Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1920. "THE SILENT NAVY."

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1718, 8 January 1920, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1920. "THE SILENT NAVY."

We hoard but little of tho doings of the British Navy dining the war, but all that we have read and heard since on the subject, goes to show that it was through the vigilance and heroism of the Grand Fleet, keeping watch by day and night over the cold, stormtossed waters of the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean, that victory was made possible for the Allied Powers. The Senior Branch of the Service made its influence felt everywhere, and helped in the discomfiture of the Huns as no other forco could possibly have clone, •tear of it kept the German High Seas Fleet moored within the safe waters of the Kiel Harbour and Canal, until a veritable dry rot yet in, not only amongst tho ships, but in their personnel, and while, in the earlier stages of thewar, the German Navy was not without its successes, the "Admiral of the Atlantic" (as in pre-war days the Kaiser boastingly styled himself in his correspondence with the late Czar) was compelled, after the Jutland battle, to confine his naval activities to the congenial task of submarining defenceless merchantmen, and murdering even more defenceless women and children, indiscriminately sinking, wherever vessels could bo reached, everything afloat. It is to bo hoped that some day we may have a popular history, available for the goneral public, covering tho doings of the British Navy during the Great War. Many a thrilling episode testifying to tho resourcefulness and courage of tho men of the British Navy would thus bo handed down to posterity, covering epics of valour such as have, surely, never previously been placed on record. There was, for instance (now almost forgotten)) Lieut. Holbrook's daring exploit in taking the British submarine 81l beneath the mined waters of tho Dardanelles, and torpedoing tho Turkish battleship Messudiyah; the naval raid of British airmen upon enemy warships off Cuxhaven a few days later, and—what has been brought more vividly before us during the last few days by the accounts that tho local press have given of Lieut.-Comnuinder Bourke's story of the "bottling up" operations at Zeebrugge and Ostend—the naval raids upon the submarine bases established by tho Huns on the Belgian coast. Commander Bourke's personal experiences were given in such matter of fact and impersonal fashion last evening, as to reveal tho innate modesty of this vcrv gallant holder of the Victoria Cross, tho D.5.0., and tho French Legion of Honour, of which he was made a Chevalier, for his valour, as to almost foster the belief that the thri - ling story'he told so simply, dealt with something that he had merely heard oi or read about. The annals of tinwar itself contain no finer story ol heroic devotion to duty than that associated with the work of the Dover patrol, which guarded the English Channel so securely that, of the millions ol men passing to and fro between British and French ports during tho war, not a single life was lost off the transports. The,naval raids on'Zeebrugge and Ostend were of such a dangerous character as to invito almost certain destruction; yet, when volunteers were called for, 3500 men clamoured to till tho places of the 1600 who were required. When, after selection, the men wore told more particularly Unhazardous nature of the work required of them, and told that if any of them, for family or other reasons, felt .they should withdraw, and were given the night to think it over with the opportunity of leaving next morning without any questions being asked, or any inii,

putations being made upon their courage, not a single man intimated by word, deed or sign, that- he regretted his decision to form one of the expedition. Commander Bourke touched out very lightly upon his own share in the difficult task the men of the Dover Patrol had undertaken, but ho demonstrated, clearly enough, the success of the undertaking, by means of clearly drawn maps,-and photographic slides, propared from the official photographs in the possession of the Naval Department at Home, which were thrown upon the screen in illustration of his remarks. It is a thousand pities that tho Opera House was not crowded out at tho telling of the story, which forms one of the greatest, epics of the war, and which reveals in its true light the undaunted courage, selfsacrifice and loyalty of the gallant men who so ably maintained the traditions of British seamen, through the' grim struggle against tho enemies of democracy. Zeebrugg'd, from being an active* centre of submarine activity was, by their daring, converted into a useless port, tho Thetis, Intrepid and Iphigenia being sunk at the canal entrance, ""according to plan," thus effectually blocking the entry or exit or tho Hun boats, while the good old Vindictive, filled with cement, was sunk at the entrance to Ostend Harbour, rendering that harbour useless also. To New Zealanders, tho stoiy has additional interest by reason ot the fact that, included in the band ot heroes who took part in the raids, were Lieutenants Kirkland (of Auckland), "rally" -Tones and "Tommy lurn bull (of Wellington), with chief motoirntehinicT PuiSord (Wfngm) «d Chivers (Auckland), 'and other New Zealanders.