A MIMIC NAVAL WAR.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10449, 20 September 1901, Page 1

A MIMIC NAVAL WAR.

4-. • -*n :—: — " , - The recent 4BKti«h naval 'manoeuvres , tided, somewhat 'cK|eonc«rting]w, in a ; victoiy -for 'tho 'fleet "representing the i enemy of" England." They emphasised ' the gravity^of one or two initial- disas- ~~ t*jnr in a naval- war, and proved, as previou* .manoeuvre* had already done, that ■ for Great Britain* safety in war she - must have -not"»J>ai» preponderance of one or twjir 'sHipa, but a" gre«t superiority Ottierwiso one' or 'two 'reverses at ,-* . thY outset must 'prove fatal.' In this /- year's . manjguvres the X, or hostile [ test, started 'with a slightly inferior ' force, bnt as he strnck the B, 'or Brit-, ish fleet,"-' in detachments — after the

manner of Brother Boer — he. was able to score victory after .victory. The B< j fleet, we are told, was reduced to aim- ■': tarty steaming to and fro. Whenever r B tried to attack X, the latter slipped W;. behind «nd dealt a crushing blow at a j* week detachment, and in the end X „ finished np with* all Bs cruisers and ■*'-*- torpedo craft theoretically at the bot- \ , torn of the sea, and with his own ships r.'~of thj*e types intact. The result is a y- utriMjnw commentary .on the importance ;• ?- of »-Blblful ilisposHion of liis forces by the Admiral in command. As for actual casualties at the manoeuvres, these were not very numerous, though damages to torpedo craft of one sort or another rail up. a fairly big bill. Among the destroyers, especially, there were almost daily breakdowns, the frequency of which , showed- that" the torpedo-boat destroyer mt ..present was rather too weak a reed to place much reliance on in actual warfare. The wreck of the destroyer Viper, the fastest vessel in the whole world, was .a sensational incident of the maiuenvrc*. It will be remembered that she -ran aground off Alderney while steaming through a fog at a speed of 35 knot3v and had her bottom .ripped en- J tirely out by the force with which she struck. The Daily Mail considers the - great speed rather an extenuating feature of' the disaster than otherwise, because it meant "that tho officers in charge of the vessel had courage- and initiative, .and did not fear responsibility," Two other important features of tho manoeuvres may be noted, namely tho X. fleet's demonstration of" the ability of fast cruisers to keep them■elves right' out of reach of heavy battleships, and the comparative failure of water-tubs boilers, the risks attending the use of which were startlinply. demonstrated time and again during, the mimic war. .