Need of Strong Navy

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IX, Issue 171, 5 July 1919, Page 2

Need of Strong Navy

VISCOUNT JELLICOE EXPLAINS

POSITION.

DEFENCE THE SUPREME OBJECT.

There was a brilliant gathering on June 25 in the Hotel Australia, Sydney, when Admiral Viscount Jellicoe was entertained at dinner by the New South Wales branch of the Navy League. The large dining hall was decorated most effectively, and the colour scheme, red, white, and blue, was carried out with admirable taste in the decorations of the three long tables. There was a background* of palms to the principal table, and in front of the chairman, on the main table, was a neat model of the Nelson column in Trafalgar-square, designed by AL G. Guillon. The model caught the attention, immediately, ot every naval man in the room. The toast of “His Excellency the Governor,” coupled with the name of ( Ladv Davidson, was submitted by Sir John Russell French. . . His Excellency the Governor, rising to reply, was most cordially greeted. In thanking them for the kindly references to Lady Davidson and himself, he said that they and everyone felt a certain anxiety in regard to the mfluenza epidemic. One pest, the Prussian pest, had been conquered; this other one remained still to be conquered. In the ' past they had successfully met the Prussian challenge with the go°d British policeman —the man with the White Ensign—(cheers)—and in the future they would meet a similar challenge in a similar way—with, he hoped, the help of their good cousins, the men ot the American uavy. (Cheers.) ■ Sir William Cullen, proposing the health of their guest, assured V iscount Jellicoe of the regard of the Australian people, as deep and sincere as could Jjrisv in the hearts of men. The Aus- ■ tralian people were notmotable for their demonstrations —the deep emotions t were mostly camouflaged—but men could not five under the ’conditions I which existed in this country without knowing strong and vivid emotions, and if Admiral Jellicoe could see into the I hearts of the people of Sydney he would see something of the strong passions which has enabled Australia honourably to play her part in the great war. Sir William Cullen went on to refer to the ideal of the League of Nations, and the practical difficulties in the way of its rule. Until the power of the League of Nations was clearly established, the British Empire dare not abandon the protection of its navy, behind which it had grown to greatness. That was the lesson of the )©ars preceding the war, of the war itself, and of the subsequent developments. ADMIRAL’S COMPLIMENT TO NAVY LEAGUE. Admiral Jellicoe, who was received with prolonged applause upon rising to respond, said:—“l have been asked to speak for an hour. The spirit of competition is very strongly imbued in my character, but, as I am told that the record speech in Australia lasted for nine hours—(laughter)— 1 regret to say that I have no intention of competing. (Laughter.) If I fall short of the time during which I am asked to address sou. lierhaps you will possess the attribute of the Englishman, who does not know when he is beaten, but to the iaet that I want to spare you ten hours of siwech. (Laughter.) The only subject on which 1 could speak for that time is Ladv Jellicoe. (Applause.) 1 am speaking to-night before many people who, I am certain, are quite sick ot, the sound of my voice. (Aoices: No.) But I am speaking in the presence ol ladies and gentlemen who are members of a Naw league. One of the gieat sources or strength of. Navy Leagues is the fact that they are non-party organisations, and I hop© that they will continue as such as long as they Their business, as the mother Navy League states, and as the other Navy leagues state, is that of impressing the paramount necessity of naval .supremacy tor the British Empire for the maintenance of peace. (Applause.) And that sentiment, I am quite sure, everyone whether he belongs to the Navy LeagUS or otherwise, must heartily endorse—lertainlv every member 01-the Bntisn Empire.' (Applause.) NAVAL SUPREMACY. Then- are certain of the points emphasised bv the Navy league in its crusade which appeal very much to me, and which I am sure appeal also to all naval officers. The first is the education of public opinion as to the vital necessity for naval supremacy in the Bntisn Empire. (Applause.) The second is the education of youth in that truth, and in naval history, because, without education in naval history, it is not easy for people to understand why naval supremacy is essential to tlie Britisu Empire. ' (Applause.) The second is the education of youth in that truth, and in naval history because, without education in naval history, it is not easy for people to understand why naval supremacy is essential to the British Empire. And the third is the necessity—and it is emphasised particularly since the start of this war—for manning our mercantile marine by I officers and men of Empire birth. (Loud I applause.) The mother Navy League has 24 years’ existence to its credit, aud every vear that passes makes it more useful to the British Empire. The Navy League of New South wales has, J believe, completed 18 months of existence. Mav it prosper and work as successfully in this State as the mother Navy League has worked in Great Britain. If one can gauge the success of the Navy League in New South Wales by the success of its efforts to raise contributions for the benefit of the seamen last year, then all 1 can say is that that body has a very bright future, because I am told —I heard it first iu Bombay—that the Navy League of New South Wales raised £170,000 on Jack’s Day. (Applause.) An organisation which can do that can, I think, certainly educate public opinion m the right direction. The time is. ripe toi the education of public opinion, because the general result of this war must have impressed everyone in the British Empire with the paramount ne- , cossity for naval supremacy for the exI istence of the Empire. (Applause.) , know it is apparent to everyone that it it had not been for the supremacy oi the British Navy and of the British mercantile marine, the war would long ago have been won by the Central Bowers. It was just as much the wore of the mercantile marine as it was the Work of the navy which went far to save the Empire, and not only the Empire, but the Alliance and the cause ot civilisation. (Applause.) “When discussions take place on such subjects as the League of Nations or the question of the limitation of armaments I trust It will never be forgotten that the existence of the British Empire depends absolutely upon the safety of its sea communications. (Applause.) POLICEMEN AFLOAT.

It is the scattered nature of the British Empire which makes that true. This great continent is some 12,000 miles from the mother country, and these 12,000 miles of sea have to be guarded by what is called _ the police of the sea—the British Navy. And you cannot-guard 12,000 miles of ocean without a great many ships. Before the war we suffered from an insufficient number of ships to guard these 12.000 miles of ocean, as well as the other 12,000 miles going the other way, and it is up to the British Empire Jo see that we are never in want of sufficient policemen afloat in the future. (Applause.) The British Navy, too, is a defensive arm. It has never yet been used for aggression, and I imagine it never will be. And that is another reason why there should never be any lack of a sufficient number of policemen afloat. Everyone realises the deadlv risks that have been run in the last few years. I have been told howvery much it was realised in this Commonwealth the risks that were run u heu the first news came over here of the result of the battle of Jutland —

when it was thought that the British Navy had boon defeated- I am told— I was told it in Melbourne —that people then began to realise what very serious risks they were running should the British Navy be defeated, and one can only hope that in the future sufficient provisions will be made both by the mother country and by the oversea Dominions to ensure the impossibility of defeat for the British Navy. (Applause.) FINANCE VERSUS POLICY. “I do not think it is always realised that the defensive policy of a country, nation, or empire should be governed by its external policy—its foreign policy. But it is very often governed by questions of finance. It really should be governed by the policy carried out with regard to other nations- If that policy is one which might anger other nations, which might cause ill-feling, then if it is intended to carry out that policy there should be sufficient force behind it to ensure its being carried tout. (Cheers.) Troubles about finance must be overcome, or that policy must be altered. Our Empire is so widei spread that it touches interests in everv part of the world, and that makes it the more important that it should bo capable of safeguarding interests vital to any part of the Empire. IMPORTANCE OF BASES. “Mention was made of the distance of this continent from Britain, and when one considers that one must realise that as long as this continent is dependent upon the navy at home for protection the distance which the ships of the mother country’s navy have to travel must be borne in mind. It must also be remembered that the ships, when they get here, require many things for their maintenance. One of the principal things required by capital ships coming oversea would be bases. People like to see bluejackets in their ports and ships cruising about, but the ships of the mother country could not come here unless bases exist—docks in which to dock them, fuel, and protected harbours id which they may be fuelled. All these things mean money, and money is no small figure. • Also, they require time to build. Bases require years to construct. I believe that-the estimate for vour principal one, the Henderson base, in Western Australia, is eleven years. I have no doubt that for eleven years we are quite safe from war. But, no one can look ahead very far. The defence of that base is just as necessary as its construction. •’There have been many surprises in this war. One of them was the range at which.ships bombarded ports, harbours, or open towns. The Germans bombarded cmen towns at a range of ten miles. Before the war, the guns defending harbours had a range of only five miles. It is necessary, of course, that that deficit bo made good.

“Before the war there were very few harbours which were not defended against submarine attack. The cost of organising such a defence is considerable, and it cannot be improvised. Take the case of Rosyth. Early in 191 C it was considered desirable that we place the whole of the Grand Fleet on Rosyth, and at a conference I had with Sir Henry Jackson, the First Sea Lord, it was decided to make the place suitable for the whole of the Grand Fleet. This work took about 18 months. You cannot improvise submarine detences, even at- a place which lends itself to defence, like Rosyth. This js one of the things which Australia must look into. DIFFICULTY OF CHASING HAIDERS.

“There are many other lessons of the war. One is the difficulty of hunting down raiders. The hunting down of the Emden, with her charmed life and skilful captain, required many ships. We had not many ships to sj»are, bui, we had five or six chasing her in the restricted waters of the Bay of Bengal. She had four narrow escapes, but still carried out. her. depredati.ojis with considerable'success. On one occasion two of .our ships passed her within ten miles, but she was. hidden in a rain squall, and we never sighted her. That shows the difficulty of hunting down a skilful raider, and that many snips are wanted for the «ork. Many ships looked for the Moewe and Wolf, but not one saw them. PREPARATION NEEDED. “We had to adopt the convoy system of bringing ships to port. The difficulty arose that we did not have sufficient ships to start a convoy system. When we started with homeward bound ships in the Atlantic, we wanted 50 cruisers. In future wars wo must b<‘ prepared to convoy British ships ail over the world. The assistance of the Dominions in this work will certainly be necessary. “The lesson I am trying to preach is: Preparation for war. I have instanced what sort of preparation is required to give protection to our mercantile traffic against enemy raiders. But that is only one side of the question. The preparation required to deal with an enemy’s submarine campaign is a far more complicated problem.

To show you how long it took to get ready for the Germans’ unrestricted submarine campaign in the early part of 1917, I would mention some figures. One of the antidotes was found to be depth charges for destroyers. In 1917 wo had great difficulty in supplying more than four depth charges to each destroyer. The .depth charge had been invented early in the war.*’but their supply on a big scale required a big organisation. )\ hen we were successfully combating thq enemy s submarines in 1918 we were giving the destroyers 30 instead of four depth charges. - - •

“Another successful antidote was the mine. In the early part of 1917 we could not supply more than 200 mines a month, but at the end of 1917 ana in 1918 we were supplying 9000 mines a month. That shows the necessity oi being prepared. We wore at first unprepared and were at a grave disadvantage.”

QUAINT SUGGESTIONS. The Admiral referred humorously to the shoals of suggestions with which the Admiralty was flooded while they were, seeking the antidote to the submarines. One man suggested that they fill the North Sea with “Edo’s Fruit Salts,” explaining that the lowering oi the specific gravity of the sea would cause all the submarines to sink. Unfortunately,” said the Admiral, ‘ >Ve had not enough fruit salts.” Another man wanted to see a breakwater built across the North Sea to trap the submarines. The most frequent .suggestion related to the magnet, which was to be employed in every conceivable manner to attract and hold submarines. Another gentleman was very indignant because the Admiralty failed to eaten the German submarines which lay on the bottom of the Irish Sea. Before concluding I would like to say very seriously that it seems to me the conclusion is forced upon us that the British Empire depends now, more than ever, upon naval supremacy. (Applause.) Everyone knows the tax that has lieen placed upon the mother country by the existence of this great war, and every one out here will, 1 am sure, realise that the mother country by herself, will find it very difficult to maintain that supremacy. ft is not part of my mission to advise the degree to which the dominions oversea should help the mother country. All 1 am asked to do is to give advice as to the method by which assistance might be rendered. It is for statesmen to decide the measure of assistance which the Oversea dominions can ren; der. (Applause.) But if, instead ot speaking as connected with the mission, 1 may for a moment speak as a citizen of the British Empire, 1 would say that it occurs to an ordinary citizen, as no doubt it has occurred to every citizen, that one fair and simple method, of dividing the expense of keeping up i naval supremacy would be on the basis l of population. I am inclined to think ! that Sir Reginald Henderson —a predecessor in a mission of this charactermade a suggestion of this sort. It is not my business to do this; but as a citizen, in hunting around for some equitable method of dividing the pense among the members of the British Empire, it occurred to me that that was at least one of the methods by which a dominion, if it wished to help ' the mother country, might ensure the degree of its help. I offer it as a suggestion to my friend the Minister. (Laughter.) At any rate, it seems to be perfectly clear to every member of the British Empire that co-operation between all portions of the Empire is more necessary now than ever it was before. Tire war has brought the differ- ; ent parts of the British Empire together more than ever before. .We have fought on the same field. Britishers ■ have been filled with admiration for the deeds of their brethren oversea, land I cannot help thinking that the I spirit of brotherhood which has been ' bred in this war is bound to draw more closely together than ever all parts of the British Empire. (Applause.) It is my hope that that brotherhood will result in a clear realisation of the responsibilities of every member of the Empire for the maintenance of the policemen of the sea. (Applause.) /

THE RANK AND FILE. It now only .remains for me to thank the president and his Excellency for the all too kind words to which they have given expression to-night. They have made these words rather personal—l am afraid they were bound to in my presence —(laughter)—but I know that what was in their minds was an endeavour to express the obligations of the Empire to the rank and file of the navy. (Applause.) And, as tlieir representative to-night, 1 thank the speakers from the bottom of my heart for their kindly words. (Applause.) Admiral and Viscountess Jellicoe afterwards held a reception in the main corridor of the Hotel Australia.