THE LAST NAVAL PHASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 17, 20 January 1905, Page 5

THE LAST NAVAL PHASE.

i ADMIRAL TOGO'S TASK I

Admiral Togo fills to-day (t-ays the naval correspondent of '•The Daiiy Telegraph" writing on December 3) the imagination of the world—he ie the man of action on the spot, waiting for his ; next "job,"- to employ a phi-ase which , is classic in the Navy, if it be rather slangy ashore. The Japanese admiral I seems to be standing astride the F:;r Hastom seas like a Colossus, and i~ every country men, and wonr.'n too. are wondering what will happen n:xt. Th;»

email man, with his calm habit of mind. his unassuming ways, his resourcefulness, and his capacity for inspiring other men, has wen the mastery of cuut : is-> leagues' of ocean, and for months past rendered the great trade routes to and from Japan as safe jis Pie ad'ily at noon. From all part.-; rf ihi world food, stores, ammunition, and oilier requisite! have been pouring- into Japan as though. no v.-ar were in progress. w-.-ary months of blockade duiy Tog-o .-;'s "contained" the enemy, nnd now t::at the army, under General Nojji, has completely annihilated tho Russian men-of-war at Port Arthur, the wtrld, iookin.r on in amazement at the shifting yc-ne* in this wonderful panorama cf Japan's struggle, aslc3, What will be the ne>l development? Togo h.is noriung imin - diately to worry him, an»l lie in •■>• devote himself lo the task of repairing his battle-worn fleet and to the concoction of fresh schemes wherewith to defeat. any further attempt to wrest from him the control of the waters within tie area [ of war. The public of the two terti spheres has become so accustomed to the domination that Japan has enforced t :at they forget that this vi;tcriou9 fl-ec is the newest and the exnalkst of ill tinseven leading navies in tlie worid. AdmiraLTogo has only live battl.sliips at his command, and two of these ;:re as old as the British Royal Sovereigns, and eight armoured cruisers, a force not equal, on paper, in fighting power to the one British fleet which Lord Charles Beresford comn;ands. Frjnce, Germany, Italy, and the United Statis, to *ay no thing of Great Britain, each poser *a from two to three times as many battleships as this new Power which lias arisen in the Far East. Yet the public East and West accept the accompli sued fact —this complete and definite victory— as a matter of course, so quickly can the mind become accustomed to the most improbable and unthought-pf events. This outcome of the naval operations had to be, if Japaft was to pursue the war. The day that she lost command of the seas for the movement of troops and stores into Manchuria her armies would have had to lay down their arms, as the French were forced to do after the battle of the Nile. Though General Nogi vrero then in possession of Port Arthur, and Marshal Oyama were comfortably settled down at Mukden for the winter preparing to renew the campaign in the spring, the great masses of war-harden-

Ed soldiers, possibly net far short of 500,0Q0, nave no alternative but surrender} {he t>Qßlsy§rsejnent wpujd have been abject in its completeness, for an invading army cannot survive after its lines of communication have been effectually cut. Japan had mko reserves of ships; her fate depended absolutely, on those which were placed in charge of Admiral Togo at the beginning of the struggle. Had he been defeated the war would have ended; but he has been victorious in all the changing scenes and chances of the campaign, Now he awaits, the next comer to contest the mastery oj the seas east of Sue?.

Meantime Admiral Roshdestvensky and Folkersabm are circumnavigating the African continent with ships which were to have, been the reinforcements to the fleet at Port Arthur, and another adU mirul is diligently pilpting a third instalment through the Mediterranean. The complete squadron, if it were complete and unified, would be a striking force by up means, despicable, even in contrast with the strength which Togo can oppose to it, a strength resting not merely o.n the ehipe in his control, but on those subtle qualities that constitute the keen fighting edge of a race of lighters. The Russian Second Pacific squadron at present is straggling out to the Far East in three detachments,

FIRST SECTION, VIA THE CAPE. Battleships (5). Kniaz Suvaroff \ Alexander 111 / Borodioo . - I 13,516 tone. Orel ....'.'.'. J Oalabeya 12.974 tpnsArmoured Cruisers (2). Admiral Nakhimoff 8.500 tons. Dmitri Donskoi 5,800 tona. First-Class Cruiser (1). Aurora 0,630 tons. Six or eight transports the hospital sljjp Orel, and the repairing factory, Kanisphatka. SECOND SECTION, VIA RED SEA. Battleships (2). Sissoi Veliky 8,880 tons. Navarin 9,474 tons. Cruisers (3). Jemtchug 3,100 tons. Svietlana 3,828 tons. Almaz 3,285 tons. Seven destroyers. Five ships of the Volunteer Fleet. Four or five transports. THIRD SECTION, VIA RED SEA. Cruisers (2). Oleg 6,076 tons. Izumrud 3,100 ton*. Eight torpedo beats. Several transports.

These three sections must be made one by meeting at some rendezvous east of Suez, and the sooner the junction is effected the less likelihood there is that one detachment will be surprised and defeated.

If the Russian admiral receives no orders to return hoir.c, what haven will he make for? There &an be little doubt on this p.jint. Wiihin a matter of days it seems inevit.i!;!. that Port Arthur must fall, and in any case, even if an entrance could be forced, this is no place for a fleet now that ail that made it a naval base lias bee:! reduced to confusion or blown into space by the fire of the Japanese pun*, i>o it "may be accepted as a fast that if A iiniral Rbshdestvensky is really to the Par East he will endeavour to ;c:!ph Vladivostok. Bearing in myul ;i;:tt the Japanese Meet lies across his track, it does'not follow that he will ever pet there. In the favourable event he will onic off the port in the very early spring, and though the fogs which affect the ne»r;.b:>uruood in March and later ma- not incommode him, the! ice will not V absent. Vladivostok is fast frozen for s>bout 100 days in the year, accord in- to the observations of British naval officers extending over 20 years. From about Christmas Day onwards uuii] vjl! into April the port v.ould be closed but for the ice-breakers, which are kci>t constantly at work. Vladivostok ha? several entrances, but it 13 matter for speculation whether more than one ran bejfoept open. In this case Admiral Tosro, in the last resort, will have les* difficulty in framing his ulans than would )>•? his experience were he compelled to t.ike into account all the doorways opening seawards.