SIR DAVID BEATTY.

Northern Advocate, 3 July 1917, Page 4

SIR DAVID BEATTY.

HIS LONELY VIGIL,

"WAY-WARDENS OF THE SEAS."

"If the question were asked, 'Upon whose shoulders rest the greatest weight of responsibility at this moment?' various answers might, no doubt, be given, President Wilson; General Nivelle, Field-Marshal yon Hindenburg and several others might claim that onerous distinction," writes Gerard Fiennes in the "Sunday Pictorial."

"But a man of the Blue Water school must unhesitatingly divide the honour between Sir John Jellicoe at the Admiralty and Sir David Beatty, commanding the Grand Fleet of Britain. And, of the two, it may fairly be said tliat Sir David's responsibility is the more direct and personal.

i"."He bears it alone, remote from direct contact with the centre of the national life and activity. The First Sea Lord, although his functions are wider, is a member of a board. The life or death of the Empire does not hang so immediately on his personal and instantaneous decision.

"It is recognised pretty widely that the success of the Allies depends on the maintenance of supremacy at sea. It is, taking it by-and-large, ori the British Navy that the maintenance of that supremacy rests; and while the British Navy is scattered all over the world, in squadrons, in flotillas, or in single ships proceeding on their lawful occasions in seas remote from the centre of strife, the mainspring of the whole is the Grand Fleet, hidden in the Northern Mists. IF THE FLEET WENT. "At a time when the struggle at sea appears to centre rather in the ac-. tion of submarines and the small craft detailed to. strafe them; in actions with raiding destroyers, and in the blockade which is choking the life out of Germany rather than in the operations of heavy ships, this point may not be quite clear. But imagine what would happen if Beatty's battleships were, by some sudden blow, re moved from the face of the waters. "The vessels which maintain the blockade, the patrols which harry the U boats, the light ships which watch the minefields, are all intrinsically of little fighting power. The powerful fighting ships of the enemy would brush them aside; the seaborne trade of Germany would be re-established, while ours would be strangled and the nation starved. It is on the inhibitive power of the battle squadrons that all our dispositions, offensive and defensive, rest. In other words, sea warfare is a matter of communications, and the battleships are the way-war-dens of the seas. "So regarded, the truth of the German saying, 'Men fight, not ships,' comes home. Sir David Beatty is the Will which directs this weapon. His staff is the Brain which interprets the Will; the captains are the Nerves which transmit the orders of the Brain and control the muscles, and the crews are the Muscles which >drive home the spear-point. The Will itself is the manifestation of the soul, the personality of the fleet. HIS SPIRITUAL LONELINESS. "But spiritual loneliness the Com-mander-in-Chief must inevitably suffer. He cannot share his burden. He cannot discuss his plans or his orders on equal terms with anyone. He is on a throne unapproachable by any other, even of rank nearly equal to him. In Sir David's case he is set over those who were his seniors in his profession. They are now subject to his will. Like Lord Nelson, he 'has the happiness to command a band of brothers, , for one and all are moved by but one desire—to bring their country safely through the most tremendous peril in her history.

"But the barrier of command and responsibility interposes itself between him and those who were his contemporaries and co-equals. It is there, and not the most genial nature or most loyal and affectionate spirit can altogether get past it. In that:-'sense, far more than in the hedge which discipline sets round him, the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet "must suffer the loneliness which surrounds a throne. ,.