THE NAVY'S POWER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 7 April 1915, Page 4

THE NAVY'S POWER

MR CHURCHILL'S ftEVIW , . Mr Churchill, in hiespeech oh Fote?ary 15, which has-been referred; to «£ the cable messages; gave answer ot the British Government to the German submarine "blockade." "'■...-.■ THE BATTLE-CRUISER- FIGHT. Referring to the Dogger-Bank action, he -said : '' ■" . ,•'_'.' "The great merit of Admiral Sir U. Beatty's action is that it;shows ut» aria the world'that'there is at- present no» reason to assume that, ship for slupVgun for gun, and man for man, we, cannot give a very good account of. 1 ourselves. It shows that at five to four in representative ships—because the quality, of the ships on either side iS a yery: iair representation of the relative qualities or the linee of Germany do not think it prudent to engage, that they accepted without : doubt or hesitation ' their inferiority, that they' thought only of flight aa our men thought only of . pursuit, and that-they were wise in the view they took-r(laughter)—and that if they had taken any other view they would unquestionably have been destroyed. That is the cruel fact, and no falsehood—and many have been issued—(laughter)—no endeavour to sink by official communique's vessels they could not stay to sink in' war—-will have obscured that cruel fact.

GENERAL, BATTLE. "When, if over,-the groat 1 fleet? 'set out for the general battle, we shall -hbpo N to bring into thd line a, preppnderetfMo. not only in quality, but in' 'numbers, which will not be five to fonr, bo something considerably greater tha» that'. Therefor© we may consider 1 this extia margin as an additional 'fnduranco against unexpected losses by, mine, anct submarine, such as may at any mofnsht occur in the preliminaries of a groat s*it battle. It is for these important reasons of test and trial. that; wo must iogard this action of the Dogger Bank 1 as an important, and I think I may saysatisfactory, event. The losses of the navy, although small compared to "tho sacrifices of the army, have'boon heavyWe have lost, mainly by submarine, tho lives of 5500 officers and men, and wo have killed mainly by gun fire an equal number, which ; is, ■ of' course, 1 *. a- much larger - proportion of the - German forces engaged.' ' We have also 'taken \n • s'c* fighting. 82" officers-and .§34 .'men -prisoners of war ."'.No British.'' naval praßasiraS .'of' war-"have"'Beest takejhi ',i* 'fighting pt eea by the Getfmafcs. (Cheers). ' When they had" the'incliSataon they had pbr'tunity, 'and when" they hack the sp.portitjrnty they" had iioi the inclination. (Laughter) ■ ' For the loss* of these British" lives, we have, lived ;through six .months of this war safely • and' even prosperously.' -We have established for the' time 'Joeing a command-of the-"sea such as we' had-never expected;-/•ucfar.as we have never known, and such 'as- tour ancestors had never known at any other period of our history. * There are < those who, shutting their eyes to ail that-has i been gained,''look only a£v that which has been lost, and seek to «*©"—they are not a very numerous clasiSr-undoly upon it." "ANXIOUS'AND GRAVE." '• As to the submarine menace, 3fc Churchill 6aid:— "The tasks -which lie before us* ate' anxious and grave. We are, it now appears, to he the object of *a-ikind of warfare- which has * never- L before been, practised by a' civilised State. - -Thescuttling- and sinking 'at sight, without < search or parley, of merchant ships tbw I submarine agency, is a wholly novel' ana! I unprecedented departure. It is a statfe ,of things which noonc had ever conjtemplated before -this wot,' and which. would - have 'been .universally -reprobate*?" and repudiated before the war. But' it must not be supposed, because the attack is .extraordinary, that'a good de>- > fence'and a good.reply cannot be made*. The statutes of ancieh'fc. Itome -contain no provision for the punishment'.of f parricides, but when the" first ojßfendetf, appeared dt was found-that'satisfactory-ar-rangements 1 " could be made L to deal >wH«, him. (Laughter).' Losses,' will be incurred—of that I give full warning'-'—but we believe 'that no' vital, injury can be dbne.T '." i" <i\ i "On the other hand, the reply whica we shall anake will not perhaps- bq > wholly, ineffective. Germany" cannot b«s ■ allowed to adopt a system qfibpen piracy • . and what "has &$- „\ ways hitherto been called open piracy artd r 4hurdery. on th>" high, seas, while remaining herself i protected; by f -tbej bul* wark of international instruments iyrhich ' she has utterly repudiated' dn<l -defied'; and which we, much to our detriments have ,respected. t There are..good reasons for [believing that'the economic pressur* which the navy exerts is Beginning' be ielt iri-'Germany. We have to soma extent restricted their imports of usefujl commodities liko copper ? petrol, rubbery i, nickol," manganese, antimony, and the ' like, which are needed for tho .efficient production of -war < materials" and for carrying ori modern war On a The tone of the' German'. Chancellor'* recent remarks, tv and the evidences of hatred and anger against this country which _ aye. so apparent in the German press, encourage us to believe that th'ii restriction is proving inconvenient. (Laughter). We shall, of courso, re-' double our;efforts to make it so'. . FURTHER NAVAL PRESSURE. " * "We cannot tell what lies .before ftttJor how soon or In what'way 'the-'rie'si, gtteWt ,development of tho struggle 'will iteself, or what tho 6tato of Europe 1 the world will be at its close. 1 But Hhi&, I- think, wo can airealy say, as far as the British Navy is concerned, .that,' although, no doubt, new dangers jieiS 'ploxifcies will come upon ■ uts 1 continually; and anxiety will ,mako its abode, 'jn .x>w dwellings, yet the dangers aJid anxieties which .are now advancing upon ns will not be more serious or embarrassing tWn those through which we have.. already successfully made our way—in, tho months that are to come the' British Navy and the sea. power which it exeits will indreasingly dominate tho general situation, will be "the-main and unfailing reserve of tho Allied nations, will progressively .paralyse the fighting energies of our antagonists, - and could, if need be, even in default/of all othe,r favourable causes, ultimately by itself decide the issues of this war." (Loud cheers.) x