THE DEVELOPMENT OF NAVIES.* Tills is not nearly so ambitious
a work as that by Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, on The Influence of Sea- Power upon History, which made so great an impression on that section of the reading public which is interested in naval progress. For one thing, it deals with a much more limited period. Captain Mahan's volume covered the naval history of Europe and America between 1660 and 1783, whereas Captain Eardley-Wilmot deals simply with the development of Navies during the past half-century. Nor, of course, is Captain Eardley-Wilmot's work so elaborate and exhaustive as Lord Brassey's British Navy. On the other hand, it has all the terseness and point of a skilful study of a matter-of-fact subject by a practical man. "The present year," he says, alluding to 1891, " memorable for the opening of an Exhibi- tion devoted to a display of objects connected with the Naval Service, and signalised by the launch of two noble war- ships by her Majesty on the same day, seems a fitting period when we may review the changes which half-a-century has produced in the fleets of the world, and strive to draw some lesson for future guidance." Captain Eardley-Wilmot, more- over, is no alarmist. Although he dwells on the naval progress made by other countries than Great Britain, he writes calmly, and not in an " Ichabod " fashion. He has been very careful not to introduce too many technical details into this volume, and, in consequence, it will be found quite readable by civilians of average intelligence and knowledge of public affairs. Although Captain Eardley-Wilmot approaches his subject in a very different spirit from that in which Captain Mahan approaches his, the conclusions the two writers come to resemble each other sufficiently to merit quotation side by side. Captain Eardley-Wilmot, after commenting on the fact that the number of States which aspire to own a war-navy has very largely increased—" even Roumania boasts a cruiser," and " new navies are springing up also in the East "—concludes : " At present, however, the old balance of power on the sea seems undisturbed." Captain Mahan, in his last page but one, says
For two hundred years, England has been the great com- mercial nation of the world. More than any other, her wealth has been entrusted to the sea in war as in peace ; yet of all nations she has ever been most reluctant to concede the amenities of commerce and the rights of neutrals. Regarded not as a matter of right, but of policy, history has justified the refusal ; and if she maintain her Navy in full strength, the future will doubtless repeat the lesson of the past."
Captain Eardley-Wilmot's earlier chapters are naturally somewhat tame, being to a considerable extent historical. So much has been said on " The Navy in 1840," on the " Creation of a Steam Fleet," and on the progress from " wooden walls " to ironclads, that it seems hardly possible to say anything fresh. It is rather interesting, however, to recall the fact that in 1840 a successful attack was made by a squadron of wooden ships on Mehemet Ali's fortress of Acre. It is quite true that the fate of Acre was finally decided by an accident,—the blowing-up of a large magazine, which de- stroyed a considerable portion of the town, and one thousand of its defenders. Besides, as Captain Eardley- Wilmot admits, "the action did not prove that our wooden walls could at all times attack forts with impunity," and, indeed, the contrary was demonstrated fourteen years
• The Development of Navies during the Last Half-Century. By Captain S. Eardley-Wilmot, 11.N. London Seeley and Co. 1892. later in the Black Sea. Yet Colonel Schultz, the commander of the garrison, admitted, when he was taken prisoner, that "it was impossible to withstand such an incessant stream of fire as was poured from our guns. Even the bravest troops would have been demoralised." It is not at all surprising, therefore, that the transition from wood to iron should have been so comparatively difficult a matter, and should have been resisted for so long a time by something more than the mere instinctive conservatism of the British race. Later on in his book, Captain Eardley-Wilmot deals with the comparatively recent naval developments, such as broadside ironclads, the barbette system, turret-ships, cruisers, and torpedoes. Yet we know next to nothing of genuine importance which would guide us in forecasting the results of a great naval engagement conducted under modern con- ditions and with all modern appliances. The conflicts between iron ships that have actually taken place during comparatively recent years reveal little,—almost woefully little. Captain Eardley-Wilmot tells the now tolerably old story of the Battle of Lissa, fought in 1866, admirably, —more clearly indeed, perhaps, than it was ever told before. That battle was full of what he terms " valuable experiences," but it proves virtually nothing except that Tegethoff was a more prudent naval commander than Persano. It does not solve the ramming problem, any more than did the conflicts between ironclads in the savage war between Chili and Peru. " From such experience," says Captain Eardley-Wilmot, "we may conclude, and it is capable of mathematical demonstration, that with two ships well handled and free from injury, it is only a slight difference of time and movement whether one rams the other, or herself sustains the shock; that to bring the stem advantageously in contact with another vessel requires, under any circumstances, considerable skill, but that opportunities may occur in a general action which should be promptly seized. Experience, however, is far from showing that entire reliance should be placed on the ram, to the exclusion of weapons well tried in the past, and which have a much greater radius of action." Experience may be valuable in this connection, but it can hardly be said to attain to anything like prophetic strain. As regards the question of torpedo warfare, the most important lesson that has been afforded was an incident in the course of the recent civil war in Chili. The " Constitutionalist " Blanco Encalada,' a vessel of 3,500 tons, was sunk in less than half.an- hour by two swift Balmacedist torpedo-vessels of 750 tons each, both of which were intact after the operation. Yet five tor- pedoes had to be discharged before one took effect. Captain Eardley-Wilmot offers something like a consolation, however, in connection with torpedoes. " All nations," he says, " now recognise that squadrons are only impeded if torpedo-boats are attached to them. As for the idea that torpedo-boats can be employed in the attack on commerce, this may be dis- missed. These craft cannot remain at sea for any time, and their nests will be as well known as the resorts of Jean Bart and Duguay Trouin were in the old corsair days." This is perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from Captain Eardley-Wilmot's most informing and lucid book, which is as much a handbook of naval development in recent years as any ordinary civilian needs.
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