THE WORK OF THE NAVY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 274, 11 May 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE WORK OF THE NAVY.

Mr. John Leyland writes in the " Quarterly" on the Navy and its work in the war. He mentions that sea-power has many times shaped the course of land strategy in vital directions, and that open transit at sea is at the very root of all that the Allies do. History has no parallel for the gathering of our armies in this war, the constant supplying of them with guns, munitions and stores of every imaginable kind, tho furnishing of our Allies with everything that their forces requireall this accomplished under the sure stield of naval protection. Sea power has not only maintained our communications, but has also protected tho near aud flank of the Western armies against all enemy operations. In the Baltic trie Russian fleet supported the Russian army, protected its flank from being enveloped, and made impossible a German advance on Pctrograd. In the same sea British submarines, with splendid darmg, have operated to tho restriction of German trado with Sweden. In the Mediterranean, sea powef has played a predominant part. The two thousand miles of sea which lie between the Pillars of Hercules and Port Said are a vital link in the strategic chain of the Empire, and it Has been the good fortune of the British Navy there to be associated with the gallant navies of France and Italy in the closest co-operation. Another eloquent tribute to tho "mighty, silent British Fleet—the engine which nas made possible the landing of millions of British soldiers in France; in Salonika, in Mesopotamia, and the running of British ships between all parts of the Empire" is paid by Mr J. Edwin Wall, in a letter which we received by the last mail. 'The British Navy," he says, "is serving tiio Empire wonderiuly well. Nothing has been too little nor too great for their courage and capacity Privately, we get reports week by week of heroic deeds and daring-do, but they find no place in the public press. Personally, we regret this reticence. We feel that more public record is due to the personnel of the Navy. Furthermore, wo believe that a wider knowledge of what they are doing would be calculated to hearten the Empire and our Allies, and to give us and neutral nations a more adequate idea of wnat Britain is achieving, and of nor strength. In the lack of such official information it is difficult for those not on the spot to realise that the whole of the North Sea and English Channel is palrolled with more thoroughness than the ordinary policeman's beat. Comparatively few people know anything of the thousands of steam fishing trawlers which have been converted into mine-sweepers aud patrol boats, whose dangerous and arduous mission it is to keep track and circumvent enemy mine laying, and watch for enemy submarines. Some time .ago we spent a few days at Margate, which is situated at the extremity of the Thames estuary, and to us it was of intense interest and significance to watch the passage of the daily convoy of merchant ships out of the Port of London. From London Port to the wide reaches of the Atlantic there is only a comparatively narrow channel left open amongst the British mine-fields, and departing vessels from London Port are daily collected and escorted into comparative safety by vessels of the Navy. Tlic advance, guard consists of destroyers, and following them are submarines. Between the submarines and the merchant fleet will como a broad parallel lino of trawlers, sweeping carefully the half-lnile-wide passage for any recently-laid mines or mines which have got adrift, and finally comes the mercantile flees of anything from thirty to seventy vessels, passenger and cargo, of all sizes, slowly steaming in close formation hehind the triple line of guards piloting them out. These precautions for tho safety of our mercantile marine apply not only to the Port of London, but to all British ports, and to them we owe tho comparatively light casualties which British shipping has suffered during thy war." It is not surprising to learn that there are no Little Navy men in Britain to-day, and that ;.ll classes in all parts of the Empire realise that, as Mr. Leyland has put it, "the British fleet is the safeguard against invasion, the protector of tho food supplies and necessities of the country, the bond of the Empire, also the shaft to the military spearhead, the support of tho Allies, and the guardian of :;l| we have won in many hundreds of years."