THE WATCHFUL NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1919, Page 9

THE WATCHFUL NAVY.

WORK .IN THK WAR. LONU AND DANGEROUS VIGILS. Christcliurch, Sept. 4. In till! course of his speech at the Navy League gathering last night, Lord .lellicoe said there was a tcmleni'y on (lie part of people engaged in educational work in respect of I he Navy to make too much of what he might call die spectacular moments of naval history. They were inclined to dwell very much upon great naval victories and omit (lie work which had led up to those naval victories and the hard work which had been necessary in order that, those victories might he achieved. "Let me take a lew instances from the present war," he said. "One hears a great deal about the naval victories of the present war, but one hears very little, for instance, about the work of the Harwich force, engaged on what we used to call the Dutch convoy. This was a convoy of merchant ships running backwards and forwards to Holland weekly, which brought to Great Britain a very considerable amount of food, particularly margarine, and butter and some meat. The work was not at all spectacular, but it was exceedingly risky, and we suffered very heavy losses in looking after that convoy. It was a weekly affair, and pressed very hard on the Admiralty. Many destroyers were lost, and several light cruisers had their sterns blown off by mines or submarines. It was not spectacular work, but it was essential work during the \\jar.

TASK Oi' THE DOVER PATROL. "Another instance is the Dover patrol. One heard nothing at all during the war about it, but, believe ine, the work of that patrol was some of the finest work carried out during the war. The patrol at any moment might have encountered German mines, or submarines or a superior (ierman force of destroyers working from Zecbrugge or Ostend. In face of all these risks, six or eight British destroyers held the eastern approaches to the Channel, and you heard nothing whatever about it. The only thing you have heard was criticism that we did not have more snips there, and. of course, the Admiralty was not able to explain why there were not more ships. The reason was that there were no more to send. There was criticism in the Daily Mail and other papers of that kind that we were an inferior force. But these critics always forgot that the watching force has to be hopelessly inferior owing to the concentrated nature of the attacking force which concentrates upon the point of attack. The only credit that the Dover patrol ever got was when the Broke and the Swift engaged successfully six. German destroyers and sank two or three of them. That was spectacular, but all the time the patrol was fighting against heavy odds. That is the sort of thing I ask you not to pay too much attention to, the supreme moments in naval history.

THE NORTH SEA CONVOYS.

"Then there is tho work of the Scandinavian patrol. Month after month two destroyers, or perhaps four, convoyed between Norway and Great Britain a very scattered lot of Norwegian vessels and occasionally a few British merchant .ships, it is very difficult work, convoying, when the vessels are scattered over 10 or 'lO miles of ocean. Day after day and month after month our destroyers were responsible for a large number of merchantmen!, chieily neutral vessels. The supreme moment occurred when a German light cruiser force, under cover of darkened, swooped down on the destroyers and *ank tfcem. You heard about that, but you never heard about the successes these destroyers achieved in bringing ships month after month aerooss the North Sea. I think that the percentages of losses of that convoy, with its difficulties of scattered merchantmen, was something between one and two per cent of the thousands and thousands of vessels brought across the North Sea. In that case the spectacular moment occurred when a disaster happened to the British arms.

HOLDING THE

"Then there was the cruiser squadron which operated between Iceland and the northern coa9t of Scotland. It held the sea for four years, or three years and a half, inspecting every merchant ship going eastward or westward with supplies for neutral countries or for Germany. In gales of wind, in fog, in every sort of weather, these vessels carried out their work. Open to submarine attacks, against which it was impossible to protect them, something like 24 ships held that blockade, 12 or 14 being on the blockade line, and they were not out of danger when they left that line. The worst time they had was when on their way to a home port for fuel or repair, for the enemy submarines concentrated on their return passage. They had to run the gauntlet of German mines, because the enemy knew the bases they had to go to for fuel. You heard nothing aboutj their work. Occasionally you heard about the loss of ships, but these vessels went very far to win the war. It was their work that brought about very largely the loss of morale on the part of the Germans which gave us the victory."