THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXI, Issue 86, 13 April 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.

The strategical value of the Ohannel v Islands in case of war between Great Britain and France is the subject of sCh article in the Nineteenth Century by Mi. W. 11.1 1. Cowes, who says he has carefully uurveyed the islands for the purpose of finding out what use they would be to us if war broke out a^ present, and what ought to make them of real service at some future time. At present they are useless and undefended, and might easily be seized by French cruisers. Tlvek chief value lies in their situation. France' would make Cherbourg and Brest and we should make Portsmouth and Plymouth our two great naval bases. "On reference t<> a map it will be seen that the Channel Islands lie athwart the course of ship? passiing to and from Cherbourg ans Brest, and they might be made an in, valuable naval position as posts ■ of observation^ half way across the Channel, uttd for the storage of coal and ammunition : — We should' then have a base within fifty miles, or two and a-half hours* steam, from Cherbourg, and within l4l) miles, or five and a-half hours' steam from Brest. If a squadron issued from Cherbourg the fact would be signalled' from the cruisers and from Alderney. and should be known in Sark within t few minutes ; and the squadron, no matter in which direction it might proceed, could be immediately caught' and followed up by fresh destroyers, while the wearied scouts from' off the port could return at once for a needed rest. There would be no possible chance for the Cherbourg squadron to escape observation, and to vanish for a time into space, to re-appear, perhaps, unexpectedly La the Bay of Biscay or the North Sea. Sark is little or no closer to Brest than Plymouth is, but it is in a much more useful direction. The process of catching and following up a squadron from Brest, the movements of whioh would be reported by the cruisers through Jersey, would be less rapid, ' but not, I thick, less certain. Ana I pity the fate of any squadron that has at its heels, especially at nigh,t, -a considerable flotilla of fresh destroyers and sea-going tor-pedo-boats. As for any junction of tha Brest and Cherbourg squadrons, that should be quite out of the question, unless affairs were grievously mismanaged.