PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 72

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

NAVAL AND MILITARY LESSONS OF

THE WAR IN THE FAR EAST.

Have any^of you seen the Daily Mail Year Book? It is a capital little annual, giving a mass of information in a compressed manner. One chapter on the war in the Far East struck me as being a good one, and I think what interests me in this instance will interest you also. Ihe naval lessons are summai isedi somewhat as follows : —

1. The battleships cannot be destroyed easily by gun fire. Up to November no battleships had been sunk in action, but two (Hatsuse and Petropavol&k) w.ere sunk by mines. 2. The fighting of the future will be at long range. — [It has been said that in a naval action between the two fleets now manoeuvring the advantage will be with the .Russians if the fleets appioaeh to within five miles of each other, and with the Japanese over thai range. — Patek.] Ths fighting has been done generallj- at a range of 5000 to 6000 yards, and) rarely under 3000 yards. 3. At long ranges 6in guns are too weak in count ; hence in our new ships 6in guns are being displaced by 9.2 in and 7.5 in. 4. Moderate armour gives thorough protection at long range. b. Masts and funnels are liable to suffer severely. 6. Damage below the water-line is exceedingly uncommon. 7. All guns on deck ne?di to be protected by shields and! armour. The gunners of the Yaiyag were slaughtered ; but in the AskoJd (guns behind shields) the loss> was Gomparatively small. 8. Fire in action is still a grave danger. — [Yet British vessels are built w itli woodian fittings. — Pater.]

9. Damage to steering g-ear is much to be feared.

10. The damage from the torpedo has been exaggerated. No vessel has been sunk by it nor even permanently disabled. No vessel under weigh has been hit. 11. Battleships may go through several actions and remain seaworthy.

12. Gunnery is of paramount importance, especially at long ranges. 13. Destroyers carefully used are able to keep the sea for months without heavy impairs. 14. Ships are still unable to engage land foits or batteries of modem construction with any degree of success. 15. Big ships are moie than ev°r supreme [Japan and Biitain aie now building very large ships>] ; but the speed of small vessels falls off very rapidly in service.

16. Solidity of cos-truction is most important. Russian ships showed weakness of hulls undiar severe fighting ; Japanese ships of Engli&h design lesisted th.c strain well.

17. The difficulty of effectively blockading a naval fortress with long-range guns is enormous. Of these it se.?ms to me N-os. 5, 7, 8,

9, 12, 14, and 16 are self-evident without requiting any war to make them axioms.-

— Military Lessons. —

1. The importance of s^crecj-. Neitherside has allowed correspondents to th«:front.

2. Frontal attacks may still succeed! if deliveied by good g tioops Avell supported by good artillery

3. A strong national spirit enables troops to stand a loss hitherto unprecedented.

4. With modem arm : .°s of huge sizo movements are ■extremely slow owing to difficulties of supply.

5. By the use of the telegraph and telephone the movements of several armies over a wide front may be co-ordinated. The Japanese attacks at Liao-yang, on a iront of 30 miles, weie perfectly co-ordi-nated.

6. Thorough co-op.ei-ation between army; and navy must" be secured at all costs.

7. Cavalry in such a countrj as Manchuria is ineffective. — [T cannot see that this is correct. — Pater. J

8. The modern sold'iei reqxur.es a good education, even in the inferior ranks, because great initiative is demanded of him. Of these, 1. 3, 4, 5, and 8 are also selfevident. Co-operation between aimy and navy is useless unless the navy is superior to the enernv's navy.

— Navies in the East. —

The same authority gives the naval power of Great Britain. France, Germany, and America in the waters of the theatre of war to be .—. —

England. — Five battleships — Albion, Glory, Goliath. Vengeance, and Centurion*; two modern armed cruisers — Cressy and Leviathan; six other cruisers; seven destroyers : and no submarines. France — Three armed cruisers — Sully, Montcalm, and C4ueydon ; six other cruisers : seven destroyers ; and two submarines.

Germany. — One armed cruiser : six other cruisers ; one destroyer ; and no submarines.

United Stales of America. — Two battleships — Wisconsin and Oregon : four other cruisers ; five destroyers and no sub-

marines.

■British Battleships. —

I referred in the first portion of my Chat to the comparative uselessness of the 6-inch gun — supposed to be a very fine, effective weapon — when used at long range. In the Lord Kelson and the Agamemnon these have disappeared, the batteries being four 12in, ten 9.2 in, fifteen 12-pounders, and twenty-two of a smaller type. The vessels are 16,500 tons displacement, 12in armour, and a speed of 18 knots.

— The Xavy League.-—

From the annual report just issued of the Otago Branch of the Navy League I cut the following : — School Branches. — Up to date the secretary has been advised of the formation of sub-branchis of the league in the following schools — viz., Otago Boys' High RchooL, Dunedin Collegiate School, High Street, Anderson's Bay. Bannockburn. Kaikorai, and St. Clair public schools. The number of school members enrolled to date is somewhat disappointing to your committee, being only a fraction of that on the books of some of the other branches in ' New Zealand (the secretary of the Wellington Branch, for instance, having enrolled 1100 in all), in spite of the fact that there has probably been a considerably greater amount of money expended by this branch for the benefit of the children in the schools than there has been in any other province. However, efforts are now being made to alter this state of affairs, and it is hoped that next year's report will record a large addition to the membership under this head.

Will any of you try to increase the number of members? Surely many of you can make up clubs ot five al a shilling each to become members and get a copy of the Navy League Journal. Current events are showing most emphatically how necessary a navy is to a nation's existence.