SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] The Boyd Navy, 1815-1915. By the Marquess of Milford. Haven. (Cambridge University Press. 2s. 6d. net.)—The Reds Lecture, delivered on June 1st and now published in book form, deserves attentive reading. The Admiral, who was First Sea Lord when the war began, sketches lightly the evolution of our modern Navy, and refers significantly to several current problems. It is seldom remembered that the Fleet mobilization of July, 1914, had been planned in the previous autumn, and that it was the first time the whole Fleet had been manned as for war, the Naval Reservists being released for a few weeks from their civilian employment. It was an astonishing piece of good luck that the mobilization synchronized with Germany's resolve to make war. The lecturer says that, " thanks to the arrangements of our War Staff (which some critics affirmed to be non-existent)," the enemy cruisers did little mischief in the early weeks of the war, and most of the losses were " directly due to the masters of the ships not obeying the Admiralty instructions." He lays stress on the failure of the Goeben ' and Breslau ' to sink, or even to sight, any of the French transports carrying the Algerian Army to France. " The value of Heligoland," he says, " has been somewhat overrated." as " it is not far enough out for a real advance base for Germany." He recalls briefly the weight of historical experience behind the axiom that " ships are intended to fight ships, not forte." He looks forward to the enforced construction of " unsinkable and submersible merchant steamers, at least for certain essential or valuable cargoes."
Previous page
