NAVAL EXERCISES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 206, 1 September 1933, Page 5

NAVAL EXERCISES.

■ NOT MERELY A GAME. TRADE PROTECTION PROBLEMS. Attack ant» defence. Although to some the report of the mock naval battle staged by the Australian and New Zealand squadrons off the northern coast last week read much like that of a game of hide-and-seek on a grand scale, the exercises meant a lot more than a game to the officers and men of the four cruisers. Those in high places in both squadrons are agreed that the manoeuvres were highly successful and that much valuable ground was covered. The fact that the exercises havei been completed does not mean that all the activities connected with them are-at an end. For some the work is just starting. During such operations eveiy movement of the ships is carefully plotted and analysed, and afterwards reasons for the decisions made are asked for. Meetings of officers are held ?o explain and debate the manoeuvres, and when finality has been reached a report embodying the lessons learned is fo warded to higher authorities by whom it is carefully perused. Finally, in case the time may come again when t'ic navy has to undertake its primary role-the control of sea communications on which the security of the Empire depends-the report is filed for future reference. The Country's Life-blood. Discussing the value of the exercises t\M nfoSg, an offieer on the Canberra sad that of all the problems of naval w rfare that of trade protection would aYJavs be one of the most difficulty and one of the most important. Trade was a COEntry's life-blood. Without it. a nat.on could barely exist, and when unemployment and unrest became rife the sinews of war withered until surrender was.the only course open to the country whose trade had been smothered. Such a dis-

aster,. he said, befell Germany in the Great War, thanks to the successful blockade of the British Fleet. It would also be admitted that a similar disaster almost overtook England in April, 1017, when the German submarine campaign was at its height. In addition to protection of trade there were problems connected with attack on trade. The raider was one of the most powerful weapons of a belligerent nation, and, if properly handled, one of the most economical, for an astute raider could do untold damage, and could detain a force many times more powerful than herself, which would have to sweep the seas looking for her. Difficulties of Defence. Modern developments, said the officer, rendered the task of the defender harder than it had been in the past. While the cruiser had considerably increased her speed since 1914 the speed of the average merchantman had not altered. The cruiser now carried aircraft, which made it easier for her to locate her quarry. Such vessels as the Canberra and Australia, built for long absences from their base, able to operate at high speed in all weathers and armed with guns heavier than anything else afloat, except in a battleship, presented a menace to trade that could hardly be overestimated. It was to exercise ships of the Australian Navy and the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy iu the solving of such problems, both of attack and defence, that the combined manoeuvres off the New Zealand coast had been planned. Except that the final curtain fell on two fraternising squadrons instead of on a battered and sinking wreck, the exercises off the northern coast were the "real thing." Everything took place as if during war. For once peacetime speed restrictions. were waived, for if high speeds had not been allowed much of the realism would have been lost.