LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE JAPANESE NAVY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."'
SIR,—In my last letter I dealt with the Japanese Army, and with your permission would like to lay certain facts before the British public with respect to the Japanese Navy, which, while it is quite one of the best in existence, appears to me to attract less attention in England than its sister-Service and than it deserves. Just why Japan should possess such a fine Navy is largely due to the fact that, with her long and much- broken coast-line, one half of which faces the mightiest of oceans, and the other half the stormy seas dividing her from the mainland of Asia, and with innumerable creeks and streams running in all directions, she is singularly fortunate in possessing for her naval purposes a population a goodly proportion of which is made up of boatmen, sailors, and fisherfolk. And a right good, sturdy, and hardy lot of men they are too, with plenty of " go " and dash in them, and just the material for the making of good men-of-war's men.
Leaving out certain matters of much intcrest from an his- torical point of view, it is interesting to know that the Japanese Navy has been modelled upon lines strictly British. For just prior to the last days of the Tokugawa regime there arrived in Japan a small party of British naval officers and men, but most unfortunately for all concerned it had to return home without having had a chance given it to put the Tokugawa Navy on something like a sound footing. A British officer, Lieutenant Hawes of the Royal Marines, was, however, more lucky, and, as Professor Chamberlain says, "may be con- sidered the real father of the Japanese Navy." Being approached by the then new Government of Japan, the British authorities lent it the services of a Naval Mission, of which Commander Douglas, R.N., was chief. A Naval College was then built in Tokyo and real earnest work commenced upon, and even at the present day many of the words of com- mand in the Japanese Navy are given in English.
There arrived in Japan at about the same time as did this British Naval Mission the famous French shipbuilder, M. Bertin, and it was during his stay that the naval yard of Yokosuka was started and brought up to a high state of perfection. But somehow the Japanese have been most unfortunate in their dealings with French shipbuilders other than M. Bertin, and so everything in their dockyards is now run on British lines.
Yokosuka may be considered the headquarters of the Japanese Navy, but Kure, in the Inland Sea, is in no way behind it in importance, for in addition to superior dockyard accommodation and a fine arsenal, the harbour there is in every way—for naval purposes—one of the finest in existence. Sasebo, close to Nagasaki, is magnificently situated for com- manding the waters lying between Japan and Korea, and no less so as a base for offensive operations in the Gulf of Pechili and China Seas. l5faizuru, on the Sea of Japan, and Muroran, in Yezo, are yards of secondary importance, and are more coaling-stations and harbours of refuge for small craft than anything else as yet. Should Japan be drawn into a war with Russia, they might, however, be of inestimable value to her as places of embarkation for troops destined for the mainland of Asia, as well as for the purposes already mentioned.
The education of Japanese naval officers is in the first place carried out at the Naval College at Etajima. The cadets enter when about seventeen years of age, and after a three years'
course join a training-ship for cruising purposes. Robiusang to Japan, they are then posted to sea-going men-of-war ; and upon being promoted to Sub-Lieutenant, go through gunnery, torpedo, &c., schools, and later on through a course at the Naval Academy at Tokyo. The work done is good ; but though the Japanese are apt pupils and keen soldiers when young, they too often fall off as they grow older, and this, I think, is largely due to certain old-time family customs that still hold sway in Japan. Every Japanese officer marries somewhat young, and no sooner has he prepared a home than members of his family at once begin to make his home theirs also. Household cares induced by such a state of affairs often prove too much for many of them ; their early keen- ness vanishes, and then a general falling off in efficiency soon takes place.
As I explained in my former letter on the Japanese Army, the Satsuma element is the all-predominating one in the Japanese Navy. This most undoubtedly worked all right so long as Japan had a Navy of a hundred thousand tons and less, but since its excessive augmentation during the last few years men of other clans have been joining in ever-increasing numbers, and bid fair in time to challenge the Satsuma predominance; and the consequence is that the Japanese Navy, like the Japanese Army, is no longer the happy family affair it was a few years back. The officers then knew each other, got on together, and so everything worked for efficiency. The cadets now joining are certainly not of the same high stamp they were when I first took up my duties at the Naval College, Etajima, and this means a great deal,—certainly more in Japan than in England.
The Japanese bluejackets and petty officers are very fine men indeed,—far better so on an average than their comrades of the Army. They are better fed, clothed, and looked after, and a very great proportion of them join the Service volun- tarily. Taking them on the whole, they are a fairly intelligent lot of men, far more so than the Russians, but in physique they cannot in any way compare with them. Recruited entirely from the fisherfolk classes, they are a fairly hardy lot of men, and having been brought up to the sea, soon make themselves quite at home on joining. The stokers and engine- room artificers are not as good as they might be, but from all I have been able to gather they are improving.
Of the strength in ships of the Japanese Navy there is no need to write, for the fullest of information regarding that may be obtained from books and annuals devoted to such matters. The best of the Japanese ships are as good as the beat in any navy. The Russians undoubtedly have officers and men superior to any the Japanese can bring forward, but I firmly believe—and I have seen a good deal of both—the average Japanese officer and man is every whit as good as the average Russian. Whether the Japanese is quite so stubborn a fighter as the Russian time alone will tell ; but there can be no doubt that while the Russians have a great contempt for the Japanese, the latter, on the other hand, have some consider- able respect for Russian prowess. The naval strength of Russia in Far Eastern waters is now, so far as first-class fighting ships are concerned, quite equal to that of the Japanese; but the Japanese possess a huge secondary fleet that might be brought into most effective use after the first line had fought a crippling fight. The Russians are, however, immeasurably inferior to the Japanese in regard to coaling and dockyard facilities and bases of operation. And then the much-vaunted Japanese patriotism ! That too, like their true fighting capabilities, has yet to be put to the test, and until it is done no one can say how the Japanese forces and public will behave in the face of reverses, no matter how unimportant they may be.—I am, Sir, &c., F. J. NORMAN'.
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