LOOKS TO BRITISH NAVY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLV, Issue 6219, 9 December 1914, Page 1

LOOKS TO BRITISH NAVY.

A PROFESSOR'S VIEW. MILITARY VALUE OF SURPRISE. &penser Wilkinson. Chichele professor of military history at Oxford, m an article m tne London 'Morning Post' of August 5, written immediately after England liad decided to take an active part in the war in defence of her ally, France, says that "at the 11th hour the Government has taken the right decision." Mr Wilkinson says Hat the country had understood the issue from the beginning, but the Government had been slow to grasp it. j "Germany," Mr Wilkinson continues, "knows the enormous military value of surprise, and has gained it. The Government, not seeing what was plain and palpable, has imagined that Germany wouid pause to negotiate." j After criticising the Government for not ordering a general mobilisation; sooner, and assuring it that "we shall all go into this fight oemented together m we have never been before," ilr Wilkinson continues: 1 "If it is Germany'u victory the map of Europe will be reconstructed at Germany's dictation and England be left alone to fight for her independence, either immediately or after a> short truce, against all Europe commanded by Germany. If it ie a victory for England, France and Russia the nations will remain as they are, except that there will be some slight changes of frontier and the smaller nations will be free. HOW POWERS WILL TAKE RANK. "The Powers will take rank according to their contributions to victory. Upon what does victory depend P That is when war comes to the question of questions. A war consists of a series of battles at various times and places. There are preliminary battles and secondary battles, and there is the decisive battle on which everything turns in which the whole war centres. That is the meaning of such names as Austerlitz, Waterloo, Koniggratz. It is the decisive battles that must be won. "There the two branches of the war into which we are going, battles at sea and battles on land. We are to fight side by side with France and Russia, who are now necessarily our allies. It is one war, not three wars, and the battles will hang together. The great centre of decisive action is in the land war, because it is necessary for the allies to break the power of Germany; they must either do so or be one and all defeated. The power of Germany is in her Army. The destruction of her|Fleet would be no great blow to her, though , it would have the effect in time of weakening' her Army. For the side to which we belong, therefore, the one th'ng needful is to win the decisive battle on land.

"That battle will be fought between the French and German Armies because Germany is throwing the bulk of her forces at the outset against France. The domonating principle in the direction of armies is that he who seeks victory must have the superior force at the decisive point. France will strain every nerve to have as large a force as possible to meet the German Army, and Germany in the same way will strive to have a still stronger force to opjiose the French Army. Until the decision has been reached in France, Germany will ixjstpone her struggle with Russia. This is at any rate regarded as the most probable course for Germany. "The greatest service that England can render to the common cause is therefore to strengthen the French Army. The mere knowledge that England is standing by France will be a great encouragement to the French, hut the encouragement is not help. The first duty of England to the common cause is to send as large and as efficient an army as she can to take part in the fight between France and Germany, which is necessary and inevitably the kerne! of the whole struggle.

MARCH UNDER FRENCH LEADER. "She must send to France as many troops as possible and as fast as possible, and these troops must be under the command of the French generalissimo. The English commander must take his orders from the French Commajnder-in-Chief and should have no other instructions from his own Government. The function of our military forces is to fight the Gorman Army, which will be found confronting the French Army on the Continent, not in England. "What about the invasion of England? This question brings me to the naval war, in which victory is vital for England. No army, except at great risk, can be taken across the sea in ships if those ships are likely to be attacked by men-of-war during the voyage and before the landing is completed. What am Ito do if 1 want to land my army across the sea while my adversary has a fleet of men-of-war? Evidently his fleet, if it could, would attack alia sink my transports and drown or capture my soldiers. If I had a fleet of. my own mv safest plan would be to destroy the enemy's fleet before ombarking my troops, which would then be quite safe, as there would be no one to molest them.

"But if my fleet were so strong as to have a good chance of destroying the enemy's the hostile admiral would aivoid battle, so as to give us no chance of sinking his fleet. He might take shelter m a fortified harbor or dodge me by going into some sheltered haven' with two or more exits. If he could evade me he would try to attack my transports. It is a question partly of the relative strength of the two fleets and partly of the relative skill of the two admirals.

"The British Fleet is very much stronger so far as the number of its ships is concerned than the German. Even if a few parties were landed by ships which had given our Navy the slip they must end by surrender, for divisions of Territorials can be quickly collected by our railway system at an? point in the country. It will be seen thiat if there were no German Navy not only would these islands and our merchant ships at sea be quite safe but the movement of our troops to France would be attended by no risks. "The function of the Navy, therefore, is to create that condition of safety. Its mission is to destroy the German Navy as soon as it can, and if that can be done to help the French Navy to destroy that of Austria. At sea time is even more vital than on land, because fleets move 20 times as fast as armies. The war had begun before the British Navy was ready, and if report be true the Russian Navy has already been crippled in the Baltic. We shall feel dts loss. It seems a pity that

its action was not oonoerted with our, own. But that is not Russia's fault. I "It will be seen that England's part in the war rests upon the Navy because the Navy is the only instrument by which the sea, which connects ug witJb Francs and the rest of the British Empire, cin be kept open. If the Navy can win the command of the eea England will grow stronger week by week, for the Territorial Army, exercising continually as it now must, wil] rapidly improve in every respect. Meanwhile those young men who have never been trained will enroll themselves and will be receiving training." GROWTH OF NAVIES. In a survey of the development of war vessels and their armaments since I the last re at naval battle, oif Tsushima nine years ago, the naval correspondent of 'The Times' in an article published on August & says:— "There were then no Dreadnoughts in existence. The heaviest guns used were i 12in, but no ship carried more than four of tnem. Fighting took place at a i range of 5000 yards, beyond which engagements were almost unthought or; i mlpcd. the appliances for controlling and directing fire at grea.ter ranges were not in general use. JNor was the torpedo developed to anything like its present extent. Its range ihen was irom 3500 to 4600 yards. The submarine as an effective weapon did not exist. "Now there are no fewer than 10 Dreadnoughts in the Fleet, each armed with 10 13.5 in guns, wli.ch can lire a projectile of 1250 ib at about the rate of two aimed rounds a minute. By the instruments of precision which have been suppled these guns are capable ot being used decisively in favorable weather at a range of about five miles. "In spite ot the increased range and speed and power of the torpedo, which now has a velocity that wouid enable it to reach an object 65U0 vards distant in a little over four minutes and carries a charge of over 300*b of explosive, it is believed that it would take more than one of these missiles to hit a line of battleship in order to put her entirely out of action."