COMMAND OF SEA

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 25, 24 October 1942, Page 8

COMMAND OF SEA

Vital Necessity Stressed

History showed that all major wars were maritime wars depending on the command of the sea, said Commodore Sir Atwell Lake, at a Trafalgar Day evening held by the Royal Society of St. George in Wellington on Wednesday night. In the present war that command of the sea necessary for. victory must be based on a combination of sea and air power. Since he had been in New Zealand he had been struck by-the similarity between the position of England and New Zealand. Both were small islands, and for each the threat of invasion had not yet passed. The Battle of the Atlantic in ■ the Northern Hemisphere and the Battle of the Pacific iu the Southern must both be won, and the sea lane in both -oceans kept open to enable the continuation of American' aid both in men and supplies to reach both England and New Zealand, both bases for future offensives by the United Nations. These two ocean battles were not yet won, and to win them they must strain every nerve—but won they would be. On behalf of the Royal Navy, he paid tribute to the'Merchant Navy, whose great, part in the vital ocean battles was apt to be overlooked. Not for them was the thrill of battle, but only the steady flogging of the seven seas in slow convoy, regardless of mine, torpedo or bomb. If the merchant service had not carried on the war would have been lost, but they had carried on and would continue to carry on and the war would not be lost. In concluding Sir Atwell expressed the hope that after the war had been won a true, history of the .Merchant Navy would be written, a history that would astonish the world. ■ .