SEA POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

SEA POWER.

A SPLENDID VISION. THE DOMINIONS' SHARE. j The following cable message from! London, which appeared in the Australian newspapers on November 1, was not sent to New Zealand: — Mr. Archibald Hurd, in an article in the Daily Telegraph, says:—The northbound express rushed like a living thing, wind screaming through the windows, through the murky darkness of the sleeping land, without disturbing the slumbering millions. By the Admiralty's permission, my destination n'as the "nowhere" of naval war, where the ships are whose secrets the enemy would give a King's ransom to share. Stepping out of the train in the morning, we were confronted by the splendid vision of the Grand Fleet, our unparalleled instrument, whose dominating, world-wide beneficent power decrees that our armies shall fight their battles in other countries than Britain. It is the standard of sea power by which all nations measure their strength and efficiency. Our ships are legion, and our men counted by tens of thousands. MAJESTIC CREATION. A thorough inspection of Admiral Jellicoe's fleet would ocupy two i/r three years. A modern Dreadnought is a world in itself, wherein are concentrated the victories of generations of men over the imponderable forces of Nature. One day's visit could not exhaust the wonders of one of the?e majestic creations. But even the Grand Fleet does not wholly depresent Britain's striking power. There are 2300 auxiliary craft, such as mine-sweepers, patrol boats and other vessels, which, day and night, in fair weather or foul, are continually feeling for the enemy and defeating his designs. There are also '-ituo transports and storeships. With multifarious duties. Forgetting all these, the Grand Fleet remains a creation 100 gigantic even for painstaking description. It is only possible to record random impressions of a small section of the ships, and the still more wonderful men. WORK OF GENERATIONS. An American tourist once expressed amazement at the velvet lawns of Oxford, but the guide explained, "It's perfectly simple; we have cut and rolled it for a thousand years." It is much the same with the Navy. Successive generations give sons, some of whose ancestors served under Prince Rupert. In. RearAdmiral Sydney Fremantle's cabin there hangs a telescope which Nelson gave to one of a band of brothers, one of whose grandsons flies his flag in a division of the Fleet to-day. The Fleet has developed and changed through the centuries, but the men are the same. Nothing is more impressive than the spirit' of these super-healthy •men. An Admiral said that the average number of sick was less than eleven per ship. Their moral ascendancy over the enemy is ever-growing. Physically, the men are in the pink , of condition, while mentally they are as keen as a razor preparing for the ordeal of battle. They do not devote their leisure to Killing tne enemy with their mouths. There are endless forms of recreation, including boxing, concerts, lectures, gramophones, chess, draughts, exercises, and sometimes football ashore. One ship has a. kinemal and is nightly thronged. Amid the northern mists the Grand Fleet awaits its fortune—in confidence, health and good spirits—preparing for the fateful morrow. WAITING FOR "THE DAY," One of the Admirals said that he had not taken a day's leave, "I do not expect to live to see the Navy confronting another enemy,' he said, "and I would never forgive myself if .'the day' came and I was not here." That is the spirit of the Navy. All are nervous lest they should miss the chance of their lifetime. Winter again has brought hardships, especially to the outposts, but their work must be done, whether the sea is smooth or rough, the sky clear of domed with dripping clouds, the wind light or blowing a gale. All the King's dominions depend upon their viliganee. The ships would be mere ironmongery but for these skilled, courageous, resourceful, dogged officers and men. * MENACING BATTLE CRUISERS. Aboard a destroyer, cleaving the waters, we discerned the most famous ships in the world, great vessels of the battle-cruiser squadron, which have twice met the enemy.- With their gaunt, encircling hulls enshrouded in clouds the ships were indistinct and shadowy, more menacing in their awful suggestion of power. It looked as though they were only restrained with difficulty from steaming out at top speed and overwhelming the foe. The sailors call them the "cat" squadron, because they remind them of a cat sitting near a hole waiting to pounce on a mouse. The battlecruisers are a stroke of genius. They are the only armoured vessels which have badly punished the enemy, combining the speed of the destroyer with the gun-power, of the battleship. They are the armadillos of the fleet, swift, with 100,000 horsepower behind them. The bows are armoured, like armadillos, and are able to overtake and gobble up anything afloat. Any nation can afford guns and armour, but only a rich nation can afford speed. The capital cost is stupendous, almost prohibitive, while the running cost is greater than has evei been known before. TALISMAN OF VICTORY. Small men of restricted vision would have wanted to keep their ships at home, hugging their own coasts, but the great people of the dominions realised that the seas are one and that concentration of power is the talisman of victory. These people share with us pride in descent from a golden age, when the Empire had its birth on the sea. We living in Britain should pay homage to the courage and breadth of perception of those standing side by side with us defending the world's freedom. A Dutch journalist boarded the Tiger, which the Germans reported they had sunk. lie remarked humorously, "Surely this is the largest submarine ever seen." Deft workmen had charmed away the Tiger's scars. STRONGER THAN EVER. The grand fleet has not lost a single armoured ship. On the contrary, it has been reinforced, and is stronger to-day than at the outbreak of the war. But the Germans have been sorely punished. Who can say, accurately, the number of submarines bagged, costing £200,00U apiece? The trained crews cannot be replaced. Our supply of ships is a mixed column, resembling a menagerie. The heaviest shot at Trafalgar weighed 0211), but the projectiles of the 12in. guns weigh 850 Ih. The projectiles of the more deadly weapons weight one ton, and twelve of Uieße may be discharged per minute in the height of battle Our vast engine of war stands for freedom; our sure shield. It would be better described M our thunderbolt, for it dom-

inates every sea. There lias been nothing like it in human history. TIGER BATTLE-WORTHY. The Tiger's armour is slightly dented; one shot hit the after-turret, and another the conning-towcr, killing and maiming brave men. The Germans will learn that the Tiger is still battleworthy. I visited the pre-Dreadnought squadron, headed .by the King Edward VII., representing stability and power. Their 12-inchers must not be forgotten. It is difficult to realise their might when momentarily they shoot out projectiles like the thunderbolts of destiny. ' An Admiral remarked that Tie preferred cruising in rough sea, as it accustoms men to the element wherein they must be prepared to fight. It also prevents them from becoming "fairweather sailors." What must the Germans be thinking, imprisoned behind Heligoland! We possess all the searoom that the world offers. The Germans relied on their sinister submarines and mines to force us into inactivity, and to reach equality by n process of attrition. Neither object was attained. ENGINE OF VENGEANCE. Even after Trafalgar, our command of the sea was nothing like now. Ths fleet is our engine of vengeance. Passing along lines of steel-clad sentinols and lean, devilish-looking destroyers, one 'realises that these are standing between the world and a dominion based on dishonour, treachery, cruelty mid inhumanity. Stepping aboard the Tiger, one. thinks of the martyred nurre. A visit to the King Edward Vil, calls up Belgium, Standing on the foaming bows of a destroyer one remembers Serbia. After the spectacle of the Grand Fleet conies a deeper realisation of the meaning of triumphant sea powei, with its far-reaching influences on th for tunes of ourselves and our Allies. <