Evening star., 1939-10-16
H. M. S. RoyuI Oak

"War cannot be made without
running risks" wrote Admiral Mahan
In one Of the last articles penned
prior to his death on December l,
1914, and in which the famed author
of "The influence of Sea Power Upon
History" discussed the probable
course of the then barely four month
old World War. It was in the same
philosophical vein that Mahan re-
affirmed the doctrine SO deeply i'm
bedded in him that at is the unre-
mitting daily silent pressure Of naval
force, "'' which has made sea power
so decisive an element in the history
of the world" Then venturing into
the realm of prophecy, Mahan wrote:
I'm any case, the British fleet holds
the decision in its hands, as in the
days of Napoleon, If the allies per-
sist to the end"
Mahan made that forecast in the
middle of October, 1914, on an occa-
sion not unlike Britain's crown
ing naval reverse to date in the pres
ent European war-the summarizing
of H. M. S. Royal Oak, 29,15O-ton
battleship, on Saturday. A German
U-boat had accomplished in 1914 the
amazing feat of torpedoing in one
day three British cruisers-Cressy,
Hogue and Aboukir. Asked by Brit
ish friend to comment on. that
disaster, Mahan expressed surprise
that more such attempts had not
been made, conveying the idea that a
supreme navy, with an immense
preponderance of fleet units of all
categories, naturally offers the enemy
a wide choice of targets.
Britain, in that realization, is
undoubtedly sitting tight today, even
in presence of the Royal Oaks fate,
so soon after that last month of the
Courageous, aircraft carrier, for COM
mand Of the sea is still hers. His
majesty's fleet remains in possession
of fourteen capital ships, of which
eleven are battleships as powerful
as, or more powerful than, the Royal
Oak, while three are far more effec-
tive battle cruisers. The Germans
have three pocket" 10000 tom
battleships, two battle cruisers, two
average battleships and two capital
ships under construction. British
warcraft tonnage now on the stocks
includes nine battleships, five of
them of the King George 35,00O-ton
class and four of the Lion 40,O0O-ton
type carrying sixteen-inch guns.
These new vessels will be commits
stoned progressively in 1910, 1941 and
1912.
Losses sustained by the British
fleet thus far are strategically unim-
portant, because of the rough four
to-one superiority in global tonnage
which it retains over the German
Navy. But it is, of course, obvious
that even the presently supreme"
sea power cannot indefinitely main
tain its advantage if it is subjected
to a succession of losses like those of
the Courageous and the Royal Oak.
That contingency gives point to the
arresting suggestions contributed to
The Sunday Star by Major George
Fielding Eliot. The author of Ram
parts We Watch" points out that
either the anti-submarine measures
and dispositions now being used by
the Royal Navy are seriously made
quate, or the Germans have developed
a new technique for the employment
of their U-boats; perhaps BOTH"
It seems at least possible that the
method invoked by the Germans to
penetrate the special anti-submarine
armored hull with which the Royal
Oak was equipped-visible in the
bulge or "blister" shown in recent
pictures of the battleship-is the
mystery weapon at which Hitler
limited when he boasted the other
day of Nazi ability to thwart the
blockade. But, just as it takes
more than one swallow to make
a summer, 1t takes more than the
loss of one battleship to doom the
British Navy either to despair or de-
feat. In the World War Britain lost
sixteen capital ships-thirteen bat
tleships and three cruisers. Yet the
day came when the proud German
high seas fleet, despite its gallant
performance at Jutland, was to sur
render at Scapa Flow, and later, in a
grandiose suicide gesture, to scuttle
itself in those waters.