Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-06
NELSON'S TACTICS
OR FARRAGUTS?
Experts Believe British and
American Navies Can Take
Helgoland
BY HARRY MERRILL HITCHCOCK

Former Ensign, United States Navy.
Reprinted by permission Of The Editor Of The
Nary aud Mcrchdm MdriHC.
(ENIAYBE I'm all wrong, but if I were
M Admiral Jellcoe 1 don't think I could
have hung around in the North Sea for two
solid years without going over to Helgoland
Just once and heaving a couple of shells
at II to see what would happen and make
sure the goods were really there AS adj
vertised'
That is n fairly accurate report Of the
remarks dropped casually by a certain Of
ficer Of the United States navy.
The entrance of the United States into
the world war did more than increase the
already overwhelming preponderance of the
Allied fleets it re-enfOrced the fleet whose
greatest hero is Nelson with the fleet whose
greatest hero is Farragut.
Nelson's two greatest achievements were
the victories Of Aboukir and Trafalgar
Before AboulIir he lay outside of ToulOn
waiting for the French fleet TO come out
They did come out eluded him and got as
far as Egypt before he caught and smashed
them Seven years later. before Trafalgar,
in precisely the same fashion, he waited
outside for Villeneuve, and ultimately
chased them as far as the West Indies and
back before catching them at Trafalgar.
Farraguts two greatest achievements
were the capture of New Orleans and the
victory of Mobile Bay. His problem before
each of them was fundamentally the same
as Nelson's. Farragut's solution, however,
differed radically from Nelson's. He did
not wait outside for his enemy; he went
in after him.
The comparison may not be entirely fair
to the great British admiral But we are
not merely making a historical compari-
son between two men; we are using them
as typical representatives, each of the ira
ditional naval strategy of which he is the
greatest hero. Nelson's strategy has been,
with few exceptions, the standard British
naval strategy; It has been the British
strategy during three years of this pres
ent war Farraguts strategy was also
that of Dahlgren at Charleston and Porter
at Fort Fisher it was the strategy of
Dewey at Manila and there are men now
on the bridges Of our dreadnoughts who
followed that great pupil Of Farragut into
Manila Bay on that memorable May morn
ing.
No Fortress Impregnable
The principles of naval strategy never
change. The problem of the submarine
Is simply the latest and most sinister form
! Of a problem as old as naval warfare.
| While Nelson lay outside Toulon and Brest
and St Nazaire swarms of privateers is
| sued from those ports and played such
| havoc with British commerce on the seven
| seas as the submarines in proportion to
| their opportunities. have yet 10 approach.
I
went into Mobile Bay those two ports were
! nests of blockade-runners and raiders; but
when he had finished with the nests the
| wasps troubled him no more
| In considering, an alternative to this
J strategy we can safely concentrate, for the
! present at least, upon Helgoland, That
! little rocky islet in the North Sea, fifty
! miles frona- the mouth OF the Iclbe and
| sauarely in the center Of the widening path
| by which most Of the raiders go out to sea
| Is the obvious first point of attack.
We have no means Of knowing in detail
| just what are the defenses of Helgo-
There are officers Of the United States
4 navy. indeed. who will tell you that they
| no more believe in the existence of an
| impregnable fortress than of an unsink-
able shin. AS one Of them recently put Il :
4 Every fortress is impregnable--until
somebody comes along and takes II"
The Confederate ironclads and torpedoes
| and Davids In the Civil War had as fear
| some a grip on the popular imagination in
the North as the German submarines and
| mines have everywhere now. The Ger
mans know far more about mines and sub
marines than the Confederates did, but. we
know as much more about guarding against
| them.
The U-boats know more about the game
now than they did then, but 80 DO We The
/ british have ofeduaiIy and nainfuIIt
! learned their leaSen How long has II htti