SECRETS OF THE GRAND FLEET

North Otago Times, Volume CII, Issue 13462, 5 January 1916, Page 8

SECRETS OF THE GRAND FLEET

RECENT GROWTH OF ITS I'OWER, THE NEXT EIGHT. DOMINION SHIPS TO TAKE I\ART. (From a Special Correspondent of lie Daily News) The invisibility of the Grand Fleet is ouc of the niosl remarkable ol' all the remarkable things in this war. No one for a certainty dure say where it is. Its operations, proceeding ceaselessly night ami day since llio Jirst rumblings presaged war, are still enshrouded behind an impenetrable wil. Far-reaching as lliis work is, and formidable in triumph, Admiral JclliCoe has still to publish his first despatch. A glimpse of the light was given when Admiral Sturdeo aud Admiral J'tenHy described tlieir respective victories over Hie oiiciny, but Hi we were-mere skirmishes to what'should have been the real thing. When one- speaks lo men attached to the squadron hidden away "somewhere" about the lino ship's under Beatty's command or the great ships forming his squadron, they emphatically reply: "That is only a cruiser sqiuidrou—it is nothing lo the Grand Fleet." And the way the sailormen talk about the Grand Fleet aud Jellieoc's ships imparts a wealth of meaning and conveys a feeling or' awe at its power. Many Inventions, The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the Fleet, and three eminent Scottish divines and it party of Frenchmen were privileged to see the Fleet, None of them told anything about it. Hiai was not known before the war even to the longshoremen; they said nothing of the way the Fleet'lias grown 10 measureless power since 4lie war began: they told, lis nothing of the wonderful new mine-sweepers or lite equally wonderful now submarine'destroyers; they were silent about the guns of the new battleships and the sped of the new battlecruisers, The new mine sweepers need not now bo employed on the sweeping of the mines from our estuaries and the open seas, for the German mine is now a very rare tiling. The special boats constructed to deal with the submarine pirates were ouilt to our plans, after iniieh erperiencc in destroying the commerce raiders; now they are hardly necessary to combat the few remaining submarines the Germans can send to sea. These destroyers are possessed of incredible speed, aiid they turn in about their own length.' What little remains of the submarine menace is not' a. problem, for the old boats and 'the new craft are going to be used somewhere,

,The Latest Ship. The guns of that great battleship which joined the Fleet not many days ago are very true. ' The few 011 shore who knew of-the leviathan's unheralded coining, and watched with welljustified pride the passing of the battle squadron—the last word in naval construction—said to each other; "The guns mounted on that boat are not intended to hit ships." No, nor will they. They will hit something else, aud will crumble what tliev hit into ashes aud dust. The Germans recently launched a new battleship, Hie von Hindenburg. There were realistic- pictures in the German papers of the ceremony. Kven in this country excellent illustrations appeared of the great ship leaving the ways; the publicity was" excellently stage-managed, and the bulk of the von Hindenburg launching into the waler,- even though its engines may never be built in —?, was supposed, til show the people of the Central Powers that the German "command" of the seas is nu chimera, and that organisation for its fruition is proceeding. Wo have a dilTerail way of doing lliings in this country. Legions of iiicii work night ami day among the great steel ribs in the shipyards, legions more arc at work in the engine-rooms, and still more legions are in the forges at Newcastle, Birkcuhcud, Harrow, and Parkshead casting the guns that will sqou make the llritish nation open the eyes of (he whole world. The great ships arc finished silently aud secretly. They pass oat 'to their appointed place, and we hear nothing. Only a few on shore watch them sail away. Pride in their power beats fast iu the hearts of 'those -who speed the monarchs of the deep on their way. Alt is conducted behind a veil. ' Heligoland. , - When, iu 1890, Lord Salisbury' exchanged Heligoland to Germany, it is not improbable that one of the see ret considerations of the Cabinet of that time was the knowledgo thai llni island was rapidly crumbling away, and thai, at Hie then current rate of sea. erosion,' in less 'limn twenty-live years the North Sea would make a clean sweep over the disintegrated rubble liciip. - But Potsdam also knew all"about the crumbling island, and they,' grasped their opportunity with both hands. To the Salisbury diplomacy Heligoland was a disappearing island, disappearing before the ravages of the sea. As soon as the Germans came into possession (hey proceeded to spend three'million pounds In cuitcrelc- and sled, in, facing up Hie cliffs. They defied the inroads of the sea, and to-day they have au area of perhaps two miles, aiid!behiud tlicni they have the harbour. The Germans, flunking of their movements a quarter of a century ahead, saw in the dim outline of their naval policy the shadow of a harbour needed.

Everybody knows Ilia! ne have much lo lie thankful for in the configuration of our euasl, unrivalled for Hie purposes of defence. The East Coast is planted like an iron wall a natural barrier to the foe. Into 'this coast Nature lias let a won ; dert'ul harbour—ideal for our purpose. It 'lias natural advantages, which, not very long 'before Hie ■war, were brought to" "the Fleet's requirements, and llie liai'liouc lias .proved of, inestimable value to our naval policy. Tlio Toll of Kosyth. The Firth of Forth is familiar, and, in name at least, wi is the vast naval base of liosylb. The Firth-of Forth, spanned by' the great bridge which carries a valuable strategic, railway, if open to attack by submarines, and possibly to aerial craft, although its distance from llie German coast almost precludes the Zeppelin danger. Jlnt where the Grand Fleet goes attack in any form is impossible, either by air or by sea. It is idle lo think that llie Germans are not aware of the fastnesses of our Grand Fleet, The lure of the Fleet to .their submarines -lias been more deadly than tlio 'brilliant glitter of the lonely lighthouse lo the migratory birds'. There would have been unbounded jubilation along the banks of the Kiel Canal if a German submarine had steered its way up the Forth and returned safely from au attack; honours would have been heaped upon any submarine commander who succeeded in lauding but a single torpedo effectively among the ships that liu in these onnameable waters, and relumed to WilhcliiLslinvcii to tell the laic. They know (he way; Like brave men they have come, but from them we have taken a .full toll. Their hardihood has exacted the full penalty, l'or where the Grand Fleet goes it is impregnable.

rarthar North,, If yuu sailed alony one pari of the coast "where the Grant! Fleet sometimes anchors, and you were out three miles at sea, you would not knew there was a break, in the coastline, for so close do the headlands come, so narrow is the entrance, that it is scarcely observable to the untrained eye. Yet pass through the narrow neck, and there is a beautiful stretch of water designed by Nature, one would say, for the very purpose for which it in now used, The water is of great depth, and it falls away like a lake sheer from the mountain sides, Within recent times the hillsides linve been transformed; the harbour is now a supply .base with every modern equipment,' Our battleships cijti go right up to (lie land under their own steam, ami from t'lic wooden piers, can be loaded with whatever the.v require; fuel can be obtained by pipes turned on to the enomions oil-tanks, This harbour is placed exactly ,where we would design it lo'bc.

Away in the northern fastnesses, in regions trodden by few, there are others. We have a harbour where the ileets of 'the;world could lie or manoeuvre, but no civilian can approach it. I have told you of one priceless possession; the mists must'obscure the other. The Fleet does not always rest behind these two headlands. It, is a fartiling net that we stretch in our blockade of the German ports, and there is patrol work to be done away on lite icy waters oil the border of the Polar regions, where the ships steam into the teeth of the cruel nor'-carter. The Nelson Touch. Our Jack Tars have nut lost I lie Nelson touch. One of these, patrol boats came home one night, with her lams smashed in. She was twelve hours from the port when she crashed into another boat. The one could not lender assistance to the oilier, and the palrnl boat had to steam on her port, stem first. The twelve horns' voyage look her four days, and many times if looked as if « wave would have been Hie end of the crippled cral'l. .11 is exhausting, dangerous work bill the men keep lit, mid are always ready.

On llie hill-road llie bluejackets are ionic-marching, anil they look as hard as nails, The men have their long and Irving vigils, their searching gunnery work, but Iliey are exercising on shore fairly often, or playing fool ball. Tlio ullicers ge| recreation on the adjoining gulf links. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will lie in III" next M'N lighl, In llie French journalists' account of a visit |o llie Fleet they mentioned four boats -• .lellicoe's Iron Duke, Ueatly's llagship, Die Lion, the boat llie Germans " auk" oil llie Dogger Bank—tlio Tiger and llie boat the Turks "destroyed" in the Dardanelles—the Queen Mwilictli. These may have been the ships that appealed lo their imagination. Bui it will give joy in our overseas Dominions lo know (hat'when we come to si rife llie next blow on llie sea llie colonies, Which have already won imperishablo fame in Flanders and in Anzae, will be given their opportunity to strike for the freedom of-the se.-f. When f looked at the Fleet the other day Beatty's Lion crouched, the far-thest-mil ship in llie auuhorage. Immediately, at her head lay llie Princess Royal, and then, further up the line st retdiiug for a mile, came llie Cauaada, the Australia, and the New Zealand. ; To us at home the knowledge that Ihe ships of the colonies are wilh us is cause for pride, To the Dominion especially the news that (lie Canada is in commission will be particularly gratifying. Their men of war, I am told, think it "does I hem protid," Formidable as llie Lion, (lie Tiger, mid the Princess Royal were, the giant of tlio Maple Leaf appeared to give one ut more vivid touch of fighting power. Her lines faded into the grey waves, and she stood a naked fighting machine,' stripped to the waterline, perfect.in slinpe and fashioned to battle, with not ouc unnecessary fitting showing on the massive bull-dog frame,

When shall wo strike/ When will this vast armada east off from its moorings, not for a-practice it is'iisele,vto.look on sea for the l'oo'that is ever skulking on laud—but. for a ( mis.siv)> in which it' will Unshackle' its niighty-ehargcd-up eiiorgy ? - ( Time only can tell wliere or when, tlio nex'l blow will be struck, "Will tlicse terrible .guns lirst blow into ruin, that rubble-heap of the North Sea, and. leave the waves to wash away the wreckage, or shall we go, right on and cut our way on another course? These aro Admiral .lellicoe's secrets, but his men .|liink that the Fleet, which has grown in strength every week since tlio war began, will soon show its giaat power.