A GREAT SERVICE TO PEACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 1 (Supplement)

A GREAT SERVICE TO PEACE

[Tales of Our Royal Navy

By MATANGA

COUNTLESS British hearts have unashamedly—in these days of eager search for peace i—welcomed the plan for a larger, more powerful Royal Navy. It can be taken as certain, too, that many a foreign heart has been gladdened by the prospect. That may read strangely, but only to those ignorant of history and unawake to the needs of this dangerous time. The simple fact is that among the instru"ments of peace none is more entitled "to honour than the British Fleet. "To claim that the annals of our Fleet are wholly unstained by deeds that had bettor not boon done would be foolish, but not half so foolish as to den)' its influence for law and order in a 'world prone to lawlessness and disorder. This influence has become a proud and inspiring tradition. In the gruff bark of its guns many peoples have heard promises of succour. Only those with evil designs have hated the sound. In a word, its task has. been defence. The truth is not affected by tides of its alertness and ardour in attack: they are covered by the aphorism that the best defence is attack, and leave unchallenged the splendid verity that in Britain's growing concern for international justice the Navy has played an ever-valiant part. Primarily, of course, the defence of British shores and sea-lines of transSort has been served. "It is upon the 'avy that under the good providence of God the wealth, prosperity and peace of these islands and of the Empire do mainly depend." These words, living in the Articles of War embodied in Britain's Naval Discipline Act, are cherished also in the minds and hearts of a worldwide British host. They do not assert that the Navy alone has made Britain secure and strong. Other factors, great beyond gainsaying, have contributed to this national achievement. To them honour niav be as ungrudgingly paid. The Army's laurels are ever green. Statesmanship has rendered invaluable aid. The church, the school, the home, the growth of law; all have done service beyond reckoning. But the visible, indispensable bulwark for them all, bearing the brunt of alien onslaughts upon our security of court and cottage, has been the Navy.

Supreme Achievements Years ago was asserted a memorable fact. " Five times in the history of England." ran the assertion, "the Eritish Navv has stood between the would-be master of Europe and the attainment of his ambition. Charlemagne, Charles V., Philip of Spain, Louis XIV. of France, and Napoleon—all aspired' to universal dominion. Each of these sovereigns in turn was checked in his soaring plans by British seapower." To these five achievements of defence this generation can add a sixth. Too often forgotten is the story of the long-ships and galleys of our first English kings; they played a great part ill restricting to the Continent the dominion of that valorous Frank who became Rome's chosen "Emperor of the "West." So also the dominating European monarch of the sixteenth century, Charles of Germany, found the English Channel, watched by British seamen, a boundarv not to be lightly broken. His son* Philip, bent on conquering Europe, found England, and particularly England's Fleet, standing in the way. Against this resolute foe he loosed his "Invincible Armada." The corridors of time are still ringing with the clangour in which his sinister schemes were overwhelmed, when over the battlements of heaven came tumbling a storm that completed the wrack made by British guns. Then Louis, with like spacious ambition, essayed the mastery of the sea as a necessary means to sway over Europe. Again England was encountered, daring him to pass. A new invasion of Britain was planned. The plan was shattered by England's ships at La Hogue; three years later nothing remained of ; t but a mocking memory. A Maritime Waterloo

When, next the subdual of Europe Was attempted—by the self-seeking Corsican—England's humbling was seen to be an inevitable task, for it was England's wealth that was successfully fostering coalition after coalition against him. To strike at England's heart became, therefore, Napoleon's fondest hope. "He thought, talked and tfrote of little else " He longed to "leap the ditch," as he contemptuously called the Channel. He tried the leap. Kelson was waiting to intercept him, and Trafalgar proved his maritime Waterloo, making his eventual overthrow possible. Had he leaped the ditch, England, and France herself, would have been beneath his iron-shod heel.

After Napoleon's downfall less than a century pas>snl before another took his role, and the mastery of the sea became this successor's similar purpose. He proudly styled this mastery "the freedom of the seas," but habits of histrionic speech had made him careJess of the plain value of words. This Wilhelm created a navy. It was his in a truer way than was the German army: as the German Constitution phrased the fact, it was "unitary (as opposed to contingental) under the supreme command of the Kaiser." With this weapon he meant to bludgeon Britain and overawe the world. Our Edward called it "Willy's toy," but it J?rew after Edward's day into a serious Jnenace. Could he have wielded it as he hoped, his mad dream of world fi upremacy might have come true. Seven Functions

Tho Jirititin ho hated would have £een starved, his armies would have had no great combined force against •OCDI, and his own Empire would have hoen fed and warmed, clothed and ®rmed, with an ease ensuring victory. His failure gave added weight to the fr ords, solemnly simple, in the Articles °f war. Mr. Balfour, when First Lord of the Admiralty, had laid down the seven 'unctions that a fleet can perform in torno of war. It may drive the enemy's commerce olf the sea; it may protect Its own commerce; it may.render the ®neniy's fleet impotent; it may make i the transfer oi the enemy's troops °cross the sea impossible, whether for attack or defence; it may transport Its own troops where it will; it may Retire their supplies; and (in fitting c,r ciuiistances) it may assist their operations. In the performance of these •functions—every one of them —jthe •British Navy signally succeeded, just signally as Germany's "High Seas J-Meet" failed to perform them. Admiral Mahan's judgment was conclusive. "Before Jutland, as aftor it, the German Fleet was imprisoned; the battle was an attempt to break the sar,s5 a r,s a "d burst the confining gates; it willed, and with its failure the High sa nk again into impotence." final dramatic surrender of that fleet was Germany's acknowledgment of the whole world's debt to Britain's Navy.