THE GRAND FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1916, Page 10

THE GRAND FLEET.

ITS WORLD CRIP. SHIPS AND MEN. THE "NOWHERE" OF THE NAVAL WAR. (By Archibald Hurd, in the London Telegraph). The northward-hound express rushed through the murky darkness, the wind screaming at the windows. It seemed as though the train were some living creature, anxious to.get away from the city of doubts and hopes, whispered gossip, and timid suggestion, to the realm of the sea, where all uncertainties are resolved, and the destiny of a maritime country stands out from the background of_ the past, fresh, and clear. By permission of the Admiralty I was on my way to the seat of England's present greatness. I had been accorded the privilege of _ paying a visit—the first made by a British journalist since the war opened—to the Grand Fleet, by which in these days we live and move and have our being. The train carried me to the Nowhere |of naval war, where the ships are. How they are disposed, what they look like, when and where they cruise, are all secrets which the enemy would give a king's ransom to .share.' Those secrets must he guarded. But there is much which can be revealed «n order that the British people throughout the world may understand that they are not as persons without the complete assurance of victory which the sea has always yielded to us.

As the express tore its way onward through the sleeping land, with' its slumbering millions, one recalled that for over a thousand years no enemy soldier had been permitted to fight ns on our own soil; one realised the unique position which these isle 3 occupy, because they arc islands. Our battles'arc fought iin other countries, because the Navy has so decreed. At last, when the morning was well advanced, I stepped from the train, and was soon confronted with the vision splendid—the sight of our ships and men. My visit to the Grand Fleet had begun.

AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK. ' It is not given to any man to make anything but a brief inspection of the men of war which constitute our weapon at once of defence and of offence. This unparalleled instrument, in which are embodied all the broad lessons drawn from the past, and in which reside our hopes for the future, has been fashioned as though we were giants in the world and not pigmies. They stand for dominating power—world-wide\ in its influence, and beneficent. Tliis country is the sea Power, by which all other nations measure their strength and their efficiency. Its ships are legion; its sailors are counted by hundreds of thousands. Anyone who set forth really to inspect the men-of-war which constitute the Grand Fleet under the supreme orders of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe would have to devote a year or two to the task, even if he set aside only a. single day for each vessel. A modern Dreadnought is a world in itself, in which are concentrated three or four score of man's victories over the imponderable forces of nature; in the span of twentyfour hours a visitor who was deaf and dumb to the information conveyed to him by officers and men on board ans' used his eyes only could not exhaust the wonders of one of these creations. But the Grand Fleet does not stand alone as representing the striking power of the British people. It has its antennae, scores upon scores of special craft which, day by day and night by night, whether the weather be fair or foul, are continually feeling for the enemy and defeating' his designs. There are 2300 of these auxiliary craft, minesweepers, patrol vessels, and others, But even that does not exhaust our naval resources. Every soldier who confronts the enemy has been carried to the scene of action in France, Gallipoli, Servia, and elsewhere on the broad back of the sailor. That is not all. Every sailor and every gun must be fed. There are about 2000 transports and supply ships of one description and another, which, under the protection of the Navy, perform multifarious duties which are essential to our success. Forget the transports and forget even all the auxiliary craft, and the Grand Fleet remains as a creation too gigantic to be described, even in general termß, by the most painstaking of visitors. So let the confession stand. I have not seen the Grand Fleet in all its incalculable power, but merely some sections of it. It is impossible, therefore, now and here at least, to attempt to tell how the Grand Fleet as a whole impresses one. My ambition must be merely to set down the random impressions of ships and men and to admit that the men are more wonderful than the ships. That is the first thought that seizes one.

THE HEREDITARY SEA INSTINCT.

A title is told of an American tourist who was visiting mi Oxford College and stopped to admire the velvet-like turf in the Fellow's garden. "Tell me," he exclaimed, "how do you get your grass so perfect?" "Oh," Baid his guide, "it's very simple. We just cut it and roll it and cut it and roll it for a thousand years or so." With the Navy it is much the same. It is said that there are sailors in the Grand Fleet who are believed to have had direct ancestors serving under Prince Rupert. The sea, instinct dominates not merely men but families, ..Generation after generation gives its sons to the naval service of the country. You may enter the cabin of one of tlio admirals of the Grand Fleet to-day—Bear-Ad-miral Sydney Fremantle—and there see the telescope Nelson was wont to use; he gave it as a souvenir fo one of the "band of brothers"—the great-grand-father of the officer who to-day flics his flag in one of the divisions of the British Fleet which confronts the enemy. Another story of another admiral of the Grand Fleet—Roar-Admiral W. A. Pakenham—is indicative of the spirit of calm assurance and composure in which the Navy of to-day challenge the future. He was privileged, on behalf of thr, 'British Admiralty, to witness the battle of Tsushima. He was determined to •watch the course of events, but at the same time not to inconvenience the

Japanese officers and men of the flagship on whose efficient and unhampered performance of duty the fate of Japan depended. So dressed in an immaculate white uniform, well suited to the heat of the day, he seated himself on the after deck on a canvas chair, without a suggestion of protection from the enemy's fire. A Japanese ofiicer approached and politely suggested that perhaps it would be -well'if he watched the battle from some position less exciting but offering greater safety. At the moment one of the enemy's shelU jeftiwk th« ywwel, killing iortftntlj; %

signalman aloft, and covering the British officer's spotless clothes with the man's blood. The admiral of to-day, so the story continues, expressed momentary annoyance at the spoiling of his uniform, unconcernedly returned to his cabin to change into a new uniform as spotlessly white as the other, and then continued to watch the battle. Is the story true? I don't know. British officers do not relate such incidents of themselves. But the little narrative is vouched for by one of the officer* of the Japanese Navy. At any rate, the moral remains. The British Navy is not an artificial creation of a Government. It expresses the soul of a nation, which has known evil days as well as good, and which mnintains its balance of mind in all circumstances. The Grand Fleet is no exotic creation; it is the. result of centuries of growth; it traces its descent from King Alfred.

THE SPIRIT OF THE FLEET. The Fleet has been slowly and wisely developed. The ships have'changed, hut the men are still the same. Nothing impresses a visitor more than the spirit of the Fleet. . You may judge a man's fortune very often from his health; it is the index to Ids mental outlook. The British Navy has never been more healthy than to-day, after about fifteen months of anxious watching and waiting, endless comings and goings, some misfortunes and more successes. It has learnt many lessons from incidents at sea. Not boastfully confident, its mural ascendency over the enemy has grown with the passage of the many weeks. It is more efficient than it was—which is saying much—and officers and men eonfront the unknown future in good temper and in good health. "We have very little sickness," one of the admirals of the Grand Fleet declared; "because \re arc watching we are not repining. I was looking through the health returns only the other day, and in my division the average number of cases of sickness per ship was less the.ii eleven. You know how large the crews are, and you also know that a man who is not in the pink of condition is regarded as unfit for duty and is put on the sick list, so you can judge what that figure means." The mental health of the Fleet is not less satisfactory than its physical health. Every officer and man realises tlio character of the times in which he. is playing a party. The men are keen is the edge of the best Sheffield razor. Their days are spent in preparing for the ordeal of battle—they hardly regard it as an ordeal. They' do not devote their leisure to killing'the enemy with their mouths; they have endless means of recreation. I passed one field where the football posts were being put up in readiness for Saturday's game. 'There are boxing contests; concerts are held; lectures are delivered; the skipping-rope even is not banned; a form of Swedish exercise is continually practised; chess, draughts and other games are played; the gramophone grinds out its melodies; one ship has an almost nightly cinema show for men off watch. Throned amid the northern mists, the Grand Fleet awaits its fortune in confidence, health, and good spirits. There are dull days when the mists settle down and blot out tho faintest suggestion that there is any other world than tho world of ships. Anyone but a sailor might well be depressed; and perhaps some of them get weary, but it is a passing phase. WAITING FOR THE MORROW. The Navy lives for a morrow, wondering when it will come, and preparing for its coming. "Since the war came," one captain remarked to me, "I have had four days' leave, and 1 spent twenty-four hours of that period in travelling." That is the British Navy. "No," said an admiral with a wife and family far away, "I have not had any leave. I should never forgive myself if tho day came and I was not here. Whatever may be the furtuno of younger men, I don't think that I shall live to see the British Navy confronting an enemy again. I cannot miss the chance for which I have lived since as a small boy, I joined the Britannia." That is the British Navy. Of course, it would be absurd to suggest that no officers and men are able to get away from the Fleet to see their families and friends, but I judge they go in some nervousness lest they should miss the chance of a lifetime.

'.So much for the spirit of the Fleet, A volume could be written on the officers and men who make our ships of war things of living power. Another winter has come, and winter means hardship, particularly for those whose lot it is to carry out outpost duties. Never until this war came had ships of war maintained watch and ward so far North; this is the Grand Fleet's second winter in these inhospitable waters. The sons of the Vikings are not dead. Whether the sea be smooth or rough, the sky clear or domed with dripping clouds, the wind fitful or blowing a gale, there is work, which must be done. The work is done, And all the people of the King's Dominions ,reap the harvest from day to day. Perhaps it would bo well were the harvest less plentiful for some people.

Of the time which Parliament, devoted to the discussion of naval affairs, at least 90 per cent., in times. of peace was always given up to talking about ships, ships, ships; and, as a rule, not very intelligent talking. Parliament presumably reflects with some amount of accuracy the mind of the nation in its attitude to the Navy. But let us not overlook the fact that, fascinating as they are, the ships would be mere ironmongery were it not for the officers and Men, skilled, courageous, resourceful, dogged. It is well thati tho greatest crisis in our history found us well supplied with crews as well as ships. But, coming to the ships, a problem arises. The enemy knows that officers and men are in the ships, but he does not know where the ships are. That is the difficulty of a visitor. One of tho elements of naval power is that of strategic surprise. Nothing must bo revealed which gives the foe any inkling of where to expect the ships to come from. So it is impossible to gijc a consecutive account of my visit to the Grand Fleet. In passing from our splendid men. to describe our splendid ships, I must be content to reflect a series of impressions endeavouring to present unrelated cameos, however imperfectly chiselled, of groups of ships as I was privileged to see them, without suggesting where they are, "THE CAT SQUADRON." Over the grey yaters the destroy# cleaves her way. A mist half hide* from the view the most famous vessels in the world —the great ships of the Battle-Cruiser Squadron, which on tw< occasions have met the enemy. Two oi the vessels—the Inflexible and the In vincible—indeed bumped into the Ov mans at another time—off the lands; and there was only one 0 " u ship left, and that for a slu il i .1 merelx. when thej had finisl- <1 1 it

work. The great gaunt hills encircling tho , scene arc enshrouded in clouds. The ships stand out from tho background indistinct and, therefore, all the more menacing—shadows of awful suggestion of power. They look as though they were restrained with difficulty from instantly steaming forth at the rate of an express train to overwhelm the foe. The suggestion rested, indeed, on fact—those long ships form what sailors call the "cat squadron." It is as though a cat sat over a hole waiting for a mouse to appear and ready to pounce upon it. The battle-cruiser' wan a. stroke of genius—Lord Fisher's genius. Tt is the only armoured vessel which has hadly punished the enemy. These ships combine the speed of a destroyer with the big guns of a battleship, they are, as a famous admiral called theni, the armadillos of the Fleet, swift with the power of a hundred thousand horses behind each bow, protected, like the American quadruped, with plates not of bone, but of hardest armour, and able to overtake and gobble up almost anything afloat flying the enemy's flag. Approximately six to seven hundred feet long, and from seventy to nearly ninety feet broad—varying according to each particular design—they were built for speed. Any nation can buy guns and armour, but only a rich nation can afford upend. The capital cost is almost prohibitive; the running cost is greater than was ever known before since ships were built. The guns of a battle-cruiser cost about one-fifth of the sum spent upon the engines and boilers to enable lier to tear through the water after her quarry at a rate of six times greater '.ban that of the old Victory when she brought Kelson back from the West Indies with Villeneuve in chase. When one is confronted with a specimen of these marvellous representatives of British naval power, one gains some conception of their post—stupendous in relation to the apparent size. To-day we know that the battle-cruisers are worth their weight in gold, but time was when men grumbled at the expenditure of two millions sterling upon a single man-of-war, without the full protection of the battleship. It is little wonder that such an outlay outraged the economic spirit of those who, unversed in naval . affairs, did not realise that high engine-power to-day is what the weather-gauge was yesterday. ! THE GLORY OF THE RACE. Gradually, out of the mist, the forms of nine of these men-of-war loomed, with every suggestion of an awaiting vengeance against the enemy. The Lion, the Tiger, the Queen Mary, the Australia, the Now Zealand, and the other ships completed a unique chain. What would Nelson have thought? The Victory cost £100,(100 or so, and could move only when the wind was willing. England a century ago was little more than a European Power; to-day it is the centre lof a vast Empire. There on the one hand lay the great man-of-war typifying the British lion, ready to spring forth, and there, on the other, the two ships built and paid for by the great dominions oversea, and manned in largo part of officers and men from those outposts of the Empire. Children used to be told—and may be told to-day—that if they dug a hole anywhere in the British Isles and went on digging and digging they would eventually come out somewhere near Australia or New Zealand. Yet these people who live in the far Antipodes underneath our feet, so to speak, and separated from us by several thousand miles of trackless ocean —-with problems and dangers of their own—have sent their ships to share with British ships the bleak fortunes of the North Sea in winter. When they are asked where their main defence on the sea is to be seen, the inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand must point to the ground and remark: "Our ships are underneath there somewhere; wo have sent them away." -It is a miracle.

Men who could do such an act are no ordinary men; they are statesmen, fit statesmen of the greatest Empire the world lias ever seen. These battleicruisers, paid for with their money and manned in part by men of their blood, are in the North Sea in obedience to a great principle. They had the prescience to accept it. The vessels are not there, to guard the British Isles or shipping in home waters; they are there—in the North Sea—to guard New Zealand, Australia, and all the interests of the British people "down under" and elsewhere. That is maritime strategy in cxeelsis. Small men with a restricted vision would have wanted to keep their ships at home. They would have hugged them on their own coasts. The great people of these great dominions realised, as Sir Robert Borden realised when there was not a cloud on the horizon, that the seas are all one and that in concentration of power lies the talisman of victory. These people share with us the pride of descent from the Golden Age when the British Empire had its birth on the sea. "The advantage of time and place in all martial actions," Drake once declared to Queen Elizabeth, "is half a victory." At the right time, these ships are in the right place. We who live in the British Isles may well pay our homage to the courage and breadth of perception of those kinsmen, far away in body, but present in spirit, who stand side by side with us on the sea —the North Sea—in defending the world's freedom. "THE LARGEST SUBMARINE.' Near by the Lion, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, lay the battle-worn Tiger. Everyone is familiar by this time with the details of the spirited engagement which was fought in the North Sea on 24th January last. Tho enemy ventured forth—and he has not been seen since—on some mission of mischief, and the Battle-Cruiser Squadron leapt out from Nowhere. Do you remember Newbolt's lines:

For bragging time was over and lighting time was come, When Hawke came swooping from tho West?

Thus it was on 24th January. The battle-cruisers swooped down on the Germans.

British engines mid British engineers enabled (lie foe io be brought within range, and the battle was joined. The Germans wished for no better fate than to get back home. As they raced through the water the British battlecruisers pounded after them, bringing their more powerful guns to bear with deadly result. The Bhicher was sunk; the Derft'lingcr and Seydlitz were injured. One lucky shot put the Lion out of action, but not before the Germans had been mauled.

The enemy has told the world that the Tiger went to the bottom of the North Sea. During my visit to the Grand Fleet I visited the Tiger. A Dutch journalist, with a sense of humour, who was in my company —we want Holland to know the things that are—remarked as he stepped on the deck, "Surely this is the largest submarine which was ever seen! My countrymen, you kno#, have been assured time and again by the Germans %t this ship lie* many fathoms deep.

flow did you get her up?" To-day the Tiger hears few of her battle scars; they have been charmed away by deft workmen. Here and there her side armour is slightly dented; Captain Felly tolls you that a shot hit the after-turret, but its effects are hardly noticeable; and you learn of a projectile which found a billet under the eonning-towor, killing and maiming brave men. That is the extent of the injuries of which the world has board so much. Bjittle-worn the Tiger was, but battle-worthy she remains, as the Germans may yet learn when her 13.5-incli guns again come into action. Kver on the alert, these leviathans of the Grand Fleet are held on leash, ready to tear through the water and teach the enemy that the traditions of tho British Navy are still in safe keeping.

THE BATTLE SQUADRON. Another scene in the spectacle which British sea power presents. This time it is a battle squadron. It com ■'. Is of eight vessels, and the very names are eloquent. It is an Imperial squadron, though paid for by the people of tho British Isles. The names of the ships are a reminder of the extent of British sway, which fills the Germans with jealousy turned to haired—the Britannia, .the Hibernia, the Africa, the Hindustan, the Dominion, the Commonwealth, and tho Zealandia, with the King Edward the Seventh at their head flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Edward Bradford, for many years flag-captain to tho Admiral ( of the' Fleet, Sir Arthur K. Wilson. 'They are not defending England only; they are visible emblems of the unity of the Empire, in which the Germans in August, 1014, did not believe. They know better to-day, and they will know still better to-morrow. Those ships are pro-Dreadnoughts, but they are not. therefore, by nnv means negliblo. Each mount four 12in guns, four ().2in weapons, singly in turrets, and ten fiin quick-firers. They are well armoured, and have a turn'for speed in excess of that of other battleships of their date. They appeared, in fact, just before the 'revolutionary Dreadnought, On board the King Edwari?, the Seventh, as one sat at «wich, afjbng the small party of guests of the ViceAdmiral, it was difficult to realise that the world was passing through a great crisis; the flagship and her escorts scorned to stand for stability. One looked over tho seascape and gained some understanding of the inactivity of the enemy. These ships, though many people in this country may hold thorn cheap, because they are no longer new, are far in advance of anything the Germans built in the early years of this century before the Dreadnought burst on the scene of their confusion. The Germans put their faith in many small guns; we in fewer big guns of long range. The design of tho King Edward is one of many indications of the manner in which our naval authorities outmanoeuvred the Marineamt. So let us not forget the power of the King Ed'ward class.

It was difficult, as I have said, to associate the quiet scene round the luncheon table with the times in which we are living. The ahi])B were apparently inert and exercising no influence on the course of events. Who was to know that at short notice they could be away like thunder-bolts of destiny? There was nothing to indicate the gunnery practice which goes on from week to week, or the sweeping movements carried out in the North Sea. "We, are here to-day," an officer remarked, in the course of conversation, "but we may be gone to-mor-row. Even if the enemy hides behind his minefields and his shore guns, we must be on the move, keeping officers and men accustomed to sea conditions. We do not claim merely to command the North Sea; we actually exercise command over it,- as the Germans well jknow." One of the admirals of the Fleet expressed his preference for cruising when the sea was rough. "It keeps us in touch with the element in which we must be prepared to fight, and checks any tendency to become fair-weather sailors." If that be the instinct of the British sailor, what must the officers and men of the German navy be thinking as the days pass ? The British sailors roam the North Sea; the enemy is imprisoned in the "wet triangle," of which Heligoland is the base, which offers no searoom. We have all the sea-room the world offers. The contrast is sufficiently effective; it need not be laboured beyond this one consideration.

THE FAILURE OF THE GERMANS. The British Fleet cannot hit a target which is never in view, but the Germans cannot hit a target though it be continually presented. When hostilities opened the Germans put faith in submarine and mine. They argued that at the worst—from their point of view—these two agents of destruction, sinister and novel in their latest development, would force the Grand Fleet into activity, at the best, the strength of the Grand Fleet would be worn down by a process of attrition, until at last something approaching equality of naval material would exist. Neither object has been attained. The Grand Fleet'has lost not a single armoured ship. But, on the other hand, it has been reinforced, and is to-day stronger, actually and relatively, than when the war opened. One of the admirals exhibits to any enquirer in his confidence a chart showing the graves of German submarines, which have fallen the victims to the vigorous offensive-defensive measures which the British Navy improvised with splendid resourcefulness. How many have gone? Who can scay? Some may have sunk of which the enemy only knows; others may have only been injured, and escaped destruction, which tho Admiralty thinks destroyed. One thing, however, is certain, The enemy's plan has not only failed, but in endeavouring to carry it out he has been badly punished. He has lost not only ships, each costing from £150,000 to £250,000, but the highly-trained crews on board; and not merely the working crews of the submarine, but the raw hands placed on board for the purpose of training, so as to be ready for new submarines. They have all gone, the skilled and the unskilled. The submarines can be replaced, but the men never.