Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-12-19
Frederick Palmer Points Out
Lessons of the Euro
pean War.
Says America Is at the Mercy
of the Sea
:
Powers.
BY FREDERICK PALMER.

We need not theorize. The open book
of experience of the greatest war in all
history is before us to profit by. Every
arm by land and sea has been tried
out by the foremost military nations
of the world. The lessons l bring are
those of practice in Europe as applied
to our country
First. the navy, which is our prime
defense. because we shall never be at
tackled by Canada or Mexico, and there
fore. never attacked by land until our
navy loses command of the seas. Ev-
cry navy recruiting poster that is put
up, whether in Kansas or Maine; every
beat of a riveter on the plates of bat
tleship. every gun drill, has only one
object, the test of decisive battle.
which may last only half an hour. To
win we must have everything model
navy requires. for we face navies which
are prepared in every detail.
Gun Power Wins Battle.
Gun power, speed and range have won
every naval action fought so far. They
have kept the command of the seas
for England.
Gun power means the destruction OF
your enemy when you have him within
reach OF your guns. Speed means that
you can overtake him If you are
stronger than. he and escape from him
if he is stronger than you. Range
means the same thing as a reach TO
boxer-that you can land a blow when
the enemy's falls short. If your shells
carry 10000 yards and his only 1S,00O
and you have the speed OF him, you
stand off out of danger and batter his
ships into the sea.
When this war began, two European
ID-Se oh, ii
army, were certainly prepared. Mark
the result British soil and German
soil are free of the invaders heel.
Has Stuck to Essentials.
The British navy has stuck to three
essentials = speed, gun power and
range. We have not. The British ad-
miralty INDUCED in no illusions and
no extravagances of construction. 1t
did not simply build navy; it made
sure of its superiority in speed, gun
power and range. Such is the tradition
of the British navy and such was ours
until recently. In the war of 1872 we
aimed to outsail our enemy and at the
same time to hi. harder than he could.
If, for the last ten years the British
navy had followed the naval policy of
the United States in its building and
organization. despite Britain's superior
tonnage, Germany, not England. would
command the sea today: the Euro
pean war would be oyer-Germany the
victor. England has built according
to the plans of her experts, whose
plans in peace worked out in war prac-
tically as they had foreseen.
Preparedness the Keynote.
England's Who'll naval policy can be
expressed in determination not only
to have more force than the other fell
low, but to have it ready. And we are
not ready. She has kept ahead of the
Germans in guns. speed and range. She
has led and the other nations have fol-
lowed
What better lessons in naval prepar-
edness than the three important ac-
tons which she has fought at sea in
the present war? The first she lost for
want of the three great essentials; the
two others she won because she had
them. The greatest of the three has
been the speed of the battle cruiser.
which has almost the gun power and
the same range as the dreadnaught.
Battle Cruiser the Big Factor.
The battle cruiser, not the submarine,
not the seaplaue. has been the big
naval factor in this war SO far OFF
the coast of Chile Admiral Cradock,
with the Good Hope, twelve years old.
$4,000 tons, speed of twenty-three
knots and two s.2-inch and sixteen g.
inch guns: the Monmouth, with fourteen
6-inch guns and the Sa me speed; the lit
tie cruiser Glasgow and the armed liner
Otranto. faced Admiral Won Spec, who
had the modern armored cruisers the
Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst and
light cruisers the Dresden, the Leipsic
and the Nurnberg. The Scharnhorst
and the Gneisenau had. together. six
teen modern s.2-inch guns.
Only two Anticipated 9.2-inch guns of
the Good Hope could reach the Ger
mans: her skies could not. The Ger
mans Fights had the range and the
power. 1t did not matter that Admiral
Cradock was brave; the other fellow
had the reach.
Why the Glasgow Escaped.
Crawling along after the Cradock
squadron was the Campus. This ven