THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1935 A PEOPLE OF THE SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22166, 20 July 1935, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1935 A PEOPLE OF THE SEA

The naval review off Spithead was a picture in the story of a maritime people. It has been described as the most 'spectacular since the war. In one respect search has to be made farther back to find a parallel—for the first time since Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee vessels of the mercantile marine took part. They, together with the fishing fleets, gave an additional touch of meaning. Out of it all comes an urgent reminder to the whole British Commonwealth of Nations:' Tliv story, thy glory, The very fnme of thee, It rose not, it grows not, It comes not, save by sea.

To believe this and to declare it is to give sober heed to plain truth. Only incidentally has that truth to do with conflict. There would have been no Britain worth a thought in the lengthening history of the world had its people not gone forth upon the waters. In earliest days they had a sea-wall. This for a while was their safety, Then came venturers across it, and from their incursion resulted a change destined to alter everything. Thenceforth the sea became a way instead of a wall. It was still a means of security, but only as the island folk, imbued with a Viking spirit in their blood, dared to set out upon it rather than stand within against any assault that might visit them. Thus they thrust ever farther out the rim of their life: They made a shield of the nearer waters. King Alfred, having welded hostile clans within, turned their thought to naval strength, and in due time, after many proofs of the need of this, came a day when the "tight little island" had to be reckoned with in all alien plans of wide conquest. Philip of Spain had his scheming wrecked by the seafaring prowess it flung in his path. Napoleon, bent on "leaping the ditch," came likewise to grief. And along with such defiance went a growing use of the ocean as a highway of . national expansion, until at last, although the centre of the Empire remained in its accustomed place, the British people spread into distant parts, yet kept loyal touch in many a land with the cradle of their life. It is by the pathway of the sea that all this has been accomplished.

For purposes of defence the iloyal Navy was founded. Only nations already hostile have had reason to deem it a menate, and on occasion others have been glad to shelter in its might. The White Ensign has often been greeted, on the fringe of civilisation, as a friend by those beset and as a terror to evildoers. Whatever may be said in qualification of that merely serves to throw the general fact into sharper relief. The service primarily rendered has been a protection of peaceful activities. It is as true to say that the flag follows trade as it is to repeat the threadbare dictum about trade following the flag; the warship and the trading vessel are most aptly thought of as often in company, with the latter given to adventuring much by itself and only trusting to convoy when need arises. What can never be long forgotten is that the worldwide maritime commonwealth has frequently to depend on the Iloyal Navy as a safeguard of communication, and that in troubled times this service is indispensable. The commonwealth would fall apart but for security of ocean contact,, It was a naval expert of another nation—Captain Mahan of the United States—that finally exposed the fallacy in the criticism of "the blue-water gospel" as mere propaganda by British writers professionally interested in the maintenance of a strong Navy. No nation, as he overwhelmingly proved, had been so utterly dependent on naval power, and it is ■still evident, to quote Mr. Archibald Hurd, that "whatever variations may occur in the naval and military plans of other Powers, no development can displace the Navy as the primary defensive force of the British Empire." Much has been written by strategists about "general" and "local" fleets in their service to this defence. Circumstances have varied, and thu3 the Spanish Main, the Mediterranean and the North Sea have in their turn been decisive battlegrounds in major conflicts. It may be the Pacific in the changing conditions of our time. But a viceadmiral of a generation ago well expressed an enduring reality by depicting the British Empire as a straggling system of arteries and veins—its heart in the British Isles and it? 3 life-blood coursing to and from distant regions. Time has made obsolete some other details of his elaborate analogy, but its chief point is still applicable: the commonwealth, as a living organism whose parts are interdependent and highly sensitive in their relations, may be put to death more suddenly, but not more surely, by a stab at the heart than by the severing of a remote artery. Both "general" and "local" naval defence are therefore necessary; the idea of flying squadrons detailed to go far abroad in

an emergency is strategically unsound. To patrol the sea highway, wherever it may turn in its linking of part with part, is essential, and will continue to be so until a practicable and effectual scheme of collective security is in operation. There is sad cause to doubt whether, in so threatening a time, the Royal Navy in its several units is to-day adequate, and consequently the news of awakening vigilance is welcome. The Spithead review has been usefully associated with battle practice, and particulars of improvements in the Navy's aerial arm are reported; but most reassuring of all is the message of our Sailor King, as peace-loving as any man on earth, about the "witness to the traditional efficiency of the Royal Navy" during his "two happy days" at sea.