THE SURE SHIELD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9633, 13 June 1919, Page 8

THE SURE SHIELD.

BEATTY'S TRIBUTE

"In common with the other great services, the Navy has learned many lessons during the four and a-hulf years just past.

"We made many mistakes, and it is •our business to-day to sco that the lessons have been v taken to heart, and that we shall not again be found in such a state when we have to face the greatest crisis in history with improved methods working from hand to mouth. , '

"It may bo said that the result was good enough with such methods. But was it?"

So declared Admiral Beatty in a speech delivered a£ Liverpool on Saturday when the freedom of the city was conferred on the Commander of the Grand Fleet.

We have no right to continue to rely on improvisation or to take it for granted that eventualities will always be mot by successful achievements of individual cities under the leadership of individual, citizens.

... We in the Navy,'know full _ well our ■defects, and it is,.: our business .to efface them, to avoid repetition of the mistakes from which we have suffered in the past. The work of reconstruction has to bo taken in hand with a full knowledge oi our requirements, learned by bitter experience in the past four aud--a-half years. „

The navy is to-day what it has been for the past 200 years—the .sure shield of Britain and the British Empire.

Mere repetition- of the ' phrase will not ensure that we remain .so. The sure shield must be kept sure by clear thinking and concentrated effort on scientific linos. . . In the .necessary struggle for retrenchment such economics as certainly will be required must be applied with wisdom and proper understanding of the problems before us, in the light of the knowledore gained during tho war. Only so,shall we. avoid impairing the essential; efficiency, of the navy. The navy is a shield and not a rattling sabre.

We are a,sea race. Wo came into being by the' sea.' We exist by the sea, And if there is one thing the war has exemplified more than anything else., that, is that we still remain a sea racb —-ivftness the glorious exploits of our mercantile marine. Nothing daunted by submarine or mine, they maintained the'traditions uf our race. No -ship.ever failed to sail for want of a crew—a British crew—to man her. ' The navy and the mercantile marine have learned to know and respect e.ich ■other as never before. Tt must bo. our care to foster i*nd strengthen that feeling so that in the fulr|rp. find fnr all time, the Royal Nnvy n.nd the mercantile marine together shall provide a sure shield 'which will enable the "Empire, to continue to prosper and remain the greatest Empire the wvld has ever seen.

Referring to the part nlnyed by Sir David said if became the principaJ base of one of the important units of tho Navy, the Tenth Cruiser Squadron. The duty of' the Tenth#Cruisor Squadron during the war was to maintain <i rigorous 'blockade of Germany. This blockade ■ was> one of tho most important factors in bringing about tho defeat of th'e^onemy, and its main ten-ance'-demanded seamanship of a hioch order, with vigilant and untiring dovotion to duty.

Stretched across the waste of watrr from the west of the Hebrides te> th" Arctic icefields, they kept their watfh and ward in weather that had to be experienced to be understood.

Every ship sighted had to be boarded and examined. The actual boarding was a task frequently requiring Hie greatest skill and seamanship.

They had afeo to contend with _ an enemy which appeared in many guises. Raiders masqueraded as peaceful merchantmen. Blockade runners exercised every stratagem to avoid detection, while the übiquitous •submarine was a constant menace.

At a banquet to Sir (David Bcatty in the evening Lord Derby expressed sympathy with France in her anxiety for tho-future. It was- up to Britain to' stand by\her if again an ambitious foe crossed the frontier. While preserving silence on the League of Nations, he felt if anything could save future generations the horrors of the past, let us, in Heaven's name, try it. The best foundation was a strong alliance of 'Britain,' France. and America, supported by the British Navy.

Admiral Beatty .said if the. High Sea Fleet could; have been destroyed the submarine menace would have vanished. It gave us one -short opportunity, and never gave- another.

Admiral Beatty on Sunday morning attended service.'at the Seamen's Orphanage at Liverpool, and afterwards liad a talk with tho children,, many of whom have been orphaned' by the submarine campaign.

Emphasising the necessity of earnestness 'in all they did, Sir David said whilo half-measures might do for some land-lubbers, they would never do.for seamen. He wanted to see the boys before him go to sea. It wa,s a gi'eat life, and more than any other Immght one closer to nature. Let him join the Royal Navy, if possible, or if not. tlhe mercantile marine

The girls ho advised to many sailors, for he knew of no better husbands in the world.