THE BRITISH NAVY

Otago Witness, Issue 3418, 19 September 1919, Page 22

THE BRITISH NAVY

LORD FISHER'S CRITICISMS. (By Cable.) LONDON, September 9. Admiral Lord Fisher, discussing the beginnings of the war, asks why the Germans failed to attack or to mask the British fleet 'at Scapa Flow, in order to gain time to carry out their oiriginal plan of landing a million men at Cherbourg (on the coast of Brittany), whence Paris could easily be reached. " The answer is,", he says, "that the British fleet was ineffably superior., and the Germans knew it. Some of our naval Jeremiahs have since written a lob about the handicaps of the fleet and the critical position of our sea commerce in 1914; but you cannot get over the fact that the Germans boxed up their door and slammed and barred it. Two fools- of German spies told Admiral Ingenohl, commanding the second German squadron, that he could attack Scapa Flow. He promptly shot them both, being persuaded that they were traitors who were luring the German fleet to destruction. "Admiral Sir R. Arbuthnot, wrote recently a private letter, stating; This modern navy is Lord Fisher's. Nothing could have saved .the Germans from a stunning blow if our commanders had used the battleships Renown, Repulse, Glorious, Furious, and Courageous, all laid down (in 1915) on Fisher's advice, and specially designed for Baltic fighting.' " Lord Fisher points out that when the construction of the best ships in the victorious fleet was begun the Navy Estimates were at the lowest point, because the introduction of Dreadnoughts had temporarily paralysed German shipbuilding. He adds: "It will doubtless be interesting to hear my successors recall what appalling things might have happened; but the only substantial question is 'What did happen?' The answer is that the British Navv won the war on August 4, 1914." " ■• September 13. Lord Fisher declares that the problem of designing a new British navy —one that will be immune from air attacks, and combining economy of construction and higher, efficiency with continuously fresh ideas—is associated with the question: "Where will the next battle-ground be and with whom will the fight be?" Lord Fisher asks: "Is it to be with the Chinese and Japanese?".He adds: "Personally I expect another Eastern exodus to Europe, and a simultaneous movement westward across the Pacific. That ocean holds the future. Every fourth baby born into the world is Chinese." After considering America's ambitions and internal strength, Lord Fisher points out that there are historical proofs of kinsmen's liability to quarrel. Lord Fisher concludes, however, that an Anglo-Ameri-can fight is inconceivable. He asks: "Cannot the American and British navies dominate the world at any time?" He suggests that Britain and America should simply tell all others to "build no more ships, or we shall fight you here and now." THE FIRST LORD AND ECONOMY. LONDON, September 11. Mr Walter Long, First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking at Glasgow, in reply to criticisms of the Admiralty's failure to economise, said it would have been a crime to relax our efforts ensuring preparedness for all eventualities until peace was signed. The Admiralty recognised the necessity for economy. One result of the war was the prospect of a considerable period of peace. It would be the Admiralty's duty not to build unnecessary ships, and not to -ursue a programme which was possible before the- war but was not justifiable now. They should do everything possible to develop commercial undertakings by releasing shipwrights from v the naval yards and other Government employment, thus increasing the ftrumber available for employment on merchant shipbuilding. SEA SUPREMACY. LONDON, September 10. Archibald Hurd, naval writer, says that Britain's supremacy at sea has temporarily passed to the United States, which has 31 battleships in commission, but is to reduce them to 29 in 1920. Britain has 22 battleships and five cruisers in a similar state of readiness. The reduction to a reserve basis of the majority of the ships of the Home Fleet (already cabled) reduces our force ready for battle to 16 battleships and cruisers, of which 10 are in the Atlantice and six in the Mediterranean. It is ridiculous to suggest that the Admiralty has done nothing to economise. There will not be a single man-of-war building on the slips bv Christmas—an unprecedented position in modern times. Already 200 ships have been scrapped. The Grand Fleet has been dispersed, and the war stations have been closed or are closing. The Admiralty staff has shrunk, and is shrinking dramatically. A new order to the Home Fleet suggests that the whole of that force will soon disappear. MR LLOYD GEORGE'S TRIBUTE. LONDON, September 13. "-Mr Lloj-d George has written to the First Lord of the Admiralty paying a tribute to the great part played in the victory by the officers and men of the navy -and by civilians employed in various centres. Mr Lloyd George says : "It must go to their hearts to see the splendid creations of their hard endeavours scrapped, but the Government is driven to economise ruthlessly in every direction." He reminds loyal men and women that dispensing with their services does not imply want of gratitude on the part

of the Empire for what they 'have accomplished.