The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1914. THE NAVY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 32, 24 September 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1914. THE NAVY.

While the German fleets, about which s<> much boasting has been made, continue to skulk like rats in their hole al Kiel, the British ships are watchfully sailing up and down the North Sea. waiting longingly for the rodents to (■»mc forth. The task oi the British shisp is not an easy one, but when anything like an opportunity is offered, even with an odds-on risk of running under the guns of some fortress, such as occurred in the affair at Heligoland, King George’s ships arc quite prepared to give battle. Their score to date is au excellent one. That wo must suffer some naval disaster in a war like the present is a certain thing, and one cannot be altogether surprised at the loss of the three cruisers of the Seventh Squadron, reported to have betni torpedoed by German submarines in the North Sea. There is, at any rate, a grain of comfort in the laterGorman submarine responsible bn the loss of the Abonkir, Cressy and La Hogue were very quickly destroyed themselves. Doubtless there will bo ■ much jubilation in Berlin at this very coble victory gained by the bravo German sailors, and the most will be made of it in view of the many hard things which arc bound to happen to Gerrnanv’s lighting ships in the neai future. Sir Percy Scott, one of Britain’s most distinguished naval officers some time ago announced his belief that the time ago announced his belief that the

submarine had entirely done away will the utility of ships that swim on the top of the water. There has been a tremendous controversy in naval circles regarding the matter, and though p is expected that the duel between the submarine and the Dreadnought for battle-ship) will be largely decided in the present war, the odds up to the present time are by no means in favor of the submarine. In every instance recorded since the outbreak of the present hostilities the German submarine that comes to the sui face within sight of a British cruiser has been promptly destroyed. It is highiv probable that while the necessity for war on the great waters continues to exist, both battleships constructed

to swim on the surface ol the water and death-dealing submarines which do their work of destruction under the seas, will have their place in naval conflict. Of course if one has sufficient submarines it is much cheaper to lose submarines than battleships. One objection found by Admiral Bacon is thatj the idea of attacking commerce by submarines is barbarous, but howevei that may be, it is an absolute certaintv that no feelings of humanity would restrain our enemy from using such means of attack. It must not for one moment be imagined that our brave sailors in the North Sea have been caught napping, for, as Admiral Sir John Percy Scott himself has pointed out, the seaman’s great difficulty in tlie present war will be to destroy the submarine, and therefore the attacking force must always be at a disadvantage in naval warfare, principally because, as one writer puts it, “the submarine has introduced the factor of permanent invisibility; searchlights arc useless the gun is helpless, and the submarine can wait outside the boom if it cannot get through it.”