New-York tribune., 1918-11-20
The Day - at Lo,,
BY Frank H. Simonds

ailei Tor the gigantic surrsnss' ss''
which to-day destroys German boa e'i'et
wrestling the control of the seas Ssss Of
Great {, Britain. After lama the I,'a csa
thaginian state accepted peace 81 H. "a,
terms of which all their haiti. as
save ten galleys, were surrepda..s sees
the Romans. SO persisted tho lass %
Gus challenge by any organized s... 's'''
Roman world supremacy for MAN. %
turies. esA'
1t is much less than a eeno,.s
since the Kaiser issued his chalsas' 's'''a
the British in that historic snsass 81 %
which he declared that the f,,t,,s y
Germany was upon the seas. And
that hour almost to the present cs,s .sa
naval officers have drunk to The ,'ss nass
when British mastery of the ~,
should be destroyed And it is less ts'a ~
two years and half ago that the ~ ;l'a
visiting his battle feet after Jutlars '@'''
rogantly and mendaciously procls;., a,
1nat the goal mad been attained, the 4.
clslon of Trafalgar abolished w
We see now how foolish vo.
claim. Ignorant still of the comuar.,S s'
losses on that memorable occasio, '
know that from that hour onwsrs !, ~
German fleet never again risked h..a 4,'
with the great enemy. More tbar s:' ~:
when all was lost on land. We o,.
formed that the sailors of the b,.,,.
fleet mutinied rather than obev ords,
to follow the example of Cervera at S.s
tlago and go out to certain destruc,i.,
rather than surrender ignominiouslv -
Whatever the immediate c;r.n..
stances of Jutland, then, its con..
quences were exactly those of Trsf.l
gar. Sea power remained in the o0s
troll of the British. The blockaao :,
Germany was not broken. From its,.
in the north of the British Isles the O,,,,
British fleet maintained its guard vbl.
behind its screen the merchant fleet and
the lesser warships conveyed 22yOOOm
Of Allied soldiers to the scene of b.,+l,
Starving at home, overwhelmed by the
mass of fresh troops brought from evs,v
quarter of the globe, Germany's military
power wasted away to the hour whe,
nothing was left but to 90 to Senlis a,a
surrender, as Lee surrendered at An
pomattox Court House.
When on August l the British battls
feet, already modified, moved to IL
battle station the war at sea was Lost
to Germany. Within a few brief month,
the last of the German ships at sea had
been sunk or forced to intern. The
German flag had disappeared from the
ocean. Winston Churchill and many
other orators uttered foolish words about
digging the rats out" but these words
missed the whole fact of the situatiey
Unless Germany could win a Salanh
her doom was sealed The British paw
had taken her by the throat and would
hold her until Allied armies could be
organized and could perform their task
The submarine war was deadly peril,
only imperfectly perceived at the out
set. 1t was the deadliest thrust of Ger.
many after her defeat at the Marns
But this threat, too, the British navy
met, gallantly aided by both The
French and American navies, and even
this precious aid was slight. The sea
phase was the British share, the British
job, and how we'll it was performed we
see to-day when the pick of the enemys
fleet, the best Of that armada so care
fully prepared against the day of Ger
man reckoning, sails to British ports
there to surrender without firing shot
Here is a new vindication of all that
Mahan asserted in the days before the
present conflict. Here is an ultimate
demonstration of the real power Of Brit
ain. Her fleet has saved the war, her
fleet has won the war, not by TrataF
gar or Salamis, just as the Germans
have not attempted an Egospotani-
unless Jutland was such venture Ba'
after four years of ceaseless pressure
unbroken blockade, without battle Ias
German fleet has surrendered On lle
most ignominious terms in all naval nA'
tory of modern times.
Had the German armies triumphed Oh
land to the extent that those Of Napols0A
triumphed the World War might ns~
lasted as long as the wars Of the slss
Emperor Only victory on land cou~
complete the victory on the water. O'
while the British fleet retained cohu~
of the seas the opportunity was away
preserved against the moment wnen
could be embraced
None Of us knows to-day. quite WHO.
the phrase "freedom of the seSs
means. But we do know quite anas
takably what the freedom of the WV"
means, and we are having spread Osi''
US at this hour an impressive oeHS-
stration of how that freedom Ol -
world has heen nreserved Between