THE EMPIRE'S SECURITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20622, 22 July 1930, Page 6

THE EMPIRE'S SECURITY.

SEA-POWER ESSENTIA]},

THE ONLY "SURE SHIELD.'*

THE LESSONS OF HISTORY.

At a time when the Government 0 { Great Britain is making dangerous periments in naval reduction—dangerous because they are disproportionate t0 what other Powers are willing to do-, such a work as " The Royal Navy, th» Sure Shield of Empire " is of particular value. The author is Geoffrey Parratf a big ship man of the Jcllicoe school 'J'he book contains a foreword by Vice. Admiral J. E. T. Harper, who already ls known to a wide public for his spirited defence of Admiral of the Fleet Ear| Jcllicoe in the Jutland controversy.

Mr. Parratt lias sonic chapters on Jutland, and supports the judgment of Jellj. coe as wSrrnly ns Harper, but his

aim is to serve a much wider purpose than that of modern history—it is that of Empire security itself.

Ho concludes a preliminary chapter upon naval warfare in general with Mahan's famous words: "Those stormbeaten ships upon which the Grand Army never looked stood between him (Napoleon) and tlio dominion of tho world," and then enters upon a, concise but vivid history of the, Royal Navy since the. time of the Norman Conquest to emphasise Britain's dependence upon strength at sea. Peace With Security. The author is no jingo. He believes that anyone who helps to provoke war or fails to seek peace actively is ,1 criminal, but he points out that ii generation is springing up which knows nothing of the honors of war or of war weariness. "We see on several sides that national ambitions are not dead Can we therefore count on the continuance always, everywhere, and bv everyone, of peaceful methods and policv? " National aspirations and policies will clash in the future ns in the past and all our effort:; may fail to reconcile them. Are we sure that no nation will assume the role of world bully ns the Romans the French, and the Germans successively did? Jt is not big armaments that prodine war but the aggressive spirit behind one side or the other, and there is still such a thing as a righteous cause. . . . For any country the first

two requisites are pence and security and security comes before comfort and lu'xurv. Great Britain alone of nil the Great Powers can be starved into complete and abject surrender by defeat at sea without a man being landed on our shores and no army, no air force, however powerful could save us. The various parts of tlio Empire, cut. off from us and from each other, would share in the crash. The Navy Paramount.

" We are s-ometimes told that the next war will be decided by air forces, but though aircraft are still comparatively novel and undeveloped, there is still no sign that the maintenance of communications on which we rely for our daily bread will nofc rest as before on the 'Navy whereon, under the good providence of God, the safety, honour and welfare of the realm chiefly depend.' ". In the short history of the Navy tlio author touches only the peaks, and what names do shine thereon—Frobisher, Davis, Hawkins and Drake, Howard, Monk, Herbert and Blake, Rooke, Shovel, Anson and Hawke, Howe, Rodney,

Hardy and Hood, Nelson, Fisher, Jellicoe and Beattv. At a time when pacifist propaganda, the natural reaction of war, might so influence the political machine that the "sure shield"' of the centuries

might become sn weak that Britain and her Empire might drift into a position of dire jeopardy, it is well that the rising generations should read the meaning of these great names and understand why in time of war the " enemy's coastline must be our frontier," and why, as long as war is possible, nothing short of it comes within the range of safety. For of all great nations Britain alone* could be starved by a superior naval force. A tremendous amount of technical information is given in the chapters dealing with the development of the modern navy and of naval weapons. One hundred years _ ago valour and seamanship were important parts of the " wooden walls of England." "Hearts of oak" often helped to make good a deficiency

in guns. i>leam power, armour, loncrango guns, submarines and torpedoes have changed all that. Modern Factors.

To-day it is a "battle between guns and armour, between the torpedo and the various devices that hare been invented to defeat it and the various theories of design which could never be conclusively proved." • " We shall: have to remember all the time," states the author in opening a fascinating study in the development of the modern ship, "that every ship is a compromise. We cannot put the maximum of gun-power, protection, speed, seaworthiness, handiness etc., all into one ship. We can get most of them by building a ship of monstrous size, but very few harbours and fewer docks would take her: she would be a huge target for torpedoes, she would be very costly and

last of all, she would only bo supreme as

long as no competitor was built in a hostile fleet.. So whatever type we want must have the various qualities balanced to give the required result ; guns and armour must predominate in battleships engines and fuel in cruisers, and so on. It is impossible to give -even the most casual survey of the developments smca (he Warrior of 1859, (he first all-iron, armoured, steam-driven ship, but a few points may be given for their high In s " torical interest. Englajid rejected the first idea bv ono Captain Coles for ships low in the water to present a small target, but with strong armour and a few guns in revolving turrets to give a wide field of fire. J" c Northern States of America then at war with the South carried out this idea I'? building to the plans of Ericsson, already rejected by England, the Monitor, called because she was a warning. k" 0 had only 2ft. of free-board. Monitor remains the namo of a type to-day. A Clergyman as Inventor. What was the first submarine? tP to the end of the nineteenth century Britain had been content (o watch for eign Governments and private indiviuua making experiments with this class craft. The first to be used in war J™ one employed by the American t°" federates, which blew up the , '.l. frigate Housatonic and perished w her. .Among the English expenmen . with submarines was Garrett, an hW clergyman. It was not until elcc nc became available for submerged prop sion that real success came. . . What wore (he first battle rnl,scr V The Invincible, Inflexible, and Indomi able, completed in 1908 09. rhe.> "monsters of 17.250 tons. 41.000 hou power and 25 knots speed. They * ried eight 12-inch gnus in four tu and had side armour up to fin. . . said," remarks the author, that , Fisher bad sham plans of these s'P t about at the Admiralty knowl % t |, 9 the Germans would find result that the Germans built the BIU a close copy of the sham ships an j. inferior to the real ones. ln ( °, 0 . point of the three cruisers vas I t pet ion Of the n,aga,,nos a defect tn was to be painfully irlent. a ■ Q pl)Shrapnel shell was invented IJ „;-l" Sl f,.pncl in 1803. Til. invrald! Insotmp works at Hunir. *" a n cx* 3001b., had a diameter of of plosive charge in the heat 1 reS sed dvnamite, and was driven b> eon P air for a short distance at six rg/vvfl?., latest torpedo_ has a range o ' ] oS j v » a speed of 45 knots and man -el charge of 6001b., and is a ma mechanical ingenuity. p{ "The Royal Navy. The Sure. ghe!doa the Empire, by Geoffrey Farran. Press*