NAVAL POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1911, 20 November 1913, Page 7

NAVAL POLICY.

——' —*—-.—i. THE ADMIRALTY' REVERSAL. CALLING IN THE POLICEMEN. t , Tho opening of the Panama Canal is leading to still further redistribution - of British naval forces. The London 5 "Post's" correspondent, an commenting a on tho situation rosontly, said:—the - Admiralty liavo very wisely allocated four armoured cruisers of tiro "OoiTiity" - class to tho West Indies station, Thcso: ;- are the Suffolk, Berwick, Lancaster, and 1. Monmouth. They wore launched from ,'■ 1901-3j'thoy have 9800 tons displace-: , ■■ raoiit, carry v fourteen C-ineh, guns, and - .their complement is G7B-. They are of * high speed, being designed for' 23 knots, - There were nine vessels of this class j the Bedford was wrecked three years ago on tho China station. R.ear-Adiniral Sir Christopher Oradock flies liis flag ill .' the Suffolk. The Monmouth, now on tiro China station, is to joint the rest of the squadron at Bermuda. The light cruiser. Hermicme, now on the station., is to bo attached to the squadron. Hear- % Admiral Gradock's command w-ili re* place tljo three ©Id and Small cruiserß, j Aeolus, Melpomene, and Siri-us, noiy in 3 tho West Indies, That station, used to be occupied by the Training Squadron.; . which has recently boon reorganised: and j based uponQiieenstown. It consists of. 3 eight <Ad crisers, which were taken from j tile Boserve, whore they were theoreticj, ally supposed (by Mr. M'KeiMii) to ho 3' ready for instant service upon the trade . routes in tho event of war.. Sir Christopher Oradock's squadron is the most; '. powerful force to be stationed iii tho, j West Indies for many years, and .iis guardian of one of the most important trade routes it is where alone it caiibo of use—on .the spot. With the opening of the Panama Canal, it is hardly neec's-. ' sary to say, the West Indies 'will bo* come a. strategic centre. No longer so* eluded in a bight of fte- Atlantic.,' the ; , islands will hbrfiei* a new sea .highway,: and Will, sentinel the eastern gate or : the Pacific, Right-About'Faoe. . Tho dispatch of the West Indies: Squadr'aii follows'.upon the announce*. 3 meat of the reinforcement"of the j'le'di-' = teriancan Squadron, which Was the sulh ject of some observations quite recently. Tho fact ' is, of course, that th© amazing experiment, widen consisted in Withdrawing the policemen frem the streets of tlie Empire, has failed* All the offiefal iexcUsjJSj a'polo•i gies, explanations, denials,, assertions,. and prevarications are quietly sw'ept tjp and unostentatiously put oil the back » ■of the slow fire ivJiicli the Go.v'ernment > keep burning for the purpose. The ad- , vertisemeuts of Admiralty pbllcyj. do- . corated successively by the- names of i Lord Solbflrne (Lord Cawdor hardly had j ! a chance, and his premature loss is B .still to bo regretted), Lord Twee<l- ! , mouth, and Mr. M'Ko.mva, are decently f interred in the archive?-. The reversal' , of .policy is rightly "conducted r in silence: 1 by the authorities. Nevertheless it has. . begum its progress is steady, if slbWj b and that it should continue is Sf ..so 1 great moment that its principle Canii'qt j lie.too clearly understood.' either tho. ■presence.of Warships at selected points t upon the seas of the world is essentialr to the security ota country which lives J by the sea-, or it- is. not. That Was tbvs . real question which underlay the con-' fe troversies waging upon the wild resdlu--3 tiens, of.tlie- years 1f1p.5-9. There has . -never'been any doubt as to what the J answer would ultimately he. Tlie only : doubt.was Whether other nations; would f continue placidly to look on while Br'ii: tannin, was trying on cheaper suits of b armour and trying to change hef tri*. 1 dent,, hits a fishing-rod. the Now UgHt Cruisers. As the new light and swift cruiserß ' (a type cdudomned some years ago Us ' Useless m war, wasteful in peace, and " expensive iij both) are coming .'info cb:m- ---' mission, the alder vessels are being put: to excellent use* as training ships, parent ships-, a;ncl the like. Tliq -fi-r-s-t of her class, the Aurow,, was kuuehed at Devonport on Tuflsda'.y.._ There are to be eiglit vossels, of high speed-—it is, ' said thirty officially as' ■ "destroyers of destroyers." ' The con- ■ struction oi precisely tlii-s p.artieUlft-t I type of vessel, it may bo remembered,: >. wis advocated by -Lord Charles Betes- ' fed in .his "Shipbuilding Programme," * read before the London Cliambfer of • Commerce in 1909, a recoin'meiidatioii. • based upon his experience in command ' of fleets. The First Lord, in March ' last (tkreo and a half year's later)-, spoko of theso .vessois as "much demanded \by the Admirals afloat," The doubtj ftil point in their de&ign is their equipment far'bvmmg oil fuel only; for tho simple reason, that there is no adequate 1 provision for'the supply, steragOj and distribution of oil, Thorp has Beyer. been a timo in tho whole history of the ] ' British Navy; until tho absr.ration of \ 1905 occurred, when cruisers were not j demanded by "Admirals afloat" and -j also on shore. But uiider existing -conditions it would ho impossible to birfld onengh j eruisors to guard merchant sliips against j the attack of other rnorc'tiaiit ships, al- . ': though it is praeticablo .onougli to | guard them against warships. The Ad-. iiiiralty scheme for arming the morcautile marine is being carried -into exocii- ■ j tipn. A few days ago it was q-nnouiiE- s eti that 22 mote vessels, most of them -J meat -carriers, comprising the .property t of six firms, had been fitted with .4,7 ■ . nuns. tiiformatfen concerning tlie- J Sews of tho said guniSj their eppDrtuni- J ties for praetice, and their supply of aininuiiitiflii is net available, 'Hi the < . arming of merchant ships the rov-ersal - of policv is I'lnftteula.rl.v Temarkable, ho- > cause Mr. s('K<wn,- when ho was First- , Loid, told tho House of Commons that'! j tho traclo routes Woid'd be gUitrded * whe-n the emergency occurred. In ; ', other vvoids-r-siiiee lus statement was ..' clearly absurd—'nothing would be done* ' Nothing was done, in if.net, until Mr., Jil.'ivci'siia departed. The armed mer- ~ Chaiitißaii is, of r-nurso, no new thing. ,' At one lime a son-tader -alvvnys woi.it; \ armed, ami .in lime of war s'lio fook -self- ] vieo with the King's ships and fought j alongside liveuis j