NAVAL NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 14

NAVAL NOTES

i «. ' Contributed by tfa«- Navy Ij«agu« (Otago Branch.) "THE COMMAND OF THE SEA."» What is meant by the command of the sea? This question forms the first part of tho subject selected by the Otago Branch of the Navy League for the senior schools which intend to enter for the essay prizes the league has offered. It is a common form _ of spsecii, and so familiar that many use it without having any very definite idea of its meaning. It owes its immense vogue to the genius of a famous American .writer and seaman, Captain Mahan, who in what has been called an epoch-making work — " Influence of Sea Power upon History," published in 1890— first gathered together the historic parallels and concentrated the attention of the experts upon the meaning of sea power in its bearing upon and its relation to the British Empire. The nation that commands the eea cannot be overthrown, save by a superior sea force, nor can any land power, however great, extend its dominions as long as there is a rival strong enough to sweep }te ships from the eeas. THE TEACHINGS OF HISTORY. Captain Mahan in on© place shows how Rome was restricted in her ambitions and limited in her conquests until she had crushed the sea power of Carthage and how Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, was beaten because, having no navy at his command, he had to march overland and to enter Italy across the Alps. The correspondent for naval affairs in the London Times of May 24 gives a brief and interesting resume of the more or less known instances in which the loss of sea supremacy has been followed by the decline or fall of the power affected. He writes : — " Venice dominated the Mediterranean by virtue of her commercial activity sustained by an adequate military eea power, but no sooner was the sea route round the Cape discovered than the power of Venice began to wane. Venice had held the gorgeous East in fee, but only by virtue of a long and hazardous land communication ending in the ports of the Levant. With the discovery of the Cape the sea began to shower its gifts in succession on other communities better situated for oceanic commerce and more richly endowed with the spirit of maritime enterprise and adventure. England, Spain, Holland, and Portugal shared the commerce of the East between them, and each Power left the deposit of its enterprise on Oriental shores in the form of territorial occupation. India, Australia, New Zealaxd. " Ultimately India fell to the 6Jiare of England, but not without many conflicts with the other Powers interested, more especially, in later daye, with France, which was % not among the original competitors for Oriental dominion. Incidentally, too, the occupation of Australasia was a result of England's earlier success in the conflict of 6ea power in the East; for no one can , suppose that the British occupation of Australia and New Zealand would have been left undisturbed if France had shared, or been able to dispute, with England the command of the intervening seas. Similar results followed from the discovery of the New World. Here it was sea power alone that enabled England to secure the position she had attained, and it was mainly defect of sea power that lost her the American colonies and gave birth to tho United States." SEA POWER TO-DAY. It would not be strictly accurate to say Lhat the British Empire was built up, consciously and deliberately, by her statesmen on a definite plan. Much of tho earth's surface that is now "painted red" was acquired on no clearly defined principle of policy. Happy hunting grounds [or daring adventurers and convict htations [or Englanj's so-called criminals formed tho beginning of come of her possessions that are now fro« fcktcr states and tho pride of the Empire. Nono the less farseeing men like Harron and Chatham knew, is Cicero had known Jong agoa l)cfore :licm, that he who commands the M?a commands all. But eea power ami command jf the sea moan .something 1 olhor to-day than the biggest navy or the greatest irmada. As far as Great Britain is con>erned command of the eoa moans the ibility to preserve the ocean trade routes k> that her ships may pass to and fro n safety It does not imply wanton aggresu'oa or even interference with the rights )f others. But Great Britain being the >wner, or guardian, of a widely scattered Smpire, and of the most numerous fleet of mercantile marine of which history - peaks, must be able to protect her . mer- j >hftntmen -and her oversea dominions from my and every risk. The sea. must be kept ree for the fleets of Britain to come and ; jo, and as long as they can, and do, cross ; ronT ocean to ooean with the same confilent security as the ordinary British citizen ] valks the streets o£ London or Glasgow, for o long it can be said that Great Britain < ommejds the sea. When this can no onger be said then her glory will have ]

, departed and men may writ© " lohabod " ! actoss her portals. i ITS WIDE SIGNIFICANCE. Sea ppwer in the case of Great Britain, implies land power as well; the power of an outlying port of the Empire to defend itself should the fleet be engaged , elsewhere. " Whatever makes for * the ' security of the Empire, or any part of it, . whether by land or by sea, is an organic ! factor is the Empire's sea power. The 1 Empire cannot be defended by land alone, nor, indeed, by land alone can it be defended at all, since the severance of ita ' sea commurmcations would ipao facto entail j its destruction. On the other hand, it can- ! not be defended on sea alone except so far ' as England's unchallenged command of the sea may prevent an enemy assailing eueh of its parts as can only be reached across the sea. But ' Canada and India are not included in this exception. Both of them can be assailed from the land, however unlikely it may be that they should be. so assailed in the present condition of international relations. Nevertheless, it is 6ea power in the sense defined above that alone cai defend them effectively. If the command of tha sea were lost, the rest of the, Empire could take no further part in thetr defence. So long Ss the command of the eea ie 'maintained, every portion of the Empire oan, if it co chooses, take its part in the defence of all the rest." , WHAT IT HAS DONE. ' The command of the sea has given Great ; Britain her present position in the rank of nations. She can stretch out her arm , for the protection of the humblest trader in the farthest sea. She can assure peace, ■ safety, &nd industry to the oppressed of other lands; she can arrest the Bed Sea slave trader, the pirates of the Algerian coast; and -she can, and does, level her guns anywhere amid everywhere "man's in* humanity' to man makes countless thousands mourn." The arm of England without a fleet to sustain it would long since' have fallen helpless. The moral suasion of her ship* and guns has proved ac effective as it was peremptory when demands for redress have beerf' met by subterfuge What the command of the sea has done for Little England is to create for her the most stupendous sea-borne trade of which historyXtells. To-day the flag flies in every part of the world in perfect safety. There may Jbe no warship within a thousand and more miles; yet that little piece of bunting thus unostentatiously displayed pioelaims Britain's naval supremacy. Destroy this last and the flag and all that it implies go too. A united British Empire ie unthinkable and impossible unless her fleets can, unchallenged, police the seas. |