"WHAT THEY MISSED”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 32, 7 February 1919, Page 2

"WHAT THEY MISSED”

GKEMAN "NAVY’S * HISTORY, ji.WHV JT CAPITU'I«ATEi>• TO THE |J " ■ ft •' IAtLIESv ' ‘(By Arthur Pollen in Land arid Water.) The war has ended without a victory at sea. “To-night,” said. Sir Eric Geddcs, at the Guildhall, “our hearts go •out. first of all in gratitude to the , Uommandor-in-Ghief oi the Grand Fleet', Sir David! Beatty, ami his officers land men'for what they have done; and, secondly* in sympathy with what they have missed/’ ft will, indeed;remain a lasting regret that • the,. : Britis}t. '-Fleethas been denied its second opportunity. For two years Sir David Beatty aridhis loyal and gallant 'subordinates have, worked anceaaingly at . war 1 plans and jwai*, practices. • lit is almost/tragic, that this vas;. and- noble effort should-remain. • uncrowned. 'There is ia sense ’in’ which ,they have missed everything for which They have toiled and’ watched so .veil, so loyally, so-patiently. But in another sense they have; gained the great - est victory ever won—mot by arms only, but by chivalry and example. But victory at sea they have missed. And we , have to seek -the cause. : / It is simply that the German Navy has ceased to exist. Never , has the emptiness- of mere materiel strength , Wen .so, clearly demonstrated in all Its : utter foolishness.. ft A fleet, ■■/sepond to the Britis only in. its strength of surface ships andeasiiiythe most powerful m all the world in Underwater, ships, has. at a touch.: of fear of disloyalty or discontent, 'befo brought- aspa- fighting ■ force to ; nothingness. It had tbe re'fiources for a sea ,campaign as great- as it would, certainly have been novel. -It had the greatest" opportunity in'history. . Hn March last, Germany saw both her : first and her last ; ch«pce >of victory, .after four years of a failing defensive. It was a moment when, if ever*, the ■ enemy should have struck with all his ‘ forces struck at sea as. well as on land, , ;and, even at great sacrifice,; have made ft final effort <lo,prevent the soldiers of ‘America standing"! alongside‘of their Brothers of. Europe. It has-for months , Been a mystery - why, this ; effort was not made. At last we: now' know;, why. The . First, Lord told us in.tois speech ,on JSaL v •! urday. Already the battle of the Narrow Seas had gone against the German "Fleet; already the German-sailors'’ ’ were losing any stomach for a fight. , FAILURE OF THE GLEET. ! W thy German Fleet failed - * to greatest chance Germany has ever had; There remained but one more things to ;do. When the case of the Fatherland was hopeless on Irind, it-might- stiff have won the sympathy and respect of its opponents, could its fleet have shown the gallant spirit Which smaller naval fotoes.bave so of: eh shown before. Brit it was too iatel The'- TecT'foty of re volt had taken possession. In vain 1 the orders were given to prepare for ft fleet action. The brder was but the signal for a revolution which 'he whole country followed. The Grand ITeet, perfected for war, has ended the war With no opponent in the field- a* all. Very few., four and a-half years ago, could have thought this could end in ih© enemy’s such utter, impotence! at sea. And had anyone expected it, he could hot have foreseen the cause. Vet the Nemesis was inevitable, and should not have been surprising. Th© ( German Navy has come to nothing! because it was abused. It has- been spoiled,; wasted, sterilised ’by those who needed, it most. Of ail fighting; tosftmments, a fleet is the most complex, in that it is. compacted of the moat wonderful material ' instruments - and can be s worked 1 only by: a per-ohhel of enormous technical accomplishment, and ;of ! -toe highest spiritual arid moral -elevation, every human organisation depends for its effect on its beirig theexpression of some ■ idea ; if it mugt believe in its mission or perish ; i£ > i-t is . only when it does believe that - it preserve® that principle of spiritual - life ..which enables ‘it to this i|; trtie'.of'every association of, mori, ,jt.i« terribly true of every fighting' force. And 1 of sea force this moral life—that is, this loyalty, patriotism, discipline, self-sac-rifice—is the very quintessence of its being. In the best conditions sea life is all strangeness and) discomfort, There is ever present the menace of death, ever facing it the colossal' problem of struggling . with ’’he unbound forces of Nature. The vast responsibilities that fall upon the commander pt a ship can be borne Only if he can rely upon discipline, which is ready meaningless and always precarious if it is not willingly given. The material—the highly diverse types of ships, of Weapons, and ad the ftof sea into life' only wh©P ; the men, that are to work, it and tom! mand it arid direct it, are guidfdh bye common sacrifice of eolL ; » common and Willing dependence 'Oti each other. The naval profession exists only by an inspiring pprp oß ® from -outside itself; It 4 poiild not exit at all, did not each: man in d; ; believe it. to be the noblest arid greatest profession to which he .could aspire,- an ardent faith, a-burning pride in the day’s 1 work, these 'are .not;,the Ornaments, they are' the plain essentials of the calling, of the sea. The • German Navy - ceased to; exist. bec-finse -these high atTibutes have been kilted within It. ■. ' : ■ • •' • • ■■ ■ -■/ i GENESIS OF THE GERMAN/NAVY| I do not know if they ever really existed, When war broke out'the Ger-j man/Navy was-'without* traditions ‘ its own. It had> been created aimosrtout of nothing, arid' in two geneifttions. The Germans have a certain genius- for. laboriduß mimicry! a native - passion; for theory, a 'congenital. delight in / the scientific dissection of problems; The} possess unflagging industry, and a certain 'ruthless logic in following ' where analysis points the way. In evolving the ;.riftvy they had advantage both of ■ these qualaties- and- of the . example of their miliary experience. Ana by A 914;? they had-fproduqedv-a fleetthat had every , element seemingly necessary for etlicleftoy arid great achievemeht. /in the first five months of war this navy exhibited; .ti me' and again, admirable 5 examples of courageous: action. In the engagement of the Heligoland Bight., between the . Sydney arid- the Friioeiri between tire sqriadrons of.von Spec and Qraddock, between the German armour-, ed ’cituiscra and Admiral Stfurdeie’e forces, almost ©very .incident entitled the enemy’s-navy to -the credit : of ■■■> right, action undsr supreme test/ Tfieto wa?i further baldly an occurrence in the, af-, fair of the Dogge,r Banker-of. Jutland that lessens the credit rightly earned, iu the distant seas. the'Gerraaro' Navy m a de ,pq other appearances in the war but 5 these, had .any 'other ap-’ peararices been oonririerit* with them, it must, whether finally successful or unsuccessful, have closed'the war wiffb' a groat and creditable record. But; uuluqkily, the German Navy, like every thing- subject to the Prussian contamination, was but an instrument of its master’s policy, and when that policy) demanded that the murder of the unarmed should become the chief buai' ness of fhe war at sea, the doom of tfir ! Germain Navy was sealed, Plow,could-flI profession, pledged above nli/to being a. fighting and taught by* his v tory to fight with chivalry, maintain **'"*!'*'.) - ■ ■ mi.■ytiu.i.i.iy,) .

its character and keep, its moral when, ’ year , after year,, it wae to exercise its daring only to evading our fighting ships, and- ite skill/ only to /destroying ships unable to defend tliemtolves? : 5 - In the last dialysis it will most .certainly Appear that ( t|le atrocities winch the -tolers of GrihnaiiT originated to to© applause of the German people, have done; the nation what,, at the moment, must seem a worse service even than cho condemnation of the conscience ot he world; For. it must now be- plain that whether frightfulness is morally justifiable or not,. iLnever can, have any military justification -whatever. Tbo humanising of war has come, not because torture, murder, rapine, and arson ere bad! morality, /Futiv becaua® .per- ;. mitUng them maa.e bad soldiers. Tnis 1 is law* that cannot‘be broken with im- ! pimity. If the -High Command orders ; and inculcates as right things which | all! military principles'' show to be t wrong, it is the High Command which [ must ultimately pay the price. /Rightly looked at, then, the German Navy has ! fallen a victim to the German sub- . inafineSi and it is the only victim whose , mss was of vital military consequence, ) The victory of the siibmarine in the 3 present war is its victory over the Germail -Navy/ And the’ red- flag ' thkt r flies at the mast-head of the Sigh Seas 5. Fleet is ‘ not the gonfalon of freedpitt, i not the rod! badge- ’of courage, but the s scarlat satin which innocent blood hue 5 aeft foNever on the German esculchedfi. ■ The curse oi Cain has fallen pn its' Anns, A CONSOLING TRUTH. r , / I It_ is this truth that must consol# '■ us, to our Wegret that 5 the chine© , that I came at Jutlarid did not come—and now aeyer can toihfi--Vgain. ft does - not ' mean that the amizing effort made by r . toe British Navy to the last dightoito ‘ moilths has been madd'An Vain. .This g effort originated to tli# Grand Fleet, 8 was them - taken up at Whitehall, was shown in its most.effective-form- to the g operations of the 'Dover Command after f it passed into Sir -Roger Keyes’ hands f tost spring* Whep it the pad' .of April s >ir Roger organised the bloc t l Oste-nd and Zeebrugge, and carried these e out af tar the .moot exquisitely careful - planning, with a dexterity' that showed - that mp - poiiff- of toaining or • rehearsal i ;iad bton- Bussed, ari#- with a gallantly f* -hat only a perfectly disciplined,'T'serviqe could- exhibit, L dri, these column® :‘to say that this initiative stroke, coming- os -it.-did .wheo-.tho.. Alilied fortunes weie at their lowest on land, -would show the- enemy what toe • had to expect if he sent his fleet to- sea. ; ft was abundantly, clear that the fleeit I was not only tingling with life and ion f tiie tip-toe of expectation—as indeed it • has- always been—it: was now planned ] for and led with skill and daring, that t hapished into the limbo <?f foa'gotten fallacies all the quackery about wtoning > the fruits of: victory * without winning I a -battle ittoat had cramped and shackledi us in the-early, days; ■:->'/ ? W© -may regret that all this splendid 1 work, and the magnificent liberty of r spirit engendered, by it, has not had its due reward in a battle at -sea as menb > orable; and final as the great battle ‘ that .has been won on land. But the • work has riot been wasted. The example jl the British Fleet has set hais tno 5 more j been thrown away than its actual j achievement . It ha® held the sea for , four years and four months; it has Stifled the enemy’s carrying servibe-, [ co-rttrolled, checked, and stopped all ' neuti’al service .to the enemy. Tt hast, fought ship to ship pit has fought the - submarine, and, kept its ceaseless' vigil I I in /©very circumstance of trial, anxiety» ■ and danger. It -has- carried two and ; twenty million fighting men; it has fed 1 a population of one hundred million and •' more. Its streiigth was from the first [ ule .condition-of victory. What is to 5 the point is that in the whole four years .-there ie not one action, even an g accidental acticai, that is to its discredit. ft has fought arid-beaten enemy, ships { igain and ugrtin. It ba® * never failed j to rescue the enemy when fighting vvas R ao longer possible to. Mm. Even the . fficers and: cfews of submarines- for s' whom it *wft9 difficult to preserve a re--2 ?ard hitherto ipritotaiiied -for ia brave i. have been the object f of its tender chivalry; : There is, then, - no hour of- its work that, hks not had I its fruit, no memory that is -not great - and noble. And if the fierce jov of r battle and the- Inrid glory -of vict- iy 1 has been denied, is it not because its r '.enemy was, in toe old ; rot vorthy of its steel ft ‘ > . f ■ -’■ "" ■ ■ ■- ' i■~ \