SEA POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 169, 18 July 1924, Page 5

SEA POWER.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. \ KEEPER OF THE GATE. j (By F. J. BALL, 8.A., B.Sc.) , From time immemorial the finger of Destiny had marked England out for maritime supremacy over the Atlantic The contributing factors are summarised here, for although they are mileetones Britain has long passed, we in our generation will again see them and again paes them, unless by some tragic mishap we miss our path. First, Britain's geographical position, right athwart the old trade routes, made her the natural gatekeeper of the Northern Ocean. Further, she waa blessed with outstanding economic advantages, for, within her coast, she not only had i the most highly skilled artificers in the world, but also the best and most con-veniently-situated coal and iron deposits then discovered on earth. Thus, geographically and economically she was ideally situated to make the best uso of the raw materials of the world, and, if. she cared, to deny them to rivals. Further, these factors impelled her to build up a vast mercantile marine organisation, which, even in the seventeenth century, was a marvellous busi- | ness instrument. The natural corollary !of this "was ships of war to protect the trade ships from corsairs and privateers. Thus the navy and the mercantile marine ! grew side by Bide; each ministered to ; the needs of the other. Every new trade . route opened "meant additional naval vessels, new seas to be charted, new naval problems to be mastered by the Board of Admiralty, until not only had tho navy grown naturally to be a great lighting force, but it had back of it an. almost inexhaustible reservoir of probably the best sailormcn in the world. It is a lesson worth learning, and the example of Germany drives it forcibly home, that the artificial creation of a j strong navy is almost impossible, apart i from a strong mercantile marine. It is the navy's foster-mother, and if our destiny is in future centuries to be a power in the Pacific, our mercantile flag must first become a common sight in every harbour of the world. Sagacity. Another factor that is never stressed .as it deserves is the rare political sagacity of such statesmen as the Pitta joined to a consistent and bulldog admiralty policy which gradually put Us in possession of great coaling stations at all the strategic points in the seven seas. Britain can never become a second-rate sea Power till she first loses these. We can well understand, and in some degrees sympathise with, the patriotic American business man on a. round-the-world tour, who on every landfall persistently inquired: "And what flag is that?" The answer was nearly always the same, until the American quite wearied of it. He only asked the question once more, as they were ' approaching one of the greatest of our i Empire outposts—and. receiving the inevitable answer, exclaimed in sheer annoyance, and to the unjustified indignation of his fellow passengers, "Oh, cuss the Union Jack!". In our possession of j this chain of advanced posts, which ' places Britain's frontiers beyond the horizon of every sea, we are quite naturally the envy of the world. But all these are tangible and material I factors; there remains for consideration I certain invisible ones more vital and I important still. One of these ia our natural Anglo-Saxon eea-sense. The German is a Continental, and has little I love of the sea; to the Briton the sea j is home, and if he must fight he will do jso on the sea by preference. We have engrained within us a love for embarking on the unknown, a spirit inborn that gladly accepta the challenge of the j unseen. No sea so secret and silent but some British keel has broken its surface, none so intricate and unnavigable but some British captain has threaded its maze. The possession by our breed'of this rugged old sea sense has made possible also those superb naval traditions which have become so enshrined in our ' soul that .they are a reserve phantom ( navy, yet one with which any antagonist will have to reckon. The Admiralty is mindful of our endless debt to such great captaine as Rodney, Nelson, and Hood, and our new battleships will carry their names. Yet multitudes of nameless ones, too, have shed rivers of blood and. reddened the "waters of every sea. to pass down untarnished these traditions of the glorious past. Wise men know how infinitely precious they are, and the King's message to the navy on ! the outbreak of war concerned itself with them: "I am confident my navy I will revive and renew the old glories, ■ and prove once more the sure shield of , Britain." Lord Jellicoe's reply was a I trumpet call: "It is the inspired deter- ' mination of all to uphold the glorious ! traditions of the past." ' Naval Supremacy in the Pacific. But the old order has passed for ever, f and Britain's unchallenged superiority ' on the sea is no more, and with our i sanction another Power holds equality • J with us. Fortunately, it is a country • i which shares with us in the common I 1 Anglo-Saxon fund of sturdy sea-sense land noble traditions. If the trident 1 of Neptune must pass out of our keep1 , ing, there is no other Power into whose '.hands it could be so safely entrnsted ■■ as that of the United States of ' i America, and in the hands of Ansrloi Saxons it is destined long to remain. .I If she should choose to follow the path, of Germany and build an irresistible ' navy, no country on earth could offer really serious competition. She produces nearly twice as much iron and. \ 6teel as the rest of the world; she has ' , the designers and builders; and, above , ! all, money to burn. In the Paeilie, . America's strategic position is ■wellnigix , impregnable, for she haa only her heart ■ to guard; but Britain's heart beats in j the Pacific, twelve thousand miles from ! home, and is most vulnerable there. To , Britain a defeated navy spells death; to America, it is an unfortunate incident. [ Britain's wars have invariably been ; bloody, costly, and long, because" of her . supineness and neglect in years of peace. 1 Heligoland was surrendered at a time like this, when England was blind to its future potential enemies, and when national security seemed adequately provided for; but who will ever gauge what its abandonment cost us? What sweat of brain and brow? What treasure? What sufferings? What blood? It will be so again, and those who see and look forth across the Pacific feel s more deeply than words can express s that what we surrender so easily to-day p wil have to be bought back to-morrow - by the broken bodies of our children, if it be bought back at all.