The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1919-01-25
The True Nature Of Sea Power

standing OF the true role OF sea power
In war aud OF the manner In which 1t
IL exerted. Merely because there has
been only one fleet sction-at Jut-
land-and that apparently more or
less indecisive In character, 1t is not
Uncommon to hear it said that the
navies of the world have played a
very small part In this war. AS a
matter Of fact, sea power has been de-
cisive; II the Allies had not held con-
troll Of the sea from first to last, Ger
many would have won the war long
ago.
4 Sea power is an imperturbable and
shoiseless force. Great sea battles are
srare; in all the twenty years OF the
sNapoleonic wars there were only
fhree-Abukir, Copenhagen and Traf-
hlgar. That il because naval warfare
Us carried on In ships OF special con-
sstruction that cannot easily be re-
placed. Defeat at sea is n more SER
4ous matter than defeat OH land, for
Il cannot 30 readily be recovered
from. Therefore, the weaker fleet us
ially tries to avoid battle, ,oaless 1t
Ian take n part OF its enemy's force
unaware; and the nature OF warfare
ht sea is such that ordinarily a battle
can he avoided long tim. without
exposing your country to invasion.
In the present war the German navy
has never felt strong enough to chai-
l.nge its enemy. 1t made n single
sortie against the British fleet, but
from that experiment 1t learned
enough to discourag. 1t from trying
again. After the American navy had
been joined to the British the pros
pect for German victory was still
more hopeless. When the war end
ed nothing larger than n submarine
had shown itself outside Helgoinnd
for months.
But sea power does not depend on
winning battles. On land u general
must aim at destroying his enemy's
army; an admiral does all that is
necessary If he keeps his opponent
shut up In port. His sole aim is to
make the seas safe for his own COM
merce and useless to the commerce
OF the enemy.
because the British fleet kept the
seas 1t was possible to transport mil
lions OF British soldiers and millions
OF tons Of ammunition and coal into
France. Because the British fleet
held ths sea the food on which Bri-
tain depended poured steadily in at
its seaports. because the Allied
fleets still ruled the sea the American
army. which, we may fairly say. has
turned the scale Of victory, WAS able
to cross three Thousand miles Of
ocean and take its place In the battle
line. Without the help that came to
it across the Channel and the Attain
tic France alone could not have with
stood the German millions. II the
British control Of the sea had failed
for even q few weeks, Britain would
have starved.
Moreover, the Allied fleets main
tained blockade that gradually
wore down the enemy's stock Of war
supplies. Few countries can exist
and fight without depending more or
less on sess borne commerce, and
Germany is not one of the few. Cot
ton, rubber, copper, Oil-th"ss and
other things that are, needed In
modern warfRre-the Germans could
not get In sufficient quantity because
the seas were closed to them. The
submarines were the desperate ans
wer Of the Kaiser to the quiet. re-
lentless pressure OF the superior
Allied fleets, and they failed.
The war has not produced its
Nelson. for there has been no oppor-
tunity for the brilliant exploits that
made Nelson famous; but sea power
is vindicated more strikingly than
ever before. IL made the winning Of
the war first possible and then cer-
tain.-Youth's Companian.
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