The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1915-04-01
New York.-The Herald's naval


which it's main interest centers first
in one part of the world and then in
another. Something like eight thou
sand miles separated the scene of
the battle off the Falkland Islands and
that off the Dogger bank, while on
land attention is riveted at one time
on the Belgian coast or the campaign
in Lorraine, and at another in the
Carpathians or on a life-and-death
struggle in Poland This week the
minds of both naval and military
watchers of the conflict have been di-
rected to the Dardanelles, the gates
of Asia. There another phase of the
worldwide war is opening, the effect
of which no man can tell
Each of the contending empires in
the conflict possesses an advantage
which in a measure compensate one
the other. While Britain holds the
command of the sea. Germany has the
interior position on land. which en-
ables her to strike alternately heavy
blows on either front. She also has
been able, with the assistance of Aus
tria and Turkey, and aided by the
geographical conditions, to drive
wedge between the communications of
her enemies which extends from the
North sea almost to the Indian ocean.
The movement in the Mediterranean
indicates the determination on the
part of the superior sea power to cut
that wedge in two.
The strategic importance of the
straits between Europe and Asia has
been recognized from very ancient
times 1t was on the Chersonese, the
peninsula on the western side of the
straits, that the Turks got their first
foothold in Europe. 1t may very well
be that if it now falls into the hands
of Great Britain its occupation by
British troops will mean the uproot-
ing of the last vestige of Ottoman rule
in the northern continent. There are
at least indications of the development
of a farreaching operation from both
efds of the Sea of Marmora, having
for its purpose the expulsion of the
Turk from Constantinople.
There are other objects of first-class
importance to be obtained from sue
cessful attack on the Dardanelles. Now
that the Archangel route is closed by
ice, communication between Russia
and her allies has almost entirely
ceased. There is no outlet for the
immense supplies of corn and oil of
which they are in want and which she
could furnish. and. on the other hand,
the only source of supply of the mu-
nitions of war, which she cannot man.
| ufacture herself must be brought over
the long and difficult road from Vladi-
l vostok and Hardin. The opening of
/ the Dardanelles and the Bosporus
must have, therefore, an immediate
! and important effect both in the west
ern and eastern theaters of war. Nor
can it be doubted that a substantial
| gain of this character to Germany's
foes would directly influence the ma
tons which have been for so long hes
| itating about entering the war. All
the Balkan States would be affected
considerably, and while Greece could
scarcely stand still with Russia at the
gates of Constantinople, Italy might
we'll feel that this sharp stroke re-
moved the last doubt as regarding the
side with which she should be acting.
] OF the operation itself, although the
Dardanelles have long been regard
ed as impregnable, it is more than
likely that as other fortresses have
failed to maintain their security
against the modern materials of war,
so those in the straits will be over
whelnied by the mass of explosives
hurled upon them from the long-range
artillery of the battleships of today
When the forts in the straits were
planned ships were dependent upon
the wind and they carried guns which
could not compare in power with
those mounted in the land batteries
When Vice-Admiral Duckworth took
a British squadron through the straits
in 1907 his vessels were assailed with
huge shots, some of them weighing SOC
pounds, but even these heavy missiles
did little damage. Today the British
ships will throw shells filled with high
explosives, each more than double the
weight of the shot thrown at Vice-Ad
miral Duckworth's ships, and the de
struction wrought by such missiles
will be UNNECESSARILY greater.
Moreover it is unnecessary for the
ships themselves to approach neal
enough to be injured by the shore bat
teries, even if the guns in these have
been somewhat augmented from Ger
man sources. 1t is already announced
that the forts at the mouth of tn,
straits, about two miles apart, hav,
been crumbled into atoms, and thos,
in the narrows, further up, can be sim
ilarly treated at ranges at which tn,
ships themselves will be comparative
: ~ immune. There remain other oh
structions in the shape of mines il
the channel. but that these have beer
= located by the British submarines il
. certain, and their removal should b.
no difficult task. Once the passage i
] clear for the ships of war, and these ar
: of Gallipoli, the remainder of tn
business is simple.
With the numbers and compositio,
OF the Turkish garrison in the Ga
=