THE GRIP OF THE NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1919, Page 6

THE GRIP OF THE NAVY.

GERMANY THROTTLED.. ~"^y

The London correspondent of the Christehui'ch Press, in a deeply interesting account lie gives of the rejoiicngs in London when the armistice was aigneed, makes a brief reference to the Lord Mayor's Banquet, which was held on the eve before the actual signature, hut wJten it was known that the Germans were beaten and would be beaten still more hopelessly if they decided to light on. It was the moat memorable Lord Mayor's Banquet ever held, and fortunate were those privileged to hear the speeches on that great occasion. Not the least noteworthy was that made toy Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty, in responding for the NavyA year ago, he said, the enemy believed that he could hold the Allied forces, but he was held in the ever-tightening grip of the Navy. He tried to break that grip. He could not do it on the surface, so ho tried under the water. Last year the enemy submarine campaign was an anxiety. The enemy knew that if he was going to get out without the collapse that he knew was coming he must somehow Qr other break the power of the British Navy, so he played his last card and the British Navy triumphed. Why was the enemy asking for peace to-day ij One had only to look at the wireless messages sent out by the enemy countries to see that in every case it was the blockade. During the four and a half years of the war there had been only one fleet action, and on that occasion "the enemy did not stop to finish it"—a dry Temark which caused the ancient walls of the Guildhall to echo with laughter. Then Sir Erie Geddes went on to make a momentous disclosure- A very interesting thing happened, he said, not ten days ago. The responsible authorities in England waited hourly for the possibility of a naval Armageddon.

He added: The wfcole stage was set for a great sea battle—ibut something went wrong. The arm that was going to try a, last desperate gambler's stroke was paralysed. The German Navy, I am as convinced as 1 know I am standing here to-night, was ordered "out; and the men would not come. (Cheers.) During the four and a half years the German High Sea Fleet has not fought. It has gone mad, becausee it dare not fight. (Cheers.) About eight months ago a similar thing happened on a small scale. It was after the actions off Ostend and Zeebrugge. (Cheers.) I will tell you now what I could not tell you then, that the gradual ringing in of the German forces, the day and night activity in the Bight, resulted in the loss in the first six months of this year of over a hundred surface craft. Gradually the British Navy drove its steel into the vitals of the German Navy, and the small craft—miners, mine-sweepers, and patrol boats and escort craft—could not stand it, and they mutinied. That mutiny was put down. To-day half the German Fleet is flying the Red Flag. The result of our sea power is that the enemy won't fight, and he won't fight because he has not a good cause. (Cheers.) We knojjr what has happened since—the surrender of the German Fleet and how when the British Commission inspected the ships they found them filthy and their crews in a state of mutiny. Contrast all this with the Kaiser's vaunts. In a speech at Cologne in 189G he said: "The trident belongs in our fist." In a telegram to Prince Henry in 1597: "I shall not rest until I have raised my fleet to the same level upon which the army stands." In a speech at Stettin in 1893 he said: "Our future lies upon the water." Th® First, Second, and Third Navy Bills were passed in succession it* order to carry the Kaiser's ambition into effect. But that miserable monarch never made a worse mistake than when he set out to challenge the British supremacy on the sea—when he defied the Navy which has now laid himself and his dynasty in the dust and his Empire in ruin. The lesson is one which Britain must on her part never forget. At all times and at all hazards our "sure shield" must be kept not only strong and intact, but incapable of being broken down.