portion of the -Grand Fleet detached and at a disadvantage.</p> - -<p>In any case, they were bold enough to take their -chance on occasions, always with their fortified ports -and mined waters and their submarines under their -lee. They might succeed in reducing British superiority -by the “attrition” of some encounters. Such -was the genesis of the Dogger Bank battle of -January 24th, 1915, when that gallant officer Sir -David Beatty inflicted a severe defeat upon Admiral -Hipper, and drove him back in flight, with the loss -of the <i>Blücher</i> and much other injury. The same -causes brought the German High Sea Fleet, under -Admiral Scheer, into the great conflict, first with Sir -David Beatty, and then with the main force of the -Grand Fleet, under command of Sir John Jellicoe, -on May 31st, 1916. The events of the great engagement -of the Jutland Bank will not be related here. -All that it is necessary to note is that the Germans -had so chosen their time that they were able to -avoid decisive battle with Sir John Jellicoe’s fleet by -retreating in the failing light of the day, and that -their adventure availed them nothing to break the -blockade or otherwise to modify the impotent position -in which they are placed at sea. That action operated -to the disadvantage of England and her Allies in no -degree whatever. The superiority of the British Fleet -as a fighting engine had been placed beyond dispute.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -The mine and the submarine have put an end to -the system of naval blockade as practised by St. -Vincent and Cornwallis. No fleet can now lie off, -or within striking range of, an enemy’s port. Battleships -cannot be risked against submarines, acting -either as torpedo craft or mine-layers, nor against -swift destroyers at night. That is the explanation -of the situation which has arisen in the North Sea. -The blockade is necessarily of a distant kind. There -are no places on the British coasts where the Grand -Fleet could be located, except those in which it lies -and from which it issues to sweep the North Sea -periodically. The first essential is to control the -enemy’s communications, which is done effectively at -the North Passage—between the Orkneys and -Shetlands, and the Norwegian coast—and at the -Straits of Dover. If the enemy desired a final -struggle for supremacy at sea, with all its tremendous -consequences, he could have it. But he can be -attacked only when he is accessible. “There shall -be neither sickness nor death which shall make us -yield until this service be ended,” wrote Howard in -1588. That is the spirit of the British Navy to-day. -But, then, the Spanish Armada was at sea. It was -not hiding behind its shore defences. Be it noted -that the Germans, thus hiding themselves, enjoy a -certain opportunity of undertaking raiding operations -in the North Sea. It is not a difficult thing to rush a -force of destroyers on a dark night against some point -in an extended line of patrols and effect a little damage -somewhere. What advantage the Germans hope to -gain by such proceedings is difficult to discover.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -The magnificence of the work of the British patrol -flotillas and the auxiliary patrols must be recognised. -In the North Sea these are subsidiary services of the -Grand Fleet. Day and night, in every weather—in -summer heats and winter blasts and blizzards, -when icy seas wash the boats from stem to stern and -the cold penetrates to the bone—these patrols are -at work. The records of heroism at sea in these -services have never been surpassed, and England owes -a very great deal to the men who came to her service. -The mercantile marine has given its vessels to the -State, from the luxurious liner to the fishing trawler, -and officers and men have come in who have rendered -priceless services. The trawlers have carried on their -perilous work of bringing up the strange harvest of -horned mines by the score. The patrol boats have -examined suspicious vessels, controlled sea traffic, and -watched the sea passages. The destroyer flotillas -have been constantly at work and ready at any time -to bring raiding enemy forces to action. The Royal -Naval Air Service has never relaxed its activity and -has engaged in countless combats.</p> - -<p>It has sometimes been wondered why the Grand -Fleet did not take some aggressive action: Why did -it not attack the North German sea coast, or rout out -the pestilent hornets’ nest of Zeebrugge, which the -enemy, by internal communications impregnable to -sea-power, had provided with the most powerful guns, -besides defending it by great mine-fields? This matter -requires to be examined. Naval history abounds -with evidence that to attack coast defences is not the -proper or even the permissible work of warships. It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -is the business of military forces, though naval forces -may often assist, and even give the means of victory. -Moreover, what was once possible is not possible now. -Would Nelson have attacked the French Fleet at the -Nile if it had lain under the powerful guns of these -days, and behind mine-fields, through the secret passages -of which submarines could have issued to -destroy him? It would be absurd to compare Nelson’s -attack upon a line of block-ships and rafts at Copenhagen, -covered by a few forts armed with old smoothbores, -to an attack upon coast positions defended by -modern guns.</p> - -<p>When old Sir Charles Napier was in the Baltic in -1854 he was denounced at home because he did not -destroy Kronstadt or Helsingfors. He rightly refused -to play his enemy’s game by endangering his ships. -Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir) B. J. Sulivan, who -was with the fleet, put the situation quite clearly in a -letter written at the time. A military operation -was really required then, as it would be now, to -accomplish such a task.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>We know that two guns have beaten off two large -ships with great loss. Had Nelson been here with -thirty English ships he would have blockaded the -gulf for years, without thinking of attacking such -fortresses to get at ships inside. Brest, Toulon, and -Cadiz were probably much weaker than these -places.... I suppose there will be an outcry at -home about doing nothing here, but we might as -well try to reach the moon.</p></blockquote> - -<p>But the Navy has never left the Belgian coast -secure from attack. It has never lost its aggressive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -spirit. It has attacked from the ship and the air. -The seaplanes of the Royal Naval Air Service -spotted for the guns when the monitors were bombarding. -Bombs have repeatedly been dropped on -Ostend, Zeebrugge, and the places in the rear. -When the guns were silent there were reasons for it. -A conjoint naval and military expedition was required. -The enemy began to feel his hold on the coast precarious. -Continued operations by sea and land might -compel him to relax his grasp. Ships may not attack -places defended by big guns, mine-fields, and submarines -and destroyers issuing from secret passages -through them, but it is certain the British naval -offensive will never be paralysed.</p> - -<p>Such is the magnificent work of the British Navy -in blockading the German Fleet, molesting the -enemy’s coast positions, and controlling his communications -with the oceans.</p> - -<p>The commercial blockade, by which the enemy’s -supplies and commodities are cut off and his exports -paralysed, is too large a subject to be dealt with here. -The object is to bring the full measure of sea-power -to bear in crushing the national life of the enemy. It -is vital but “silent” work of the Navy, and does not -lend itself to discussion or description. Questions of -contraband and the right and method of search, which -arise from the blockade, caused discussions with the -United States before the States came into the war. -The only object of the British Navy and the Foreign -Office was to put an end to the transit of the enemy’s -commodities, and to do so with the utmost consideration -for the interests of neutrals, and complete protection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> -for the lives of the officers and crews in their -ships and in the examining ships. For these reasons -neutral vessels were taken into port for examination, -safe from the attentions of the enemy’s submarines. -One great hope of the Germans was that the neutrals -would become more and more exasperated with -England. They remembered that the war of 1812 -arose from this very cause. But they were completely -disappointed in all such hopes, and they -themselves, by interfering with the free navigation -of other countries, brought the United States into the -war against them.</p> - -<p>The blockade work of the examination service and -of the armed boarding steamers has been extremely -hazardous. It has called for the greatest qualities -of seamanship, because conducted in every condition -of weather and when storm and fog have made it -extremely perilous to approach the neutral vessels—which, -moreover, have sometimes proved to be -armed enemies in disguise. Hundreds of vessels have -been brought into port by the Navy in those northern -waters. Sleepless vigilance has been required and the -highest skill of the sea in every possible condition of -the service, while the seaman has become a statesman -in his dealings with the neutral shipmaster. It has -been for the Navy to bring the ships into port, and for -other authorities to inquire into their status and to -take them before the Prize Court if required.</p> - -<p>The German High Sea Fleet having failed, the -submarine campaign was instituted, and began -chiefly in the North Sea. It has never answered the -expectations of its authors. It has not changed the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> -strategic situation in any degree whatever. Great -damage has been inflicted upon British interests, -and valuable ships and cargoes have been sunk, and -officers and men cast adrift in situations of ruthless -hardship. The tale of the sea has never had a more -terrible record, nor one lighted by so much noble -self-sacrifice and unfailing courage.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_III" class="vspace">CHAPTER III<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Sweeping the Enemy from the Oceans</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Far flung the Fleet then,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Freeing the seas,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Clearing the way for men,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Merchantmen these.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sinking or flying,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Broken their power,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The enemy dying<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Left England Her dower.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>J. L.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> the foregoing chapter some reference was made -to the campaign of the German raiding cruisers -and armed liners against British and Allied -commerce in the distant waters of the Atlantic and -Pacific during the early months of hostilities, and -before we go any further this aspect of the war must -be discussed. One object of the enemy was to lead -to a scattering of British naval strength, but in this -he was wholly disappointed. The distribution of the -British Fleet remained unchanged, and the great -numbers of swift cruisers and armed liners, which -had been apprehended as presenting a formidable -menace to commerce, made but a feeble appearance. -The commerce-raiding campaign gave rise, however, -to a good deal of alarm at the time, though it surprised -no one who understood the means made available -by the scientific and mechanical developments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> -of modern naval warfare, and who had studied them -in the light of history.</p> - -<p>The interruption or destruction of the enemy’s -commerce has always been one of the objects in -naval warfare. British floating commerce offered a -very large target, and the swift German cruisers, -directed by wireless telegraphy and supplied by -friendly neutrals, were at work on the lines followed -by shipping, making it inevitable that there should -at first be considerable losses to the Allies. Admiral -Mahan thought that the British total losses in the -long wars of the French Revolution and Empire -did not exceed 2½ per cent. of the commerce of the -Empire. The Royal Commission on the Supply of -Food in Time of War expressed the opinion that -4 per cent. would have been a more accurate estimate.</p> - -<div id="ip_22" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 38.5625em;"> - <img src="images/i_022a.jpg" width="617" height="427" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">A DRIFTER AT SEA: LOOKING FOR SUBMARINES AND MINES</div></div> - -<div id="ip_22b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 18.9375em;"> - <img src="images/i_022b.jpg" width="303" height="220" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><span class="smcap larger">A Drifter Laying Anti-Submarine Nets.</span></div></div> - -<p>German cruisers, destructive as a few of them were, -did not inflict losses amounting to anything like the -figures of the old wars. In those contests of power, -notwithstanding the depredations of commerce-destroying -frigates, British oversea trade grew, -while that of the enemy withered away. If the -enemy captured ten British ships out of a thousand -the loss might be considered serious, but if the -British frigates captured ten out of the enemy’s -hundred the injury inflicted was ten times more -effective. Towards the end of the long war with -France very few French traders were captured -because scarcely any ventured to sea, while the -French continued to capture English ships up to -the very end of the war, ten years after their fleet had -been destroyed at Trafalgar. The loss by capture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -and sinking was at the rate of 500 ships a year, and -even in 1810, 619 English ships were lost.</p> - -<p>In the present war the German commerce-destroying -campaign, by means of cruisers and -armed liners, though very effective at the beginning, -collapsed with great rapidity. Hostile action against -trade has never before been so rapidly brought -under control. Steam, the telegraph, and wireless -have enormously increased, as compared with the -sailing days, the thoroughness and efficiency of -superior sea-power. Difficulty of providing for coal -and oil supply, the want of naval repairing and -docking bases, and, above all, the immense superiority -brought quickly to bear by the combined naval -forces of England, France, and Japan, aided by the -Australian Navy (auxiliary to the British, to which -it belonged), within a comparatively short time -caused the whole of German commerce to disappear -from the oceans. Soon not a single ship remained—trader, -cruiser, or armed liner—as a target, except that -such isolated raiders as the <i>Möwe</i> might offer rare -opportunities of attack. This failure of the Germans -seemed the more remarkable because they had long -recognised the floating commerce of England to be -her Achilles’ heel. Prince Bülow described it as such. -They had expressly reserved, at The Hague Conference, -the right to convert merchantmen into cruisers -on the high seas to serve as commerce-destroyers. -They used this right in some instances, as in that of -the <i>Cap Trafalgar</i>, which was sunk in single-ship -action by the British converted liner <i>Carmania</i>. Yet -this procedure proved of no effect in the war.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -It would be a great mistake to regard the German -cruiser campaign against commerce apart from the -general distribution of German warships and the -means taken to supply them with their requirements. -The writer is inclined to the belief that the impotence -of the Germans in distant waters shows that their -Navy was not ready nor effectively prepared for the -war. The great expenditure on the High Sea Fleet -proved unavailing. The submarine boats did not exist -in any considerable number. Only about twenty-seven -or twenty-eight of them were completed in August, -1914, of which about a dozen were of early experimental -type, fit only for local use, and the programme -provided only for the building of half a dozen in each -year. The German Navy possessed not more than a -couple of big airships, and a few effective aeroplanes. -The cruisers on foreign service were scattered about -the world without plan. The battle-cruiser <i>Goeben</i> -and the light cruiser <i>Breslau</i> had been detached in -the Mediterranean during the Balkan War, and, -according to the Greek White Book, Turkey having -entered into alliance with Germany on August 4th, -the two cruisers fled to the Dardanelles in conformity -with orders received from Berlin. The Germans were -apprehensive as to their safety, and their naval -authorities never intended to leave them in their -dangerous situation of isolation in an Italian port. -The business of controlling and directing the operations -of the commerce-destroying cruisers and armed -liners, and providing their supplies, was admittedly -dexterously arranged by the agency of wireless, -mainly through the means placed at disposal by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -German sympathisers in the United States, the States -of Southern America, and other neutral countries, -though nothing they did could withstand the steady -pressure of sea-power.</p> - -<p>The most considerable German force in distant -waters was the East Asian Squadron, under command -of Admiral Count von Spee. It was located -at Kiao-Chau, and its principal elements were the -armoured cruisers <i>Scharnhorst</i> and <i>Gneisenau</i>. Sooner -or later this squadron was bound to be defeated, as -its commanding officer fully realised. The Japanese -declared war on August 23rd, and the fleets of -Admiral Baron Dewa and Admiral Kato were -stretched out to blockade and intercept him; but he -extricated himself very dexterously, crossed the -Pacific, defeated Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock -off Coronel on November 1st, rounded Cape Horn, -and was himself defeated with the loss of his whole -squadron in the battle of the Falkland Isles on -December 8th. One of his cruisers, the <i>Emden</i>, -which had escaped the Japanese, made a great noise -in the world. Her captain was a very capable and -also a very gallant officer, who bombarded oil tanks -at Madras, sank the Russian cruiser <i>Jemtchug</i> and -the French destroyer <i>Mousquet</i> at Penang, and sent -to the bottom seventeen British vessels, representing -a value of £2,211,000, besides three sent into port. -The <i>Emden</i> was destroyed by H.M. Australian -cruiser <i>Sydney</i> at the Cocos-Keeling Islands on -November 8th. The <i>Karlsruhe</i> sank vessels representing -a value of £1,662,000.</p> - -<p>It is not the purpose here to describe the depredations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -and ocean wanderings of the other German -cruisers or auxiliary cruisers. The object is to show -how, by the all-compassing pressure of naval power, -they were successively destroyed. It would be folly -to deny that there was something defective in -the disposition of the British naval forces at the -beginning. Admiral von Spee was at large, with two -powerful armoured cruisers, but Sir Christopher -Craddock was left in inferior force off the coast of -Chile. The obsolescent battleship <i>Canopus</i>, which -had inferior speed, was to join him, but did not -reach him in time. The Australian battle-cruiser -<i>Australia</i>, which would have been an extremely valuable -aid to Craddock’s squadron, did not pursue the -German squadron across the Pacific.</p> - -<p>Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher returned to the -Admiralty as First Sea Lord on October 29th, 1914, -and at once set about to use the naval instrument he -had been so largely instrumental in creating. In -dead secrecy and with incredible speed a force was -prepared and dispatched. Admiral Sturdee had with -him the magnificent battle-cruisers <i>Invincible</i> and -<i>Inflexible</i>, the armoured cruisers <i>Kent</i>, <i>Cornwall</i>, and -<i>Carnarvon</i>, the light cruisers <i>Bristol</i> and <i>Glasgow</i>, and -the armed liner <i>Macedonia</i>. The battleship <i>Canopus</i> -was already at Port Stanley. Before anyone knew -he had left England, he arrived at the Falkland -Islands on December 7th, after having steamed a -distance of 7,000 miles. The German Admiral was -known to be approaching with the object of utilising -the islands as a base. He arrived on the next day, -but was taken by complete surprise, though he was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -conscious of impending fate, and his squadron ceased -to exist.</p> - -<p>This was one of the master-strokes of the war, -made with lightning rapidity. Strategy was seen in -action, and thenceforward the control of the ocean -was secured. There remained the business of rounding -up the enemy cruisers which were still preying -upon shipping on the routes of commerce. Cruisers -of sufficient force were dispatched, with instructions -to remain at certain rendezvous, each forming a base -upon which lighter cruisers could fall back, or to -the support of which they could proceed. The lighter -vessels cruised on specified curves or lines of search, -and in this way a network was spread over the oceans -comparable to a spider’s web. Thus in due course -every enemy cruiser and auxiliary was intercepted, or, -conscious of the toils which were spread for her, -abandoned her task and sought safety in the internment -of a neutral port. The Grand Fleet in the -North Sea was the master of the situation, and made -possible the decisive blow which was struck at enemy -power in the oceans.</p> - -<p>Thenceforward the enemy was impotent in every -sea. Not a man could he send afloat to bring aid to -his colonies and protectorates. His distant possessions -collapsed like a house built of cards. No means -had he to interrupt the transport of troops which have -brought about the darkening of every German -“place in the sun.” “<i xml:lang="de" lang="de">Deutschland ist Weltreich -geworden</i>,” it was said. But distant possessions are -the ripe fruit which falls into the lap of the ultimate -sea-power, and the <i>Weltreich</i> exists no more. By<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -means of sea-power it has been destroyed. The submarine -is an effective weapon within its sphere, but -no victory has ever been won by evasion, and no sea-power -can be exercised by stealthy craft which hide -beneath the surface of the sea.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV" class="vspace">CHAPTER IV<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Grasp of the Mediterranean</span><a id="FNanchor_B" href="#Footnote_B" class="fnanchor">B</a></span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="p2 b1 center">SEA- AND LAND-POWER</p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Others may use the ocean as their road,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Only the English make it their abode;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Our oaks secure, as if they there took root,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We tread on billows with a steady foot.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Edmund Waller</i>, 1656. -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">It</span> is important next to consider the situation in -the Mediterranean, where sea-power is of momentous -importance to the Allies. In those -historic waters the fate of many nations has been -decided. They are a vital link and the highway of the -British Empire. Between Gibraltar and Port Said -two thousand miles of British welfare lie outrolled. -To France, with her great possessions in Algeria, -Morocco, and Tunis, the importance of this sea -highway is supreme. She must, in this war -and at all times, traverse its waters or she will be -undone. Italy has won a great position In the -Adriatic and the Mediterranean, and she would -wither away and perish if either fell under enemy -control. Trieste is her object, and she has proclaimed -a protectorate over Albania the better to -establish her power in the Adriatic, and she has her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -new possessions in the Libia Italiana of Northern -Africa. From the operations in the Mediterranean -we shall learn something more of the relation of sea-power -to land operations, and of the limitations of -that power, and we shall see the allied navies of -England, France, Russia, Italy, and Japan in co-operation. -We shall know why the enemy made a great -submarine stroke in the Mediterranean when everything -else at sea had failed.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_B" href="#FNanchor_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> See <a href="#ip_85b">Map II.</a>, at end of book.</p></div> - -<p>The French battleship squadrons were concentrated -in the Mediterranean before the war. The -cruiser squadron in the Channel, like David against -Goliath, was willing to encounter even the whole -German High Sea Fleet; but the French had been -assured of British co-operation, and all danger was -forestalled. In the Mediterranean the <i>Goeben</i> and -<i>Breslau</i> had come west, and had bombarded Bona -and Philippeville; but the French Admiral, going -south from Toulon, was on their heels, and they -fled to the east again, running the gauntlet of the -British squadron on their way to join the Turks.</p> - -<p>They had intended to raid the French transports -at sea. At this time the French were bringing their -troops from Algeria and Tunis, amounting in all to -nearly 100,000 men, with guns, horses, mules, stores, -ammunition, hospitals, tent equipment, and all the -requirements for field service, to join the main army -in France. It was a great responsibility for the -French Navy, increased many-fold when troops began -to come from their eastern possessions through the -Suez Canal.</p> - -<p>Failure would have meant disaster. But the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -whole of the transport work was managed without -the loss of a man or a horse, and was a wonderful -success. It could hardly have taken place with so -much security if the British squadron had not been -in the Mediterranean, and not at all if the Grand -Fleet had not held the German High Sea Fleet fast -in its ports by the blockade in the North Sea. From -that time forward for many months, until the -Italians came into the war, on May 23rd, 1915, the -French squadron was employed in neutralising the -Austro-Hungarian Fleet in the Adriatic, which did not -dare to move. The blockading squadron was -extended across the Strait of Otranto, with occasional -sweeps to the northward, to control hostile operations, -if possible, at Cattaro and along the Dalmatian coast -up to the approaches to Pola, where the submarine -<i>Curie</i> was entangled, and lost to the Austrians. The -French base for these operations was at Malta, but -an advanced base was established in the island of -Lissa. The blockade was completely successful in -checking every effort of the Austrians to strike at the -stream of transport in the Mediterranean, though it -could not avail to save Montenegro or hold back the -Austrians in their advance into Albania. No fleet -can operate beyond the range of its guns, unless its -flying officers carry their bombs into inland countries.</p> - -<p>The blockade maintained through the winter at the -Strait of Otranto was exceedingly arduous and filled -with peril. Enemy destroyers and submarines were -at work, issuing from the wonderful island fringe of -the Dalmatian coast, and the French knew their -peril. The armoured cruiser <i>Léon Gambetta</i> was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> -sunk by submarine attack, with the loss of Rear-Admiral -Sénès, who was in command, and every -officer on board, as well as nearly 600 men. The -armoured cruiser <i>Waldeck-Rousseau</i> suffered damage -by torpedo, and the new Dreadnought <i>Jean Bart</i>, with -Admiral Boué de Lapéyrère, the French Admiralissimo -of the combined fleets, on board, was touched, though -only slightly injured. There were other submarine -attacks and losses of small craft, and some losses were -inflicted upon the enemy. British cruisers were -attached to the French Flag during these operations, -and they continued to co-operate with the French and -Italians in Adriatic waters and in the Ægean, where -the French and Allied naval forces were the guard of -all the operations at Salonika and in the Piræus. -Fleets and armies have co-operated in the Mediterranean -from the very beginning of the war. In May, -1917, the British monitors, which, with the converted -cruisers, had been operating with the military expedition -against the Turks and Bulgarians, appeared in -the Adriatic, and rendered valuable aid to the Italians -in their advance towards Trieste. The naval coalition -has been a marvel of effective organisation.</p> - -<p>German professors have sometimes said that the -land would sooner or later beat the sea—that -“Moltke” would become the victor over “Mahan.” -That is the convinced opinion of the Pan-Germans, -who say that the railway will yet prove the more -rapid and the more secure means of transport than -the steamship. The lines from Antwerp by Cologne -to Vienna, and from Hamburg to Berlin, and thence -through the very heart of Europe to Vienna, and on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -by Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople, and from -the opposite shore of the Bosphorus to Baghdad and -down to the Gulf, and by a branch through Persia -to the confines of India, were to give commercial and, -perchance, military command of two continents. -Enterprise by the branch railway through Aleppo -and Damascus against Egypt, with a view to further -developments in Africa, was related to this conception -of land-power. The measures adopted by the -Allies for the reconstitution of Serbia, the expeditions -to the Dardanelles and Salonika, the strong action -taken in Greece, the naval movements on the coast -of Syria, the operations in the Sinai peninsula and -Palestine, and the expedition from the Persian -Gulf to Baghdad were the answer to these gigantesque -projects of the enemy.</p> - -<p>Behind them all lay the working of the fleets. -Every class of ship and almost every kind of vessel -employed in naval warfare has been used in one or -other of these operations—the battleship, cruiser, -destroyer, torpedo-boat, submarine, mother ship, aeroplane, -aircraft-carrier, mining vessel, river gunboat, -motor launch, mine-trawler, armed auxiliary, special -service vessel, transport, store ship, collier, oiler, tank, -distilling ship, ordnance vessel, hospital ship, tug, -lighter, and a crowd of other craft. All these are -required for the work of the Navy in the Mediterranean, -as elsewhere, and they have been employed -with a quality of seamanlike skill, enterprise, -resource, courage, and success such as the history of -the sea has no previous record of. The appearance -at the Golden Horn of a British submarine, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -had traversed a Turkish mine-field, was the sign of -new powers in naval warfare. We are lost in -admiration of the self-sacrifice of officers and men, -both of the regular naval service and of the mercantile -marine and the fisheries, the latter being the -heroes of the perilous work of mine-sweeping. The -British and French navies, and the vessel representing -the Russian Navy, acted in the closest co-operation, -and all the naval forces worked in intimate association -with the armies.</p> - -<p>Where there was failure, the failure was due to -the inevitable limitations of sea-power, which has -already been suggested with reference to the North -German coast, Zeebrugge, and the Montenegrin and -Albanian coasts. The history of the Dardanelles -expedition will not be written here. Beginning with -a bombardment of the entrance forts on November -3rd, 1914, which had little other effect than to -stimulate the defence, continued after an interval -of months by the great naval attacks in March, 1915, -in which enormous damage was done to the forts at -the entrance and, to some extent, at the Narrows, -but with the loss of British and French battleships -by the action of gunfire and drifting mines, the -enterprise concluded with the landing of the Allied -armies in the Gallipoli peninsula. The troops were -compelled by outnumbering forces and concentrated -gunfire to withdraw. The combined attack should -have been made at the beginning. The unaided -naval attack had merely stimulated the defence. -Here was the greatest demonstration of which -there is record of the limitation of sea-power.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -In the attack of such a military position naval forces -are essential, but military operations are required if -the desired success is to be attained.</p> - -<p>This is true of all the operations in the Mediterranean -and elsewhere. Sea-power gave the means -by which the army drove back the Turks from -Egypt, and it was the support of the advance in -Sinai and Palestine. It gave protection to the -transports which carried troops and Army requirements -to Salonika and the Piræus, patrolling the -routes or providing convoy for the ships. The enemy -realised his opportunity, and his submarines began -to develop great activity in the Mediterranean. -Certain transports were sunk and an attempt was -made to cut the communications of the expeditionary -forces with their base. Some considerable losses were -suffered thereby, but gradually systems were developed -which gave a reasonable sense of security. The -British, French, and Italian flotillas were employed, -and that of Japan came to their aid. Never had such -naval co-operation been witnessed before. We cannot -separate the advance in Mesopotamia from the -Mediterranean operations because the same object -inspired both—viz., that of arresting the threatened -development of German commercial and military -power, through Asiatic Turkey to the Persian Gulf, -and through Persia to the borders of India. The first -advance to Kut-el-Amara and Ctesiphon proved disastrous -because undertaken with inadequate means; -but the Navy rendered brilliant service, and, in the -second advance, a sufficient river flotilla of gunboats -and transports made possible the advance to Baghdad<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -and beyond. The naval flotilla co-operated with most -excellent effect in this advance, played havoc with -enemy’s craft, and recaptured H.M.S. <i>Firefly</i>, which -had been lost in the retreat from Ctesiphon.</p> - -<p>Thus we see the Navy operating in the great -central theatre of war and on its outlook to -the East, exerting influence, transporting troops, -forming the base of armies, and everywhere proving -an essential factor in all that was done. It was confronted -in the Mediterranean, as elsewhere, with the -new weapon of the submarine in very active form. -That menace, and the campaign against it, shall be -the subject of the next chapter.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Dealing with the Submarines</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">My name is Captain Kidd,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Captain Kidd.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My name is Captain Kidd,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Captain Kidd.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My name is Captain Kidd,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And wickedly I did;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">God’s laws I did forbid,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">As I sailed.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Old Nautical Ballad.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Having</span> seen the British Fleet and the fleets -allied with it operating in the North Sea, -the Oceans, and the Mediterranean, we may -suitably turn to some special features of the duties and -work of the Navy in the war. The submarine came -as a sign and a portent of new developments in the -means and the practice of warfare at sea. Regarded -once as the weapon of the weaker Power, it was -adopted into the naval armoury of the strongest. -When, in 1901, under Lord Fisher’s administration -as First Sea Lord, a beginning was made in submarine -construction by the ordering of five Holland -boats, many people were taken aback. Confessedly -the part to be played by the submarine lay at that -time in the realm of speculation, but the British -Navy could not afford to ignore it. Every advance -must be watched and studied as it developed. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -development has been rapid, and there are British -submarines of astonishing powers, which have no -equals in the world. They have made their mark -in many a theatre of war. The French had led the -way. The Germans followed in 1906. There is, -indeed, the best reason to believe that Grand Admiral -von Tirpitz, chief of the Navy Department, looked -with no kindly eye upon submarine boats. He was a -believer in battleships and the creator of the High Sea -Fleet, with its battle squadrons and cruiser divisions. -Concessions were made to the Admiralty Staff, and a -few submarines were put in hand; but it was not until -the beginning of the war that Tirpitz became inspired -with the fervour of the convert.</p> - -<p>Even now the relative position of the submarine -in the category of warships is obscure. Admiral -Sir Percy Scott thought that the knell of the battleship -had been rung by its growing power; yet ships -of the battleship class, carrying incredible armaments, -possessing speed beyond the dreams of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ante-bellum</i> -naval constructors, and infinitely superior for a dozen -reasons to anything the Germans had thought of, have -recently been completed, and will probably play a -decisive part in any future naval engagement.</p> - -<div id="ip_38" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 38.1875em;"> - <img src="images/i_038a.jpg" width="611" height="423" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">FLEETS IN ALLIANCE: BRITISH AND ITALIAN SHIPS IN THE ADRIATIC</div></div> - -<div id="ip_38b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.75em;"> - <img src="images/i_038b.jpg" width="604" height="422" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">ON BOARD THE “QUEEN ELIZABETH” AT MUDROS</div></div> - -<p>But if the submarine has not dethroned the battleship, -she has, in the hands of the enemy, done other -remarkable things. She has struck a mortal blow -at what many excellent people have hitherto regarded -as the settled and accepted code of International Law; -she has appeared as a pirate commerce-destroyer. -Without warning and without pity she has sunk fishing -vessels, tramp steamers, stately liners, and hospital<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -ships. The code of honour is not observed by her. -The German submarine officer has orders to run no -risks, although in the old wars naval officers—who -had no means of submerging either to attack or to -escape—gladly ran every risk incidental to the service -in which they were engaged. When the <i>Lusitania</i> was -sunk it was explained that if the commander of the -submarine had permitted the passengers to take to the -boats before firing his torpedo, “this would have -meant the certain destruction of his own vessel.” -There was no evidence that such would have been -the case, but the risk, which implied a danger merely -incidental to naval service, was held to justify the -sinking of the great liner with 1,200 souls on board. -The wildest imagination could not have conceived that -any human being could take such a distorted view of -right and wrong, and of the plain duty of the seaman.</p> - -<p>The submarine has accomplished other remarkable -things in the war. She has converted benevolent -neutrals into resolute enemies. She has brought the -United States into the war in support of the Allies. -She has transformed the mercantile marines opposed -to her into actual fighting forces. A few merchant -ships were armed before the war began, but now, -because of ruthless submarine attack, the British mercantile -marine is for practical purposes embodied with -the Navy, in the sense that it is under naval control, -is provided with means of defence, and acts directly -under naval orders. Moreover, one-half or more of -its shipping has been taken over by the naval service. -The same is true of the merchant ships of the Allies. -The German submarine has had a further effect. She<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -has created a whole array of means directed to her -destruction. Countless inventors have been set at -work, and extraordinarily ingenious methods have -been employed with the purpose of putting an end -to submarine activities by sinking every boat as she -appeared.</p> - -<p>In the early days of the submarine it was believed -that she might be sunk by using spar torpedoes -fixed in swift boats, which would bear down upon the -submarine as she submerged and explode the charge -against her hull. But it soon occurred to seamen -that if a swift vessel, destroyer or other, could run -down a submarine she might more easily sink her by -the impact of her sharp stem or a special keel. This -method has been practised in the war, and by this -means a number of enemy submarines have been dispatched -to Davy Jones’s locker. There was an early -case in which a certain destroyer, going at high speed, -actually impaled a German submarine on her stem, -and carried her onward, so injured that she sank. -Another early case was that of the German submarine -rammed and sent to the bottom off Beachy Head on -March 28th, 1915, by the <i>Thordis</i>, commanded by -that plucky skipper, Captain Bell, who set an example -to many.</p> - -<p>Another plan was to use suitable vessels in pairs, -each pair dragging a cable connecting them, from -which hung, on short lines, small mines to be electrically -exploded when a submerged obstruction, -probably a periscope or conning-tower, put a tension -upon the connecting cable. The disadvantage of -this system was that the entrapping vessels could not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -travel swiftly without bringing the cable near to the -surface, and the chance of a submarine fouling the -cable was remote. Yet it may be conjectured that -the features of this system may have furnished the -germ of procedures now in use. Capture or sinking -by the use of nets was also an early idea, probably -suggested by the nets used by big ships at anchor for -protection against torpedoes, and Admiral Sir Arthur -Wilson devised a large steel net for the purpose. Possibly -this method, too, has developed into the nets -employed in dealing with enemy submarines at the -present time. But submarines were continually -increasing in strength of structure, speed, and handiness, -so that new systems were necessary and have -developed with the requirements.</p> - -<p>What the actual methods employed by the Navy -are cannot be explained. When Mr. Frederick -Palmer, the American writer, visited the Grand Fleet -he asked how the thing was done, and officers said: -“Sometimes by ramming; sometimes by gunfire; -sometimes by explosives; and in many other ways -which we do not tell.” M. Joseph Reinach also -visited the Fleet, and said in the <i>Figaro</i> that the -submarine was pursued “by net, gun, explosive bomb, -and other means.” Squadron-Commander Bigsworth -on August 26th, 1915, destroyed a submarine off -Ostend by dropping bombs upon her from his aeroplane, -and there have been several other episodes of -the same kind. When the first American transports -were attacked in the Atlantic, bombs fitted with a -short-time fuse were employed which burst at a -determined depth below the surface of the sea.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -The Royal Naval Air Service plays a large part in -the anti-submarine campaign. Its seaplanes are always -scouting over our waters and sight enemy submarines -from afar. Flying high, they can and do discover -submarines navigating below the surface, and by -wireless or other signals bring destroyers or other -craft to the scene, where by special means submarines -are destroyed.</p> - -<p>Probably gunfire is the chief means by which submarines -are sent to the bottom. A German submarine -may attain complete submergence from the cruising -trim within about three minutes; but the time may be -longer, if she has a gun mounted, wireless rigged, and -other top hamper. From the awash position, in which -her speed is reduced, she may submerge in about two -minutes. A swift destroyer, knowing the position of -such a submarine, may advance toward her, covering -a nautical mile within two minutes, so that she has an -excellent chance of coming within range and putting in -shots with effect. Gunnery is carried to a high pitch -of proficiency in the Navy, and one destroyer may be -mentioned which knocked out the periscope of a -German submarine at a range of over 2,000 yards -with her first round. There is nothing an enemy submarine -likes less than to see destroyers tearing down -towards her at high speed as she is getting in her gun, -withdrawing her periscope, lowering her masts—often -a disguise—and filling her tanks. Moreover, complete -submergence may not be a sure protection for -her if she is watched, for she may be destroyed by an -explosive bomb.</p> - -<p>German submarines have also learned to fear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -armed merchantmen, which have not seldom used -their guns with effect, sometimes compelling their -assailants to submerge, and so evading their attack, -and sometimes by obtaining direct hits. The -<i>Dunrobin</i> in September, 1916, carried on a lively -action for some minutes, hitting her assailant in the -vicinity of her conning-tower with a T.N.T. shell—thereby -causing an internal explosion, from which -dense smoke arose—followed by three common shell, -each of them making a direct hit, after which the -enemy suddenly plunged at a sharp angle, evidently -going to the bottom. In March, 1917, the <i>Bellorado</i> -was attacked by gunfire from a submarine, whereby -her master, chief officer, and a seaman were killed, -while her gunners put such shot into the assailant that -she was silenced and manifestly disabled.</p> - -<p>Further it is not permissible to go on describing how -submarines are accounted for. The catalogue of -methods is a long one. There could certainly be no -single and decisive weapon for the destruction of this -new engine of warfare. There is no remedy for the -effects of gunfire, and if submarines discover targets -possible to be attacked they will certainly attack them. -Some surprise was expressed that the British Admiralty -did not at once suppress the submarine menace. -When the submarine campaign began in February, -1915, it resulted in the sinking of a number of British -merchantmen; but, having risen to its height, it -declined, with fluctuations, until it was described as -being “well in hand.” The methods employed had -been successful. Then, after several months, the -submarines began their depredations again, carrying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -them into the Atlantic and the Mediterranean with -great violence. They also penetrated the Channel, -though they never checked the great stream of transport -for the armies between English and French ports, -which the Navy was guarding with complete success.</p> - -<p>The reason for this recrudescence of submarine -piracy was the intense energy which the Germans -devoted to the production of standardised and -powerful classes of submarines, whose parts were -produced in many districts of the German Empire. -The new boats were practically submarine cruisers, -capable of high surface speed, which enabled them to -overhaul slow merchantmen, and they were armed -with powerful guns. The early enemy submarine -carried a 1.4-inch gun, but a 2.9-inch 12-pounder -was provided. There is now reason to believe that -the calibre has risen to 4.1 inches and, in the case -of some of the more powerful boats, to 5.1 inches, -these larger guns being shorter and lighter than the -same guns mounted in cruisers. But obviously submarines -of these classes, carrying on their work over -wider areas and in distant places, will not be so easy -to destroy as the smaller boats of the early submarine -campaign, and this may account for the difficulty in -providing a complete protection from the attack. Submarine -sections have been sent overland and assembled -at Trieste for the Adriatic and Mediterranean, -and at Varna for use in the Black Sea, and also doubtless -at the Golden Horn or in the Gulf of Ismid.</p> - -<p>There is much uncertainty about the future of the -submarine. She exercises no command at sea, and -she makes many fruitless attacks upon armed merchantmen;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -but she is dangerous, nevertheless. The -British Navy has devoted exhaustless energy in applying -every possible agency for dealing with hostile submarines, -and its great success encourages the hope and -belief that the scourge will yet be exterminated. Destroyers, -motor launches, patrolling ships of many -classes, seaplanes, observation balloons, and other -craft are at work every day and many of them every -night. But whatever element of uncertainty there -may be as to the complete success of these agencies, -there is none in the conclusion that the submarine -will never bring England, still less her Allies, to the -verge of famine or anywhere near it. Scarcity of food -is not due so much to the submarine as to the great -demand on the world’s supplies, and the enormous -volume of shipping absorbed by the naval and military -requirements of England and her Allies. The -Navy, which has done such wonderful work in the -war, is not and will not be ineffective against the submarine.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Navy and the Mine</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">They sink, they slink, they seek the boat,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Grisly horns stuck through their skin,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ready to sink all things that float,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">These villain boxes shaped of tin.<br /></span> -<span class="i2">The fisher sees the death therein,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But reaches down with his long fling,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">And grasps the chain that holds them in,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And draws the fangs they hoped would sting.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Anon.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> British Navy fights for the great ideals -of the people, acting upon the lines of old -and loyal traditions; but, while doing so, it -has encountered the desperate devices of the enemy, -who has used the latest achievements of scientific -and mechanical invention in such a manner as to -overthrow many preconceived methods and accepted -conventions of naval warfare. We have already -spoken of the submarine. Now we shall see what -the mine is, and how it is dealt with by the Navy -and the services the Navy controls. It has been -said, with much truth, that the essence of war is -violence and that moderation in war is futility. It -is also true, as we see, in the cruel operations of -Zeppelins and bomb-dropping aeroplanes, and not -less in the attacks of submarines, as directed by the -Germans and their allies, that the non-military populations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -suffer the horrors of war in much greater degree -than was the case in the wars even of recent times.</p> - -<p>But the Germans, at the very beginning of the -war, outraged neutral sentiment by employing ostensible -merchant and passenger vessels, flying neutral -flags, and without giving warning to the neutrals, in -the deadly work of scattering mines indiscriminately -in the open sea on the main lines of trade. They -acted in direct contravention of the rules of war as -previously accepted. These disguised mining vessels -had traversed the trade routes as if pursuing peaceful -purposes, thus enjoying the immunities which had -always been accorded to innocent neutral vessels, and -yet they had wantonly endangered the lives of all -who traversed the sea, whether neutral or enemy. -The Admiralty were soon able to declare publicly that -this mine-laying under a neutral flag, as well as reconnaissance -conducted by trawlers and even by hospital -ships and neutral vessels, had become the ordinary -methods of German naval warfare. The later history -of the war shows how far the Germans were prepared -to go in casting off any restraint in their efforts to -do injury to their enemies. They compelled the -British Admiralty to adopt counter-measures.</p> - -<p>For years past the Germans had devoted unremitting -attention to the study and practice of mining -and the production of very powerful types of mines. -In that respect they were undoubtedly ready. The -state of war between England and Germany began -at 11 p.m. on August 4th, 1914, and on the morning -of the next day German mines were being laid on -the east coast of England. The <i>Königin Luise</i>, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -former Hamburg-Amerika liner of 2,163 tons, was -caught in the act, off the Suffolk coast, and was sunk -by the light cruiser <i>Amphion</i> and the Third Torpedo -Flotilla. On the next day the <i>Amphion</i> herself, the -first British warship destroyed in the war, fell a -victim to the mines she had laid. This disguised -mine-layer had initiated a practice, which has since -been many times followed in the war, of throwing -mines overboard in the track of pursuing vessels. -It was resorted to by the retreating Germans in the -battle of the Dogger Bank. Here it may be remarked -that the Germans have always claimed the right to -subject every consideration to their necessity to win, -though at The Hague Conference of 1907, Baron -Marschall von Bieberstein, the German delegate, said -that conscience, good sense, and the duty imposed -by the principles of humanity would constitute the -most effective guarantee against abuse, and he proclaimed—“<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">je -le dis à haute voix</i>”—that German naval -officers would always fulfil “in the strictest fashion -the duties which emanate from the unwritten law of -humanity and civilisation.”</p> - -<p>Any technical description of German mines would -be out of place here; but it may be said that generally -they approximate to a spherical shape, and are provided -with projecting “horns,” almost in the shape of -drumsticks, concussion with which is calculated to -break a small phial within, whose contents cause -the detonation of the enormous charge of T.N.T. explosive. -Each mine is provided with a sinker, which -drops to the bottom, and is attached to the mine by -a cable or sounding-line paid out by special mechanism<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -to any desired length, whereby the mine may -be kept at the intended depth below the surface. -There are other types of mines, and in particular one -of cylindrical form, containing a prodigious quantity -of explosive and capable of the widest destruction. -This has probably been used only in special situations. -The ordinary mines can be laid with great rapidity by -a specially fitted mine-layer, provided with rotary gear, -bringing mine after mine along a special track to the -dropping position. The drifting mines which the -Germans at the very beginning of the war set afloat -in the main trade route from America to Liverpool, -<i>viâ</i> the North of Ireland, can be laid with still greater -rapidity.</p> - -<p>When mine-laying in British waters by surface -boats was made extremely risky, or almost impossible, -the Germans resorted to the employment of -submarine mine-layers, one of which was exhibited -in the Thames. Vessels of this class, so far as they -are known, probably carry a maximum of twelve -big mines in six shoots or air-locks, the lower mine -in each shoot being released by means of a lever, -after which the other drops into its place, ready to -be let go in the same way. The boat exhibited in -London and elsewhere was of a rough, rudimentary -character, indifferently built, and her speed was probably -not more than six or eight knots. Undoubtedly -many of the submarine mine-layers are of better type. -They are constantly at work especially on the east -coast of England, and some losses have resulted; but -the effect of their operations is nearly always overcome -by the means adopted by the Navy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -The first measure set on foot by the Admiralty -was to organise a system of search for suspicious -craft, and to declare the North Sea a war area, -within which it was dangerous for any vessel to -navigate except through channels indicated by the -naval authorities. The Germans replied with their -now famous and futile blockade order of February, -1915. New regulations were issued from time to -time regulating navigation through the British mine-fields, -and the result has been, in association with the -patrols, to exercise a very close supervision over the -navigation in home waters. As to distant mining -operations of the enemy, the First Lord of the Admiralty -stated, on March 8th, 1917, that they had -been carried very far, and the P. & O. liner <i>Mongolia</i>, -sunk off Bombay on June 23rd, 1917, was not the only -vessel mined in the Arabian Sea. From time to time -it has been announced that mails for and from the -East and Australia have been lost at sea.</p> - -<p>It is an inspiring thing to turn from this picture -of mines and the scattering of them by the enemy -to another picture—that of the gallant and successful -manner in which the Navy, and the mine-trawlers -and other vessels embodied in its service and employed -in the ceaseless patrols, have grappled with -the deadly menace of the mine. Ever patrolling the -British coasts, ever facing death, often speeding to -the help of vessels mined, torpedoed, or otherwise in -distress, the glorious men who man these craft have -inscribed their names in letters of gold on the roll of -British honour and fame at sea. It was a marvellous -thing, this embodiment of the vast mine-sweeping and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -patrolling service in the work of the Navy in the war. -From all the coasts fishermen have come, with their -trawlers converted from the craft of winning fish at -sea, to the sterner work of bringing up and destroying -the strange harvest of deadly mines which endanger -all life at sea. Many a trawler has been sunk by -contact with her fatal captures; others have been -sunk by hostile fire and bombing by enemy aeroplanes, -but never have the brave seamen quailed in the service -of the country and the Allies, and in every port -men are to be met whose craft have been sunk under -them, and who have hastened to sea again.</p> - -<p>Hundreds of ships, drawn from the mercantile -marine and the fisheries, steam yachts, motor boats, -armed launches, and vessels of other classes, are -employed in such dangerous work. They share the -trials of war, wind, and weather with the regular -naval patrols. Sir Edward Carson, when First Lord of -the Admiralty, directed attention to the magnificent -work of the mine-trawlers of these patrols. The -force employed at the beginning of the war numbered -about 150 small vessels, but increased to 3,000 or -more. The whole nation should understand what -mine-sweepers were doing. “The thousands of men -engaged in this operation are the men who are -feeding the whole population of this country, from -morning till night, battling with the elements as -well as the enemy, facing dangers under the sea. A -mine-sweeper carries his life in his hands at every -moment, and he does it willingly.” Later again he -expressed his thanks and the thanks of the nation -for the splendid work they had accomplished. Of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -all the seamen who had so deservedly earned the -gratitude of the country none had had more arduous -and dangerous duties to perform than the gallant -fellows in the patrols.</p> - -<p>They have worked in reliefs day and night at sea, -though sometimes driven to port by the fury of the -elements, and they brave every kind of weather. As -Admiral Bacon, commanding the Dover Patrol, has -said, with reference to the security with which thousands -of merchantmen had passed through the waters -in his control, “no figures could emphasise more -thoroughly the sacrifice made by the personnel of -the patrols and the relative immunity ensured to the -commerce of their country.” They have trawled for -mines not only in British but in distant waters. Their -magnificent work under fire, and attacked by bomb-dropping -aeroplanes, at the Dardanelles will never -be forgotten.</p> - -<p>An American correspondent, Mr. Gordon Brace, -who sailed in a mine-trawler to learn its work, concluded -an article in the <cite>New York Tribune</cite> in these -<span class="locked">words:—</span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>I looked at those men who go out day after day; -who wear their lifebelts continuously; who take -their tea on the decks while they peer over the rims -of their cups for the death that lurks in those sombre -waters. I thought how fine was their devotion -to their duty; how great a part they are playing in -the war—out there alone, where their deeds are -attended with no sounding of trumpets, where they -give to their work the same quality of bravery as is -required of the man in the trenches. And as I -glanced at the inscription over the cabin, which read<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -“England expects every man to do his duty,” I knew -that England would not be disappointed.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The practical methods by which the Navy and its -brave mine-trawlers conduct their operations are of -great interest, but description cannot go too far. -The enemy is certainly well acquainted with all -British methods previous to the war; but mine-sweeping -systems do not stand still, but develop with the -progress of armaments generally. Mine-trawling is -developed from the system of trawling for fish, which -before the war had reached a high degree of technical -efficiency, and in the application of that system to -their work in the war the men have attained great -proficiency and become extraordinarily successful. -The trawl-net varies in size with the dimensions of -the vessel using it. An average size would be about -100 feet in length, with a spread of from 80 to 90 -feet. The principal features in fishing trawlers are -fore and after frameworks, with fairleaders, a towing-block, -a powerful steam-winch, and towing-warps. A -trawler would pay out hundreds of fathoms of heavy -wire warp, the handling of which called for great -skill and dexterity. It was not a very difficult thing -to adapt this method of trawling to the sweeping for -mines. The fishing trawler goes unaided, but in mine-sweeping -the trawlers work in pairs, and the towing-warp -is replaced by the sweeping-wire. Two trawlers, -steaming abreast at a certain interval, drag a weighted -steel hawser which, upon striking the mooring of a -mine, brings the deadly catch to the surface, where -it is exploded by gunfire from a destroyer or by rifle -fire from an armed trawler or motor boat. The mine-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>sweepers -have encountered perils and hardships which -have never been recorded, and fishing trawlers pursuing -their peaceful occupations have often incurred -the same risks.</p> - -<p>Next after the destruction of the enemy’s fighting -vessels comes the destruction of his death-dealing -mines, and the mine-trawlers, confronted with an unparalleled -task, attended with extreme peril, have rendered -magnificent service to England and her Allies.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Navy and Army Transport</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">What of the mark?<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Ah! seek it not in England;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A bold mark, an old mark<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Is waiting over-sea;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where the string harps in chorus,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And the lion flag is o’er us,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">It is there our work shall be.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Sir A. Conan Doyle.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> stupendous and scarcely calculable operation -of transporting by sea the enormous -armies which are employed in many theatres -of the hostilities is the index and measure of the -greatest of all the triumphs of naval power in the -war, namely, that of establishing and maintaining -essential command of the sea. Against this bulwark -the enemy’s naval forces have battled in vain. The -submarine may, in some degree and in some circumstances, -affect command of the sea, but it cannot -exercise it.</p> - -<p>It is difficult to realise all that the transport of -millions of men, organised as armies and provided -with all that armies require, has meant to the Allies, -or to bring home to ourselves a full sense of what -the responsibilities of the Navy have been in safeguarding -them. The armies of Frederick and Napoleon -were pygmies compared with the vast hosts which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -are set in the field to-day. When Frederick invaded -Silesia he had with him not more than 30,000 men. -The motley army with which Napoleon invaded Russia—the -greatest that had ever been brought under a -single command—did not greatly exceed 600,000 on -a liberal computation. Wellington in the Peninsula -never commanded 50,000 men. But in March, 1916, -Mr. Balfour, then First Lord of the Admiralty, said -that 4,000,000 combatants had already been transported -under the guardianship of the British Fleet, -with 1,000,000 horses and other animals, 2,500,000 -tons of stores, and 22,000,000 gallons of oil, for British -use and the use of the Allies. In January, 1917, -Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, First Sea Lord, said that -over 7,000,000 men had been transported, together -with all the guns, munitions, and stores they required. -Six months later, when the United States troops began -to arrive, the figure may be estimated to have reached -10,000,000.</p> - -<p>The victory of Germany would have been swift -and decisive if the great armies represented by these -figures had not come to the support of France. French -troops from Northern Africa and the East also joined -her brave army, because transport in the Mediterranean -was secure. The great army of Russia could -have made no offensive movement if she had not -received the immense supplies of guns, munitions, -motors, and other material which came to her from -abroad. Because of British supremacy at sea and the -shipping that consequently came there, Archangel, -from being a sleepy harbour, developed into one of -the busiest ports on the continent of Europe. Italy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -could have made no headway if many of the things -she required had not come to her by sea. Greece -would have remained permanently on the side of the -enemy if sea-power and the troops transported there -had not rallied her to the Allies. The German colonies -would not have been occupied if fleets had not -carried to them the troops for their subjection. England, -by virtue of sea command guaranteed by her -Fleet, has gathered her armies from India, Canada, -Australia, New Zealand, and from every colony and -possession, and has sent them to serve in France, Belgium, -Greece, Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine, Macedonia, -Mesopotamia, and Africa. Not a soldier has gone -afloat but a seaman has carried him on his back.</p> - -<p>Before we can appreciate this aspect of the work -of the Navy in the war, we must gain some idea of -what is implied by the military service of these armies -in the field. It is not enough to dispatch armies. -They must be maintained and supplied. The communications -of an army are vital to its operations, -and the communications of all the armies that England -is employing are by sea, and are guarded by the Navy. -It would not be an easy thing to estimate the vast -requirements of fighting forces; but that is unnecessary. -They are on an infinitely greater scale, in proportion -to the strength of the troops employed, than -in any previous war. Guns are far more numerous -and much heavier than they were. The expenditure -of ammunition has gone beyond all anticipation, and -a real fleet is required for its transport. Horses, mules, -many descriptions of heavy and light ordnance and -ammunition for them, warlike and general stores of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -innumerable kinds, aeroplanes, balloons, the gigantic -“tanks,” hospitals and hospital requisites, clothing, -food, forage, camp equipment, transport vehicles, traction -engines, pontooning, railway, telegraph, building, -and mining material, locomotives of many kinds, petrol, -and a hundred other stores and things are necessary, -and they must day and night be in transit, without -rest or pause. It will illustrate the gigantic nature -of the operation if we record that between November, -1916, and June, 1917, 2,000 miles of complete railway -track were shipped, with nearly 1,000 locomotives, -and other supplies by railway companies. Labour -and work for a hundred different services have to be -provided also. The United States and other countries -have contributed enormous supplies, and, with the -coming of the American Army, the volume of the -ceaseless torrent—the veritable Niagara—will increase -still more. History has no parallel for such operations.</p> - -<p>This vast business being the charge of the British -Navy and of the navies allied with it, we see how -great an object it must be of the enemy to strike at -the lines of supply. That they have completely -failed would appear almost miraculous, if we did not -know that the reasons for the failure are altogether -of a practical character. It was inevitable that there -should be some losses when submarines and mine-layers -were at work, but the destruction effected -has been a mere fraction of the whole, and the influence -upon the campaigns is entirely negligible. The -Ministry of Munitions imports 1,500,000 tons of material -every month. The most considerable loss due<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> -to attack has been in the matter of shell components, -but it did not amount to more than 5.9 per cent. of -the whole supply from the beginning of the submarine -campaign up to June, 1917. The most serious disasters -were in the Mediterranean, where submarines -sank the French transports <i>Provence II.</i> and <i>Gallia</i>, -engaged in the Salonika expedition, with the loss of -about 1,600 lives. The enemy will certainly continue -his efforts.</p> - -<p>Never was a more seriously planned attempt made -than that of June 22nd, 1917, when General Pershing’s -American Expeditionary Force was crossing the Atlantic. -German submarines, in considerable force, -made two attacks upon the transports, and on both -occasions were beaten off with every appearance of -loss. One submarine was certainly sunk, and there -was reason to believe that the accurate fire of the -American gunners sent others to the bottom. For -purposes of convenience the expedition had been divided -into contingents, each composed of troop-ships -and a naval escort designed to keep off such raiders -as might be met with. An ocean rendezvous was -arranged with the American destroyers then operating -in European waters, in order that the passage through -the danger zone might be attended by every possible -protection. There was reason to believe that the Germans -had secret intelligence of the course taken by the -transports to the rendezvous and of the time appointed -for their arrival there.</p> - -<p>The first attack occurred at 10.30 p.m. at a point -well on the American side of the rendezvous, in a -part of the Atlantic which might have been presumed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -free from submarines. The heavy gunfire of the -American destroyers scattered the enemy boats, and -five torpedoes were seen. The second attack was -launched a few days later, against the other contingent, -on the European side of the rendezvous. Not only did -destroyers hold the boats at a safe distance, but their -speed resulted in sinking at least one submarine. -Bombs were dropped firing a charge of explosive timed -to go off at a certain distance under water. In one -instance the wreckage covered the surface of the sea -after a shot at a periscope. “Protected by our high -seas convoy destroyers and by French war vessels,” -said the Secretary of the United States Navy, “the -contingent proceeded, and joined the others at a -French port. The whole nation will rejoice that so -great a peril has passed for the vanguard of the men -who will fight our battles in France.”</p> - -<p>This incident illustrates the method of protection -chiefly employed by the British Navy. When the -original Expeditionary Force was sent to France, -the Grand Fleet was in readiness if the High Sea -Fleet should venture to issue to sea. Cruisers, destroyers, -naval aircraft, and submarines were on watch -and guard in the North Sea and the Channel, and -the patrol was maintained, day and night, without intermission -until the army had been effectively transported. -The patrol was then organised upon a greater -scale as the transport grew in volume. The Dover -Patrol undertook a work of the highest importance, -and was instrumental in holding off all destroyer attacks -from the eastward. Cruisers, destroyers, armed -motor launches, mine-trawlers and drifters, and other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -vessels have been constantly at work, and observation -balloons and seaplanes have never ceased their vigil. -The triumph has been complete, the enemy submarines -have never penetrated the guard, and the Channel -communications of all the armies in France have -been made secure. There are certain features of this -organisation which cannot be dealt with here. The -same system has been carried into the Mediterranean -and elsewhere, and the French, Italian, and Japanese -navies have shared in the work.</p> - -<p>In this matter of transport protection the British -Navy has rendered magnificent service to all the Allies. -General Sir Charles Munro, after the evacuation of -Gallipoli, said it was a stroke of good fortune for -the Army to be associated with a service “whose work -remained throughout this anxious period beyond the -power of criticism or cavil,” and General Sir Ian Hamilton -reported that “one tiny flaw in the mutual trust -and confidence animating the two services would have -wrecked the whole enterprise.” This is true not only -of Gallipoli but of every place in which the Navy has -been serving as the guard of the communications, -and the base and support of the military forces.</p> - -<p>It will be understood that the Transport Department -of the British Admiralty undertook a colossal -work at the beginning of the war. It possessed the -unrivalled experience gained during the South African -War, 1899–1901, when about 275,000 men were dispatched -and supplied with all army requirements over -a distance of 7,000 miles of sea and land. Then there -was no enemy afloat, but the operation was greater -than any previously undertaken, and evoked the admiration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -of the world as a revelation of resource, -energy, organisation, national spirit, good management, -and business-like capacity. What will be said -when the now incalculable work of the Transport Department -in this war can be estimated and described? -The inspection and selection of ships and the conversion -of them for the accommodation of troops and -horses was a great business. In 1899 it was estimated -that a satisfactory transport should be capable of -carrying a number of men equal to 25 per cent. of her -tonnage. What is the rule now one cannot say. There -are important considerations of ballasting, speed, coal -consumption, and other matters in such business, and -the removal or adaptation of existing fittings and the -allotting of space for various purposes have occupied -the Admiralty officers and officials.</p> - -<p>It was a business both of embarkation and disembarkation, -on both sides of the Channel, and special -provision was required for the wounded and sick. -The Naval Transport and Embarkation Officers have -had a very exhausting and anxious time in taking up, -fitting, coaling, and otherwise preparing vessels for -sea, and in giving orders for the movements of ships -at the ports on arrival and departure, as well as in -providing for the safety and expedition of all embarkations -of men, horses, and stores, and arranging for -docking and like matters. They merit the gratitude -of the country and the Allies. It may be said that in -all the naval and commercial ports of the United Kingdom, -and in the French ports as well, work of this or -like kind has been in progress uninterruptedly since -the beginning of the war. It is strictly naval work,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -and was set on an excellent and satisfactory footing -by the Admiralty; but, as the war progressed, and the -pressure grew greater, imposing additional duties on -the Transport Department, some matters dealt with -by certain of its branches, and concerned with ship -construction, modification, and repair, were placed -in charge of competent civilians.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Navy that Flies</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Heard the Heavens fill with shouting, and there rain’d a ghastly dew<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From the nations’ airy navies grappling in the central blue.<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>Tennyson.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">From</span> an account of the work of the British -Navy in the war there must not be omitted -some exposition of the gallant doings of the -men of the Royal Naval Air Service. They have -made their mark in the war, in every theatre of it, -and no one can tell what part they will play before -the struggle is at an end. Of some of their work -very little is known. They render “silent” service, -like that of the Navy to which they belong. They -do not always carry on their duty alone. On occasions -they participate in that of the Royal Flying -Corps of the Army. They have been associated with -the gallant French airmen, and the Americans come -with a new burst of energy. The Germans know -British naval airmen at Zeebrugge and Ostend, and -in all the country behind those places; at sea also, -when the German raiders return from their exploits; -and on the West front of the Army, too, where they -go at times far behind the line, spying out the land, -taking number and note of the enemy, dropping bombs -on his store and ammunition dumps, disturbing all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -his rearward services, and stirring up his aerodromes -and the nursing places, where his fledglings, whom -they call “quirks,” are taking to themselves wings -and learning to fly.</p> - -<div id="ip_65" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.8125em;"> - <img src="images/i_064a.jpg" width="605" height="445" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">A FLEET MANŒUVERING AT SEA</div></div> - -<div id="ip_65b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 27em;"> - <img src="images/i_064b.jpg" width="432" height="619" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">THE CAPTURED GERMAN SUBMARINE MINE-LAYER UC5</div></div> - -<p>The Royal Naval Air Service has lent its aid to -the Italians, has provided unpleasant experiences for -the Bulgarians, has dropped bombs on the Turks at -Gaza and thereabout, has rendered good service in -the Mesopotamian business, and was invaluable in -“spotting” for the guns which destroyed the fugitive -German cruiser <i>Königsberg</i> in the jungle-clad reaches -of the Rufiji River. From dawn to dusk these -knights of the air have been flying in many parts of -the world, and night-flying is their particular pleasure -when there is great work to be done. Their “game -book” is very full of astounding episodes of fighting -which, in exciting experiences, put into the shade the -thrilling narratives which for generations have delighted -the hearts of boys. Few people know the -sleepless vigil which the naval airmen keep all round -the British coasts, constantly flying to keep watch -upon the enemy, to spot his submarines, to discover -his mine-fields, and to defeat any efforts he may make -when transports are moving at sea. Such is an outline -of the occupations and duties of the Royal Naval -Air Service.</p> - -<p>There was an “Air Department” at the Admiralty -before the war, and a Naval Wing of the Royal -Flying Corps with its “Central Air Office,” its Flying -School at Eastchurch, and seaplane and aeroplane -stations at six places on the coasts, as well as airships -at Farnborough and Kingsnorth. At the Royal inspection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -at Spithead of the great mobilised Fleet, just -before the war, naval aeroplanes, seaplanes, and airships -gave a fine display. Development was rapid, the -Royal Naval Air Service came into independent existence, -and there is now the Fifth Sea Lord at the -Admiralty charged with the supervision of the Royal -Naval Air Service, and representing it on the Air -Board.</p> - -<p>Some of the most useful work of the Royal Naval -Air Service is in “spotting” for the guns of the -warships. Its officers made a methodical photographic -survey of the coast from Nieuport to the -Dutch frontier early in the war to assist the monitors -which were then bombarding the coast, and to observe -and correct their fire. They worked from a height -of about 12,000 feet, constantly observing the development -of the enemy’s gun emplacements, all in despite -of hostile aeroplanes and shells. That survey has -been continued, and the result is the finest thing in -aerial cartography which has ever been achieved.</p> - -<p>It will illustrate this part of the special work of -the seaplanes if we describe how they began, which -we are enabled to do by a lively-witted official scribe, -who examined the records of their operations, and -has given his <span class="locked">impressions:—</span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“I can’t see where they’re pitching,” said the -Navy-that-Floats, referring to the shells of the monitors -bursting twelve miles away. “What about -spotting for us, old son?” “That will I do,” replied -the Navy-that-Flies. “And more also. But I shall -have to wear khaki, because it’s done out here; by -everybody, apparently.”</p> - -<p>“Wear anything you like,” replied the Navy-that-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span>Floats, -“as long as you help us to hit those shore-batteries. -Only—because you wear khaki (the -Royal Naval Air Service does not usually wear -khaki) and see life, don’t forget you’re still the same -old Navy, as it was in the beginning, is now, and -ever shall be.”</p> - -<p>The Navy-that-Flies added “Amen,” and said -that it wouldn’t forget. Wherever its squadrons -were based they rigged a flagstaff and flew the -White Ensign at the peak. They erected wooden -huts and painted them Service grey, labelling them -“Mess-deck,” “Ward-room,” “Gun-room,” etc., as -the case might be. They divided the flights into -port and starboard watches, and solemnly asked -leave to “go ashore” for recreation. They filled in -shell-holes and levelled the ground for aerodromes; -they ran up hangars and excavated dug-outs—whither -they retired in a strong silent rush (the -expression is theirs) when the apprehensive Boche -attempted to curtail their activity with bombs.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Not all the good work of the Royal Naval Air -Service in its co-operation with the Fleet comes into -public notice. It rendered excellent service at the -Dardanelles, the seaplane carrier <i>Arc Royal</i> being -present. There were many fine achievements, including -the bombing of a transport in the Straits by -Flight-Commander C. H. K. Edmonds, R.N. Seaplanes -may take the place of scouting cruisers, as the -eyes of the Fleet, and relieve destroyers of some of -their scouting duties. What would Nelson not have -given for the help of seaplanes when he was crying -out for frigates, and was groping for the French in -the Mediterranean in 1798, and came unknowingly -within a short distance of them; or, again, when, in -1805, they eluded him off Toulon? Intelligence of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -the movements of our enemy is of the utmost importance -to officers commanding at sea, and this is the -service which the naval airmen have been rendering.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of the war the Germans enjoyed -an advantage in the possession of some dirigible -airships, which sailed in calm airs, unimpeded, over -the North Sea, surveyed its full extent, and reported -what they saw to the German naval authorities. -Their number rapidly increased. Thus the British -Fleet was to a certain extent hampered in its operations. -Now the situation is changed. The enemy’s -airships know the peril of coming within range of -anti-aircraft guns, and they dread the “hornets” which -carry special means of setting them on fire. There -are British airships, too, and observation captive balloons, -fixed and towed, as well as seaplanes, maintained -in adequate numbers. The seaplane played a -useful part in the battle of the Jutland Bank, and -craft of the class will astonish the enemy in any subsequent -naval engagement.</p> - -<p>The dropping of bombs by the seaplanes or aeroplanes -of the Royal Naval Air Service has become -the most prominent of its activities. The machines -are of great power, and, acting in numbers, they -have been able to drop an enormous weight of bombs -on the enemy positions, particularly in the districts -behind the coast of West Flanders. Within the space -of four or five months 70 tons of explosives were -dropped on the German aerodromes in Northern Belgium. -Brave naval airmen in July, 1917, from a height -of 800 feet, dropped bombs on the <i>Goeben</i> and other -enemy warships at the Golden Horn, and hit the Turkish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -War Office also. In this work the young officers—for -the service demands youth—have given proof -of exceeding keenness. It would be difficult to catalogue -the expeditions of the naval airmen on the Belgian -coast. They have assisted in most important -operations.</p> - -<p>How far such work may be continued, to what -range carried, or what will be the full effect, we do -not know. The Navy-that-Flies will leave nothing -undone that is capable of accomplishment. It has -operated in association with the work of French flying -men on many occasions, at the bombardment of Zeebrugge -and elsewhere. It will find a powerful co-worker -in the new and gallant allies who are bringing -all their force to bear from beyond the Atlantic. The -United States air service will develop with extraordinary -rapidity, and its co-operation will be warmly welcomed -by British naval airmen. So abundant is the -confidence of Americans, so strong and virile their -faith in themselves, that some of them look to the -aeroplane to end the war. Rear-Admiral Bradley A. -Fiske has demanded an immediate naval attack on the -German fleet and submarine bases in the Baltic by a -monster fleet of aeroplanes and seaplanes. He believes -that the importance of naval aerial operations is not -sufficiently realised by the Allies and that Essen may -be destroyed by bombardment from the air.</p> - -<p>The field of speculation does not fall within the -scope of this little book, the object of which is to -illustrate the work of the Fleet and its associated -services in all the theatres of war. The Royal Naval -Air Service is still young, and has undoubtedly a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -great future. Already it has proved a valuable auxiliary. -It has assisted in the important business of providing -complete strategical observations. It has aided -the work of the commercial blockade, in making more -easy on many occasions the operations of the much-tried -examination service. Undoubtedly the transport -of the armies and their stores across the Channel -and in many seas, which was the subject of the last -chapter, would have been conducted with less certainty, -and perhaps with less confidence, if it had not -been for the active co-operation, as the eyes of the -Fleet, of the naval flying men. The long-range gunnery -of warships against permanent fortifications, both -at the Dardanelles and on the Belgian coast, has gained -in accuracy from the observation by the aircraft of -the Navy.</p> - -<p>This subject might have been pursued further, -but enough has been said to show that, among the -agencies employed by the British Fleet in the accomplishment -of the supreme duties which it exercises for -the safety of the country and the support of the Allies, -the Royal Naval Air Service holds an important -place. It has evoked enthusiasm among its officers, -who have maintained in a high degree, in many a battle -in the air, the fearlessness, resource, and daring of -the Naval Service to which they belong.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center larger"><span class="smcap">Officers and Men of the Navy</span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Sailor, what of the debt we owe you?<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Day or night is the peril more?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who so dull that he fails to know you,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Sleepless guard of our island shore?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Safe the corn to the farmyard taken;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Grain ships safe upon all the seas;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Homes in peace and a faith unshaken—<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Sailor, what do we owe for these?<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>The late Viscount Stuart.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">No</span> picture of the war work of the British -Navy could be complete without some account -of its officers and men. From what -has already been said, the nature of the qualities -demanded of them will have been realised. In the -general direction of the Navy by the Admiralty there -have been required calm reflection, profound insight, -strategic imagination, sound and swift judgment as -to the full use and the yet ill-understood limitations -of sea-power, an abundant spring of action, and the -unflinching resolution to give effect to the utmost to -the striking and controlling force of the naval arm. -In the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet there -was needed the high ability to administer and exercise -the command, to inspire officers and men of every rank -and rating in the Fleet with zeal, efficiency, and devotion, -as well as sleepless vigilance in the long waiting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -for the enemy, and instant readiness for action at all -times. The Commander-in-Chief does not work alone. -He has a staff who collaborate in these duties and give -effect to his plans; and admirals secondary in command, -who have no light task in directing the work -and operations of the larger elements of the Fleet. Sir -John Jellicoe, who was appointed to the Grand Fleet -at the beginning of the war, was a master of the high -attainments required for his office, and it was he who -created the base of his operations, organised all the -agencies of his command, and exercised that command -with consummate ability. The instrument he had -shaped and handled so capably fell to the charge of -Sir David Beatty, a most gallant officer, eminently -fitted to use it, whose temperament is the very spirit -of action, and yet who forms his plans in the mould -of cool reflection. Happily for the British Navy, the -fire of action is mingled in its officers with the ice of -thought. They know when to strike, and when they -strike they strike hard.</p> - -<p>Great responsibilities have rested on the captains of -His Majesty’s ships. They showed in the Jutland battle, -in which they were tried by the searching test -of decisive action, that they possessed the ability to -inspire and discipline their men, and to put forth the -maximum of the fighting power of the ships. Officers -in detached command away from the Fleet have rendered -very great services. The junior officers are beyond -praise. By universal testimony, their devotion, -courage, and ever-ready professional skill, in every -test of emergency and endurance, have never been excelled. -The officers of the destroyers are men above<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -price. The commanders of submarines, who have even -carried their enterprise into the Baltic, and risked the -perils of mine and gun in the narrow waters of the -Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are officers who have -won new laurels for the Fleet.</p> - -<p>The men of the lower deck, wherever they serve, -give daily proof of the bravery, hardihood, cheerfulness, -and long endurance which have always been -the qualities of British seamen. Let Sir John Jellicoe -speak of them as he knew <span class="locked">them:—</span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Nothing can ever have been finer than the coolness -and courage shown in every case where ships -have been sunk by mines or torpedoes; discipline -has been perfect, and men have gone to their deaths -not only most gallantly, but most unselfishly. One -heard on all sides of numerous instances of men giving -up on these occasions the plank which had supported -them to some more feeble comrade, and I -feel prouder every day that passes that I command -such men. During the period of waiting and watching -they are cheerful and contented, in spite of the -grey dullness of their lives.</p></blockquote> - -<p>It would not be difficult to single out instances -from the records of the war of constructive power in -thought, and sound and swift judgment in action, as -well as of splendid courage, enterprise, dash, and -resolution—call it what you will—in the crisis of -battle and in moments of stress, exhibited in a manner -rarely exampled in naval warfare. The British Fleet -has been rich in the mental endowments of its officers, -showing them to possess grasp and insight, and moral -force, to dominate hesitation and sustain action in the -tremendous emergencies of battle and when confronted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -with the most formidable responsibilities. Excitement -has never carried them away. Judgment has -worked through all their endeavours as, in the long -watches and waiting, it has sustained them.</p> - -<p>Eulogy is not required. Nothing that has been -said exceeds the merits of officers and men. It is -right that these things should be understood. The -man is more than the machine, and the finest fleet -and most compete material equipment are dead and -inert without the living power of the officers who command, -and the men who man the ships and vessels of -every class. It is they who have done and are doing -the work of the Navy in the war. They, and not their -ships, have given security to the British Isles, have -kept the seas and oceans open for the Allies, have safeguarded -every interest afloat, and have worked and -are working, day and night, to defeat the purposes of -the enemy.</p> - -<p>We now turn to a consideration which is of paramount -importance for a right understanding of the -Navy’s work in the war. England is the support -of all her Continental Allies. If she should suffer or -lose her power of supplying them with armies and -arms, or should weaken in her offensive, the Allies -would collapse. This is a fact of primary importance. -The Germans realise it fully. They hesitate -at nothing in their efforts to strike at England. They -publicly declared that they would reduce her by famine. -They struck at her mercantile marine, not merely -at ships which were armed and engaged in the naval -service in such large numbers, but at the ordinary -cargo vessels, including neutral vessels carrying British<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -supplies, and at fishermen pursuing their regular -avocations, who, under The Hague Conventions, were, -with their boats, tackle, rigging, gear, and cargoes, to -be exempt from capture, and still more from destruction. -Of the officers and men of these services we -must speak also. It became necessary, in the conditions -which had arisen, to bring the whole mercantile -marine under naval direction and orders, and practically -it is embodied with the Navy, and provided for -the most part with armaments for defence, and closely -in touch with a great protective organisation.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Balfour was First Lord of the Admiralty, -speaking in the House of Commons on March 7th, -1916, he directed special attention to this aspect of -naval work, not merely to the service of ships flying -the White Ensign, but to that of transports and of -merchant and cargo vessels, and their officers and -men, conveying imports and exports, and the supplies -required by the Allied armies. “On them,” he said, -“we depend, not less than on our armed forces, for -maintaining the necessary economic basis upon which -all war must ultimately be waged.” There were, as -he said, thousands of officers and men whose ships had -been sunk under them by mine and submarine, and yet -who had cheerfully signed on again, and were not to -be driven from their ancient heritage of the sea. -England depends upon her mercantile marine for her -national existence. To a great extent, her food and -raw materials are in its charge; and it also brings -without ceasing hundreds of thousands of tons of munitions -of many kinds required by the Allies. When, -therefore, we estimate the work of the Navy in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -war, we must give to the merchant branch of the Sea -Service the position it deserves, as an absolute and -primary necessity to England and her Allies.</p> - -<p>The nobility of the work carried on by the officers -and men of the merchant service and the fishermen, -whether in armed ships, mine-trawlers, or cargo vessels, -is a dominant note of the war. Their heroism -has been conspicuous, and, as was stated by Admiral -Sir Henry Jackson, when he was First Sea Lord of -the Admiralty, the facility with which they learned -to carry out their duties as part of a trained fighting -force was extraordinary. “The Allied nations,” he -said, “owe them a deep debt of gratitude for their -response, as well as for their indomitable pluck and -endurance.” “There is no room in the Navy for anything -but the most sincere admiration and respect for -the officers and men of the mercantile marine,” said -Sir John Jellicoe. They had practically become a -part of the fighting force, sharing in the work of the -Navy in the war, and their courageous conduct and -unflinching devotion to duty have gained the testimony -of naval officers everywhere, not only in the British -service, but in the Allied navies which have come -into contact with them. Of the magnificent service -of the mine-trawlers we have spoken in a previous -chapter.</p> - -<p>Let this chapter conclude with an appeal to England -and her Allies to remember the great and enduring -services of British seamen. They do not often -speak of one another. Sometimes, as by a flash, as -when Sir John Jellicoe wrote of his men, the truth is -revealed. It was that taciturn old officer, Sir John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> -Jervis, who said of Troubridge that he had “honour -and courage as bright as his sword.” The torch is -handed on from one officer to another. There are -many qualities among them. The fire of Drake meets -the resolute gravity of Blake; the long reflection of -Kempenfelt is the foil to the fierce glow of Nelson. -The tradition is continuous. Sir John Jellicoe could -find no words to do justice to his officers and men -in the day and night actions of the Jutland Battle. -The glorious traditions of the past were worthily -upheld. Sir David Beatty showed his fine qualities of -gallant leadership, high determination, and correct -strategic insight. Great qualities were manifested by -every rank and rating. Down in the engine-rooms, -seeing nothing of the battle, men were working like -Titans, and some ships reached speeds which they had -never before attained. This was great service for -England and her Allies.</p> - -<p>There is sometimes a tendency to forget—to lose -proportion, also—in censuring seamen for not doing -what the power of the sea alone can never achieve. -Howe was burned in effigy in London almost at the -very time when he was fighting his glorious battle -of Quiberon Bay, braving the perils of rocks which -were charted and known, and not, be it noted, of -submarines and mines which are invisible and unknown. -As the sarcastic songster wrote at the time:</p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">When Hawke did bang<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Monsieur Conflans,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">You sent us beef and beer;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Now Monsieur’s beat,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">We’ve naught to eat,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Since you have naught to fear.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -And so Nelson spoke. “I will only apply,” he said, -“some very old lines wrote at the end of some former -war:</p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="iq">“Our God and sailor we adore<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In times of danger—not before!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The danger past, both are alike requited:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">God is forgotten, and the sailor slighted!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Now, the object of this book is to show what are -the services of the British Navy to England and to -the Allies. Its influence has been visible throughout -the world, working everywhere with unexampled success. -It operates solely because of the qualities and -sacrifices of its officers and men. To them a high -tribute must be paid.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">What the British Navy Is and What It Fights For</span> -</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Where shall the watchful sun,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">England, my England,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Match the master-work you’ve done,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">England, my own?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When shall he rejoice agen<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such a breed of mighty men<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As come forward, one to ten,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">To the song on your bugles blown,<br /></span> -<span class="i6">England—<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Down the years on your bugles blown?<br /></span> -</div> - -<div class="attrib"><i>W. E. Henley.</i> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">Antagonism</span> between England and Germany -became the central fact in the international -situation many years before the war. There -seemed to be a fundamental antithesis between the -ideals of the two peoples. The freedom of the Englishman, -guaranteed to him by sea-power, appeared effeminate -and undisciplined weakness to the German; -the freedom of the German, guaranteed to him only by -the military strength of his autocratic State, was -regarded as feudal dependence by the Englishman. -Not to bring about a conflict, but to avert one—or, -if the worst came to the worst, to engage in one with -success—was the motive of British policy. There -was no visible ground for German aggression, but -deep-seated antagonism was the element of danger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -which successive Premiers and Foreign Ministers had -had to take account of in appraising their country’s -future, and, with the guidance of their colleague at -the Admiralty, who based his judgment on that of -his naval advisers, they had obtained the means to -build up the Fleet, which was to be the country’s -and Empire’s defence.</p> - -<div id="ip_80" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 38.875em;"> - <img src="images/i_080a.jpg" width="622" height="433" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">A BRITISH SUBMARINE</div></div> - -<div id="ip_80b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 38.75em;"> - <img src="images/i_080b.jpg" width="620" height="439" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">JOURNALISTS ON BOARD A MONITOR</div></div> - -<p>Armageddon was foreseen, though there was hope -against hope that, in the great crisis, the dire struggle -might be averted. It was known that Belgium and -France would have need of England if the dogs of -war were let slip. Many soldiers and writers had -pointed out that Belgium would become the inevitable -pathway of aggression. German writers had declared -it an injury that the Congress of Vienna had not established -Germany on the North Sea, and Arndt had -expressed the ardent desire of the German heart to reconquer -the great western rivers, implying the domination -of the seas. There were dangers in these lesser -countries. They were full of possibilities. <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Qui trop -embrasse mal étreint.</i> Belgium would cry aloud for -English help. As to Italy, it was difficult to believe -that she could hold to her compact with the Central -Powers. Russia, it was known, would be against -them. Thus in all her naval efforts, long before the -war, England, while guarding her own interests, was -working and building up her naval strength, in conscious -knowledge of the duty she might one day have -to her friends who have now become her Allies. This -is a very important point, and it leads to a brief -survey of great sacrifices and unstinted efforts which -Englishmen have made in the past.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -The Fleet that went into the war was the most -powerful, best organised, and best equipped in every -essential particular in the world. Yet, for a very -long anterior period, Englishmen had remained unconscious -of what they owed to the Fleet. They had -fought brilliant campaigns in China, Afghanistan, India, -Burma, the Crimea, Abyssinia, and elsewhere, in -which the Navy was a most essential factor, though -it had scarcely appeared in the public eye. It was -therefore from a low ebb that the British Navy rose to -the high-water mark of the war. It was not until about -the year 1882 that the tide began to turn, driven forward -by the lively breeze of a very useful agitation, -in which the late Mr. W. T. Stead took a prominent -part, and which is believed to have been inspired by -the present Lord Fisher and the late Mr. Arnold Forster. -A great shipbuilding scheme was put in hand in -1889. Ever since that time, under far-seeing First -Lords and First Sea Lords of the Admiralty, the task -of asserting British naval supremacy has gone forward. -Expenditure on the Navy mounted from £31,000,000 -in 1901 to £51,500,000 in 1914, which latter -was thought a monstrous figure; but it was not a -penny too much for the great interests which had to -be safeguarded.</p> - -<p>Battleships of increasing power, cruisers of many -classes, destroyers, submarines, and auxiliaries were -built. Lord Fisher came to the Admiralty as First Sea -Lord in 1904, and during the subsequent six years an -enormous work was carried on. The battleships culminated -in the Dreadnoughts—that class of ships -with a main armament of all big guns—the cruisers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -in the battle-cruisers, destroyers grew more numerous -and of much greater power, submarines were developed -in range and sea-keeping qualities. None of -these types have stood still. The Dreadnought developed -into the Super-Dreadnought, and the latter -has developed into the ships of powers before undreamed -of, which no one has yet described. The submarine -has been changed out of recognition, and no -one suspects what these British vessels can and will -do when “The Day” really comes.</p> - -<p>All these mechanical developments of the Fleet, -which are so essential at the present time, grew out -of the impetus given in and after the year 1904. -But that was not the only thing which placed the -country in such a position of advantage at the beginning -of the war. The battle-fleet and cruiser squadrons -had been reorganised to coincide with the needs -of the Empire, owing to the shifting of the stress of -naval power from the Atlantic and the Channel to the -North Sea. Some squadrons in distant waters were -reduced in strength to correspond with the requirements, -and non-fighting ships—vessels too weak to -fight and too slow to run away—were brought home -from distant seas, and their officers and men were -made available for modern ships. A system of nucleus -crews was adopted for the reserve ships to facilitate -mobilisation and to make sure that the ships -would be really fit for sea. Before that time the whole -Fleet had been pivoted on the Mediterranean, and a -British warship was rarely seen in the North Sea. By -progressive steps the naval front was changed from -the South to the East. On the east coast of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -United Kingdom destroyer and submarine flotillas -were based on ports prepared for them. A great dockyard -was erected at Rosyth, and all along the coast -naval bases were developed, and every preparation -was made for the possibility of war. These were -developments of great significance, and the immense -and growing strength of the British Fleet justified -the French in concentrating their battle squadrons in -the Mediterranean, and leaving at Brest and in the -Channel only a division of cruisers, supported by flotillas.</p> - -<p>Fleets of warships are meant to fight when the -need for fighting comes; but there was no affront to -Germany, no cause for resentment or agitation, in the -concentration of the main strength of the British -Fleet in such places, and with such bases, that they -could carry their power into the North Sea. Force -attracts force in strategy as in physics, and the growth -of the German High Sea Fleet at Wilhelmshaven, -with the great sea canal thence to Kiel on the Baltic, -inevitably brought about the British concentration. -How magnificently advantageous was the position secured -has already been shown. In an earlier chapter -it has also been explained that by the strategic position -occupied by the Grand Fleet, and the grip held -on the entrance to the Channel at Dover, the North -Sea became strategically a closed sea—a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">mare clausum</i>.</p> - -<p>This fact, which is a fact of geography as well as -of strategic concentration, has made the enemy restive -and resentful. We are described as the “tyrants of -the seas,” and the “freedom of the seas” became a -catchword of the Germans. Every ruler who has felt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -the hard pressure of British sea-power, whether his -name was Louis, or Napoleon, or Wilhelm, has, perhaps -inevitably, taken this line in denouncing us to -neutrals and endeavouring to array neutrals against us. -In an earlier stage of the present war this was the -consistent plea of German statesmen. But when they -instructed their sea officers to sink the <i>Lusitania</i> and -many other ships, and when they threatened with disaster -neutral ships which approached the British Isles, -they became themselves the tyrants of the sea in a very -real sense, and they thus arrayed the United States -and other States against themselves, and brought a new -Armada to strengthen the already superior British -Fleet.</p> - -<p>The war is a fight for freedom. The British Navy -is fighting, and glad to have the Allied navies fighting -in co-ordination with it, for the liberation of oppressed -nations and countries from military domination. -Command of the sea implies no restriction of navigation. -It exists only in war time. In time of peace -the British Navy guaranteed the freedom of the seas, -and will guarantee it again when the war is at an end. -We cannot do better than quote on this question what -that distinguished American writer Admiral Mahan -<span class="locked">said:—</span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Why do English innate political conceptions of -popular representative Government, of the balance -of law and liberty, prevail in North America from -the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Mexico, from the -Atlantic to the Pacific? Because the command of -the sea at the decisive era belonged to Great Britain. -In India and Egypt administrative efficiency has -taken the place of a welter of tyranny, feudal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> struggle, -and bloodshed, achieving thereby the comparative -welfare of the once harried populations. What -underlies this administrative efficiency? The British -Navy, assuring in the first place British control -and thereafter communication with the home country, -whence comes the local power without which -administration everywhere is futile. What, at the -moment when the Monroe doctrine was proclaimed, -insured beyond peradventure the immunity from -foreign oppression of the Spanish-American colonies -in their struggle for independence? The command -of the sea by Great Britain, backed by the feeble -Navy but imposing strategic position of the United -States, with her swarm of potential commerce-destroyers, -which, a decade before, had harassed the -trade even of the Mistress of the Seas.</p></blockquote> - -<p>In concluding, therefore, we see how the British -Navy, having served Great Britain and the British -Empire so efficiently and so well in every interest -and possession, fighting constantly against every -stealthy device of the enemy, has served the Allies -not less well and worthily. And we discover, too, -that the Navy is ever friendly to neutral Powers, -and that the command of the sea which it exercises -in the war is the panoply of freedom and liberty -throughout the world.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="ip_85" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 40em;"> - <img src="images/i_085a.jpg" width="640" height="733" alt="" /> - <div class="caption in1">I. THE CENTRE OF SEA POWER: THE NORTH SEA</div></div> - -<div id="ip_85b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 50em;"> - <img src="images/i_085b.jpg" width="800" height="371" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">II. THE GRASP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN—LAND AND SEA POWER</div></div> - -<div id="ip_85c" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 50em;"> - <img src="images/i_085b_left.jpg" width="800" height="742" alt="" /> - <div class="caption in1">(II left)</div></div> - -<div id="ip_85d" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 50em;"> - <img src="images/i_085b_right.jpg" width="800" height="742" alt="" /> - <div class="caption in1">(II right)</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="ad" class="chapter"><div class="center"> -<h2 id="BOOKS_TO_BE_READ_NOW" class="bb">BOOKS TO BE READ NOW</h2> - -<p class="p1"><b>THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME</b> <b class="fright"><i>By John Buchan</i></b> -</p> - -<p>“A clear and brilliant presentation of the whole vast maneuver and its tactical -and strategic development.”—<cite>Springfield Republican.</cite></p> - -<p class="right"> -Illus. 12mo. <b>Net $1.50</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>THE GERMAN FURY IN BELGIUM</b> <b class="fright"><i>By L. 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GEORGE</b> <b class="fright"><i>By Ford Madox Hueffer</i></b> -</p> - -<p>A discussion of Germany’s responsibility and France’s great mission.</p> - -<p class="right"> -12mo. <b>Net $1.00</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>ONE YOUNG MAN</b> <b class="fright"><i>Edited by J. E. Hodder Williams</i></b> -</p> - -<p>The experiences of a young clerk who enlisted in 1914.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<b>Net $0.75</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>WHEN BLOOD IS THEIR ARGUMENT</b> <b class="fright"><i>By Ford Madox Hueffer</i></b> -</p> - -<p>A powerful, deep-probing exposition of German ideals.</p> - -<p class="right"> -12mo. <b>Net $1.00</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>GERMAN BARBARISM</b> <b class="fright"><i>By Leon Maccas</i></b> -</p> - -<p>A picture of German atrocities, based entirely on documentary evidence. By -a neutral.</p> - -<p class="right"> -12mo. <b>Net $1.00</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>COLLECTED DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS</b> -</p> - -<p>The original diplomatic papers of the various European nations at the outbreak -of the war.</p> - -<p class="right"> -Quarto. <b>Net $1.00</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>THE ROAD TO LIEGE</b> <b class="fright"><i>By M. Gustave Somville</i></b> -</p> - -<p>The work of the German “destruction squads.” (From German evidence.)</p> - -<p class="right"> -12mo. <b>Net $1.00</b> -</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>MY HOME IN THE FIELD OF HONOUR</b> <b class="fright"><i>By Frances Wilson Huard</i></b> -</p> - -<p>The simple, intimate, classic narrative which has taken rank as one of the few -distinguished books produced since the outbreak of the war.</p> - -<p class="right b1"> -Illustrated. 12mo. <b>Net $1.30</b> -</p> - -<p class="in0 bt center larger"> -GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY <i>Publishers</i> New York<br /> -Publishers in America for HODDER & STOUGHTON -</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="Transcribers_Notes" class="nobreak p1">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained.</p> - -<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences -of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_6">6</a>: “If Nelson, in 1789,” should be 1798.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_10">10</a>: “by in Navy” was printed that way; probably -should be “by the Navy”.</p> - -<p>Pages <a href="#Page_11">11</a> and <a href="#Page_29">29</a>: Footnotes were unmarked in original, -but have been marked as footnotes here.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_66">66</a>: “Nieuport” was printed that way; should be -“Nieuwpoort”.</p> - -<p><a href="#ip_85c">Map II</a>: For improved readability, Transcriber added -larger copies of the left-and right-hand sides of the second map.</p> -</div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Achievement of the British Navy in -the World-War, by John Leyland - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACHIEVEMENT--BRITISH NAVY--WORLD-WAR *** - -***** This file should be named 56027-h.htm or 56027-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/2/56027/ - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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