giving the lands of the world in black so that they might contrast
with the blue sea? And do you remember that the object of that map
was to prove that all the lands of the world, even the greatest
continents, are surrounded by the ocean, and are in reality islands?
The ocean, therefore, is a single vast sheet of water covering
three-quarters of the globe. A squadron of ships can in a voyage of
about a month go to any point on the coasts of the world. Clearly
then one Navy will suffice for the sea defence of every land in the
British Empire, for if the enemy’s fleet is attacking one part, a
British fleet can go to that part, sure that the opponent fleet
is not in any other part of the world. But if the enemy divided
his fleet then the British fleet can be divided to meet him. The
battleships of Britain are moving fortresses, which can be carried
over three-quarters of the world instead of being fixed at a single
point as they would be if they were on land.
I need hardly remind you, however, that a ship can only keep the
sea while it has coal and food. Therefore, although one Navy is
enough--providing it be strong--for the defence of every part of the
British Empire, yet it is essential that wherever a British fleet
may go it should find at no great distance British ports ready from
time to time to equip it afresh. It is in Britain’s power in one
short month to send a great fleet of battleships to any part of
the ocean where they may be required. They would arrive ready for
action, because at each stage of their journey there would be British
harbours to replenish their stores and to make good defects. On the
direct route to India, for instance, we have Gibraltar, Malta, and
Aden. On the alternative route, round the Cape of Good Hope, are
Sierra Leone, Ascension, St. Helena, Simonstown, and Mauritius.
Therefore, while the Navy defends all parts of the Empire, each part
has also a duty to the Navy.
The most necessary lesson to learn in regard to the sea power of
Britain is that even though no battle fleet should during long years
visit our own waters, yet our commerce and our peace depend upon the
Navy. Owing to the British sea power Hong Kong, for instance, now
stands fourth among all the ports of the world in the tonnage of its
shipping. It is solely because the battleships of the world, except
those of our ally, Japan, are at present in western waters that the
British battleships are concentrated there to watch them.
Do you realise the economy of the British Empire? One Navy defends
one-fifth of all the lands on the globe. Were India and Canada and
Australia and South Africa separate states, each must maintain a
navy, and the navy of each would be useless unless it were strong
enough to contend with the other great navies of the world. Even
the resources of India would not suffice to maintain a great fleet
without very heavy taxation. Indian security and prosperity are at
present wholly in the keeping of the British Navy.
[Sidenote: 3. First-Class Battleship, H.M.S. “Dreadnought.”]
Let us consider that Navy for a few moments as it exists at the
present time. It consists in the first place of battleships, each
bearing a few powerful guns. The ship is partly clad in steel
armour to resist hostile shot. The guns can fire with accuracy to a
distance of several miles. The crew numbers some 800 skilled men. The
engines have the strength of 20,000 horses. The whole vast fortress,
with her regiment of men, can be propelled over the ocean at the
rate of 20 miles an hour. It is clear, however, that the strongest
battleship afloat would run the risk of defeat if she were attacked
simultaneously by several hostile battleships. Therefore, the British
battleships move in squadrons of six or eight, and to ensure victory
these squadrons are grouped in fleets, and all the battle-fleets
of the British Navy are now gathered in Atlantic and Mediterranean
waters, because it happens that just now all other battle-fleets but
that of our ally are collected in those waters. This is the reason
why the British battleships are not distributed--here a ship and
there a ship--over all the world, but are gathered together in one
part. Should occasion require it, they can go together to any other
part. Those, therefore, who ask that battleships should be sent, a
few here and a few there, to defend every threatened port, do not
know the first principle of success in war. If you divide your force,
even a small fleet--if very efficient--might defeat you by fighting
each of your divisions in turn. In war you must concentrate to win.
[Sidenote: 4. First-Class Cruiser. H.M.S. “Carnarvon.”]
So much for the battleship. But here is a ship appearing as large
and important as any battleship. It is a first-class armoured
cruiser. Her engines are, it anything, even more powerful than those
of a battleship. She carries more coal and can keep the sea for a
longer time without returning to port, but her guns are not quite
so powerful as those of a battleship, nor is her armour quite so
thick. There are other cruisers, somewhat less powerful than armoured
cruisers, which are said to be protected, because they carry less
defence against shot, and there are still others known as scouts,
whose name reveals their special purpose. Now what is the object of
these cruisers? This is an important question, because the British
Navy contains more cruisers of one kind and another than battleships,
and yet victory in battle is determined by strength of battleships
more than of cruisers. The first object of a cruiser is to obtain
intelligence for the battleships. Although a battleship can move
fast, yet she cannot move so fast as ships that have not to bear such
vast weights. The cruisers find out for the battleships what is going
on in seas around, and whether the enemy is near. Of course they must
be prepared to fight the enemy’s cruisers, and to prevent them from
approaching to gain information for their own admiral. In these days
cruisers communicate with the battle-fleets by wireless telegraphy,
and by acting together, so that a message is taken up and passed on
by successive ships, an immense area of sea may be covered, and even
the distant position of the enemy’s fleet may be ascertained.
But the cruisers have also another function, which is to defend
commerce. Here again you must not measure the protection given to our
commerce by the frequency with which you see our cruisers. In time
of war it would not as a rule be the duty of cruisers to accompany
or, as a phrase is, to convoy our merchant ships from port to port.
You will remember that we have 9,000 ocean-going steamers, and we
should have to build an immense and costly fleet of cruisers, if we
were going to protect them all by the method of convoy. Let us try to
understand the action of cruisers by comparing them to policemen upon
the land. In almost every community there are a certain number of
thieves, who from time to time break into houses and steal, but we do
not protect our houses by having a policeman always on guard in each.
Our method is to detect the thieves and to arrest them. In other
words, our aim is not so much to defend our houses from robbery, as
to remove the thieves from society. Precisely in the same way our
cruisers would not so much defend our merchantmen, as hunt down and
destroy the cruisers of the enemy who broke the peace of the ocean.
Our aim would be so to clear the water of hostile cruisers that our
liners might steam with the same regularity and certainty in time of
war as in time of peace.
[Sidenote: 5. First-class Destroyer. H.M.S. “Derwent.”]
[Sidenote: 6. Submarine Boat passing the “Victory.”]
Battles at sea are won by the use of battleships to fight and of
cruisers to give information and to prevent the enemy from gaining
information. But near the coast, and even on the high seas when the
larger ships have been injured, there is scope for smaller vessels,
which launch torpedoes against the enemy. Some of these vessels float
on the surface and are known as destroyers. They move with great
speed so as to avoid the enemy’s shot, and their best opportunity is
by night or in thick weather. Others dive below the surface and are
known as submarines. They seek to avoid the enemy by passing out of
his sight, and might thus deliver an attack by day.
Now these are the parts of a fleet. The battleships which do the
serious fighting, the cruisers which cover the battleships, and
the torpedo craft which are used to complete the destruction of an
enemy’s fleet or to defend narrow and difficult waters, where ships
cannot move with speed and freedom.
We need not think, however, that a fleet must always fight. If it
were strong enough, the enemy would not risk a battle, but would take
refuge in his harbours. It would be the duty of a British fleet to
watch these harbours closely in order to attack the enemy at once if
he came out. Our commerce could then proceed peacefully, because the
enemy would have no ships in position to attack it. So you see that a
strong Navy makes for peace, whereas a weak Navy challenges to battle.
Before we leave this picture of a submarine let us note alongside
the old sailing battleship, Nelson’s “Victory.” You see the three
white stripes along her sides, each pierced by many portholes. In
the time of Nelson there was a gun in each porthole, so that the old
battleship sailed upon the wind and fought with many small guns.
[Sidenote: 7. Collier shipping Coal at Cardiff.]
Nowadays a fleet moves by steam and consumes much coal. The best coal
for fighting purposes is that which gives little smoke, and thus
does not reveal a fleet to the enemy or obscure tactical signalling.
Nearly all the smokeless coal of the world is got from South Wales in
the British Islands. Here is a steam collier shipping such coal at
the port of Cardiff. This vessel carries about 2,300 tons of coal,
and can be loaded in two hours. Each of the four tips which you see
is capable of shipping a 10-ton waggon every minute, so that the
ship receives 40 tons a minute. One of our great fleets, such as the
Mediterranean Fleet consumes about a shipload of coal every day. Thus
you realise of what significance would be coaling stations of the
Indian Ocean should it ever again be necessary to send a battle-fleet
into our waters.
[Sidenote: 8. Quarter-deck of H.M.S. “Majestic” showing 12-inch guns.]
[Sidenote: 9. Six-gun in action.]
[Sidenote: 10. The same.]
[Sidenote: 11. Gun in action (Marines.)]
[Sidenote: 12. Hoisting projectiles.]
Now let us go quickly through a few typical scenes on a man-of-war
and let us learn something of the life of the sailors who navigate
and fight her. This is the quarter-deck of His Majesty’s Ship,
“Majestic.” The two guns which you see have a bore 12 inches in
diameter. Here is a 6-inch quick firing gun with her crew in battle
position. Do you see the men to the left who are hoisting the
ammunition from the depths of the ship? Here is a nearer view of
the same gun. And here yet another with the gun’s crew, this time
not of bluejackets, but of marines. Every large man-of-war carries
a certain number of men trained to act as soldiers who are called
marines. These help to fight her guns and are sent ashore should it
be necessary to land a force to deal with some local difficulty. Here
we have yet another scene on deck where seamen, or bluejackets as
they are called, are hoisting ammunition from the magazine.
[Sidenote: 13. Officers of H.M.S. “Fawn” in oilskins.]
[Sidenote: 14. Lieutenant of H.M.S. “Fawn” in lammy suit.]
[Sidenote: 15. Cleaning arms, H.M.S. “Diadem.”]
[Sidenote: 16. Morning Prayer.]
[Sidenote: 17. Sub-Lieutenants at Field-Gun Drill.]
Men-of-war are built of steel. They are moved by coal and steam,
and their guns fire armour-piercing projectiles and shells filled
with high explosives. But there is one other substance essential
to a fleet, and that is brain. A gun, however powerful, is useless
unless the gunner aims with accuracy. A ship, however speedy, is
comparatively useless unless handled with skill. A fleet, however
numerous, may be defeated unless controlled by a good admiral.
Therefore the greatest importance is attached in the British Navy to
the efficiency of the men and the officers. It takes several years to
make a seaman, and a bluejacket serves for no less than 12 years,
but it takes longer to make an officer. He begins to learn as a boy,
and he is always afterwards learning. He is taught by his seniors in
the service. Therefore you will understand that no nation can build
up an effective navy very quickly. For, in the first instance, it
has no officers to teach those who come after. Even at the end of
several years it could only have a few officers of skill. So you will
understand that it has taken several generations to train the great
service to which the naval officers of Britain belong. Here are four
of them in their waterproofs on a wet or rough day. Here is another
in thick clothing for a colder day. Here, to the left of the picture,
is a warrant officer superintending his men while they clean their
rifles. And here, to give you an idea of the comradeship of the men
who spend their lives together in the small space of a ship and in
the presence of danger, is a scene on deck when the ship’s crew are
mustered for morning prayer. One last slide and we must turn from the
navy to the army. Here are some sub-lieutenants at field-gun drill
upon the land. It often happens that our ships must send men ashore
to fight in our land wars, because, naturally, our men-of-war are
very frequently first on the spot, and if the enemy does not threaten
a sea-fight, the sailors are free to defend or to attack before the
soldiers arrive. You may, perhaps, remember that in the South African
war there was a naval brigade at the defence of Ladysmith.
If you have followed me thus far, I think that you will have little
difficulty in understanding the part in the defence of the Empire
which has to be played by our land forces. If you have fully realised
the necessity for concentrating battleships into great fleets, and
for using cruisers boldly to hunt down the commerce destroyers of the
enemy, you will have learnt that incidentally most of the shores of
the Empire are at times laid open, perhaps not to invasion in force,
but at least to raids by hostile cruisers and small military forces
escorted by them. It would be very costly to tie adequate fleets to
every threatened point. In nine cases out of ten the whole war would
go by, and the enemy would never come into the neighbourhood of such
a tied force. Moreover, defeat in the crucial battle would be risked
in this attempt to give to every commercial centre the protection for
which in panic it cried out.
[Sidenote: 18. Cape Town.]
The alternative is to free the fleet for its proper purpose of
attacking the enemy and clearing him from the ocean, by providing
such land forces in each locality as shall suffice to deal with
any likely attack. More especially is it needful to protect the
coaling and refitting stations of the fleet, in order that in each
sea the ships may find the refreshment they require, and may not
have to return to distant ports while the enemy’s cruisers are left
unwatched. Here, for instance, is Cape Town, a quite likely refuge
for our damaged ships in certain contingencies. It might happen,
though it is not very probable, that Cape Town should be seized by a
hostile raiding force, whose aim was to injure the trade going round
the Cape to Australia and New Zealand. Now it is clear that if a
British cruiser squadron had to watch the Cape it could not hunt for
the enemy’s cruisers in the adjoining ocean. In time of war it might
therefore be needful, under certain circumstances, to maintain in
Cape Town and its neighbourhood such a land force as would suffice to
deny the Cape harbours to the enemy. This is called the local defence
of the Empire.
[Sidenote: 19. New South Wales Lancers.]
[Sidenote: 20. Royal Canadian Artillery.]
[Sidenote: 21. A Bengal Lancer.]
[Sidenote: 22. Madras Lancers.]
[Sidenote: 23. Bombay Artilleryman.]
[Sidenote: 24. A Goorkha.]
In various parts of British Territory we find local armies intended
for the purpose here described. In this slide, for instance, we have
a troop of New South Wales Lancers, as typical of the Australian
Forces of the King. In the next is a battery of Canadian Artillery
passing through a street in Ottawa when the winter snow is on the
ground. Then we come to the great Indian Army. It is composed,
as you know, of soldiers of many different races--of Englishmen
and Scotchmen, who used formerly to fight with one another in
the British Isles--and of such peoples as the Marathas and the
Mohammedans, who used formerly to fight with one another in India.
All are now combined for the defence of the Empire, so that there
may be peace and order from the Himalayas to the ocean. Here we have
a Bengal Lancer, wearing a medal which he has won in the service
of the Emperor; and here a group of Madras Lancers--as you see by
their stripes non-commissioned officers. Then follows a Bombay
Artilleryman, with a whole row of medals on his breast, a man who has
seen repeated service in the defence of his country. And then again
we have a Goorkha. These four representatives of the Indian Army,
from the east, the south, the west and the north, must suffice to
remind us of the part we play in the great defensive scheme of the
Empire.
[Sidenote: 25. Hong Kong Regiment.]
[Sidenote: 26. Malay States Guides.]
[Sidenote: 27. West India Regiment.]
There are many other local forces in our various lands. Here for
instance are some Sikhs of the Hong Kong Regiment, and then we have
a private of the Malay States Guides. Then, crossing half the world,
from the east to the west, we come to a soldier of the West Indian
Regiment, who serve both in the West Indies and in West Africa.
This man we may note is a sergeant, and he wears the Victoria Cross
for conspicuous courage. The Victoria Cross may be won either by an
officer or a private, a soldier or a sailor, of any race throughout
the world which serves in the Armies or the Navy of our Emperor.
[Sidenote: 28. West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 29. Soldier of West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 30. Mounted Infantry in the Kano-Sokoto Expedition, 1903.]
There are other forces in West Africa besides the West Indian
Regiment. Here, for instance, is the Lagos Battalion of the West
African Frontier Force drawn up on the Parade Ground at Lagos. And
here is a soldier of the Gambia Company of the same force. There are
frequent small wars in the wilder parts of the West African Colonies
and Protectorates, one of which, Nigeria, is half as large as India,
though of course not so populous.
Here is a scene typical of the varied difficulties which have to be
met by the very varied army of our King. Mounted Infantry of West
African soldiers, commanded by white officers, have arrived at some
wells, one of which is to be seen at the foot of the officer on the
right. Unfortunately on this occasion a caravan with cattle had
passed and drawn all the water, so that the column had to move on
another 10 or 12 miles. Such are the difficulties to be encountered
on the frontiers of the Empire. It is evident that local men will
meet these difficulties most easily. Each race knows its own land
best. Therefore, while the King has one Navy to defend the whole
Empire, he has many Armies in its different parts. Both the Navy and
the Armies are essential to one another. As long as the Navy keeps
the sea, no great force can invade the British Empire, except on its
two land frontiers. On the other hand, the Navy can only be free to
command the sea if the King’s subjects in each land are prepared to
defend the Naval Bases should it be necessary.
[Sidenote: 31. Map of World showing position of important campaigns
on land since 1660.]
There is one thing more, however, to be added. Battleships and
cruisers can sail over all the ocean, except where covered with
the northern and the southern ice. Three-quarters of the world,
therefore, lies open to them. But battleships and cruisers cannot
sail over the plains and the mountains. It is, hence often necessary,
when the enemy has been defeated at sea, to land a British Army in
order to achieve a given end. In this map each red dot, and you see
how many there are, marks the position of a land campaign fought by
Britain in the last two centuries and a-half. The most striking fact
is that no dot is placed in the British Isles. There were a few small
battles fought in Britain during the first hundred years of this
time, but no great campaigns in the sense that there were British
campaigns on the mainlands of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Had
all the small wars been inserted, some parts of the continents would
have been coloured red all over, for the dots would have joined. Now
I think we may draw this conclusion from the map--that the British
Navy has saved the British Isles from war on land, but that the
British Army has often carried war into the country of its opponents.
The Army is now stationed chiefly in India, because of the Indian
Land Frontier in the north-west, and in the British Isles, but
portions of it are also in Gibraltar, in Malta, in Egypt, in South
Africa, and in other parts.
You will remember, of course, that when we visited London in the
second of these Lectures, we came repeatedly to the names Trafalgar
and Waterloo. Trafalgar was Britain’s culminating victory on the
ocean. It was fought by a fleet of battleships in order to free the
ocean from Britain’s enemies, and to allow her commerce to grow and
her Colonies to have peace, although there was war on the continent
of Europe. The battle of Waterloo was Britain’s great victory on the
land, fought in Europe by her Army and that of her allies ten years
after Trafalgar. The Colonies had peace by reason of Trafalgar, but
Waterloo brought the war to an end.
[Sidenote: 32. Battle of Trafalgar, showing types of ships.]
[Sidenote: 33. Death of Nelson, showing types of sailors.]
[Sidenote: 34. Wellington at Waterloo.]
[Sidenote: 35. Battle of Waterloo, British squares prepared to resist
cavalry.]
[Sidenote: 36. South African Battlefield--soldiers taking cover on
the Veldt.]
[Sidenote: 37. South African Light Horse crossing a River.]
[Sidenote: 38. A Field Battery fording a River.]
[Sidenote: 39. Royal Engineers building a Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 40. Night-Signalling from an Armoured Train.]
[Sidenote: 41. Armoured Train under Fire.]
Let us look for a moment at the kind of Navy and Army which won
these victories. Here is an old print of the Battle of Trafalgar,
showing the sailing ships, and the many guns in their sides. Here
is the copy of a picture of the death of the great Admiral Nelson,
who fell in the moment of victory at Trafalgar, giving his life
for his King. Here next is a picture of Wellington at the battle of
Waterloo. The battles of those days were strangely different from
the battles of our time, for rifles and guns had not then a precise
aim. Here, for instance, are the close ranks of the British infantry,
formed in square at Waterloo. That is Wellington, on horseback,
speaking to them. Now look at the next picture. It is a battle-field
in South Africa. The men do not even stand up; they lie apart from
one another, each taking shelter behind some convenient obstacle. In
this particular case the obstacles are ant-hills, which are frequent
in the veldt of South Africa. Here are other scenes in the South
African War. First we have South African Light Horse crossing a
river; then a field battery fording a river. The uniforms of the men
are not red, as we saw them at Waterloo, but “khaki,” that they may
be indistinguishable from the ground, and may not present a target
for the hostile marksmen. Here are Royal Engineers building a bridge,
with floating pontoons, in the case of a river which is too deep to
be forded. And so we come to scenes in which greater and greater
skill and science are needed and not courage alone. It is for this
reason that preparation is needful, and that the Army must be trained
and maintained during peace. We have, for instance, here an armoured
train on the railway, bearing an electric light, wherewith in the
night-time it searches the ground for opponents, and by throwing the
beam of light on to the clouds, signals to friends in the distance.
Here is the same train under attack.
[Sidenote: 42. Firing big Gun on Land.]
[Sidenote: 43. Cavalry charging at Laing’s Nek.]