The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-11
n, WV. LEDYARD CATmCARr.
~HE feeling grows perceptibly."

says " i'uhiiiS udhy
paper. that the submarine
is the naval weapon of the
future To the lay mind there Is
much 90 inspire this feeling in the
spectacular, IL relatively i%nfrequent,
success of German submarines in at
tack on British warships.
The battleship OF to-day Is. like the
ship Of the line Of all ages, the most
effective combination OF power to
strike and strength to resist which Il
Is possible ut this time to float and
drive at fair speed. When such a
mobile fortress. carrying nearly a
thousand men. IL sunk in a few min
utes by n torpedo fired from an unseen
submarine the swiftness and complete
ress Of the tragedy shock the world.
and the helplessness of the huge ship
against such n stilettolike blow from
the depths may well stir the question::
us not the dreadnought's day done?"
This question has been asked before
more than forty years ago. when the
Whitehead torpedo. the ancestor OF the
savage slayer Of to-day, first appeared.
The British Admiralty OF that time
answered II with the announcement
that England would build no more bat
tleships; that the new weapon would
drive them from the seas. And vet in
the years since then. although the au-
tomobile torpedo has made marvellous
advances In speed. range and deadli-
ness, the battleship has more than held
It's own In its steady progress from
the primitive Monitor type to the
e,parJroa a ,a,tukt. a. Nu.
OF our time. To-day both England and
Germany are building dreadnoughts
with furious energy, and the General
Board Of the United States navy said
IN its last annual report:
"What has been true throughout all
naval wars Of the past and what ia
equally true to-day Is that the back
hone OF any navy that can command
the sea consists Of the strongest sea-
going. s~eakeeping ships Of its day
that is. Of its battleships.'
To the great body OF naval men.
therefore, the assumption that the SUBJ
marine has been a cardinal factor in
the purely military work Of this war
seems unwarranted Except in the
fact that they have imposed a nerve
wracking watchfulness and an ncea
Ing aircraft and destroyer patrol the
effect Of German submarines in pre-
venting or obstructinR materially the
major operations Of the British fleet
has been practically negligible.
The primary function Of a battle
feet IN war Is to gain and hold COM
mand OF the sea, for that command
means that h enemy's fleet will be
penned up or destroyed. that his mill
tary expeditions for invasion care
not put TO sea, that his fast cruisers
cannot escape to ravage the trade
routes, that his ports will he block
AIDED his merchant marine swept from
the ocean n his overseas possessions
ISOLATED and reduced. All this and
more the British fleet has done.
England's naval mobilization a day
before war began found the German
Meet momentarlly dnready and vir-
tuatly imprisoned 1t in it's home ports.
No one except Admiralty officials and
the German spy system knows the
exact location of Admiral Jellicoe's
force. II may be on the north coast
OF Ireland. in the Orkneys or else
where. But. wherever 1t Is, its silent
guns by the mere dread OF their still
latent power have held German naval
strength in leash.
Strategically that fleet has been a
main, II not the chief. factor in the
western theatre Of war in protecting
the French seaboard. in covering the
landing of British troops IL France
and in keeping England itself from in
vaslon. AS the London Times say
The British navy set free the whole
military forces Of the empire"-and all
this despite the submarine. which dur
ing ten months OF war has sunk only
about ten British warships. and these
successful. attacks were made either
under cover Of darkness formidable
and Triumph) or on ships steaming