5 MAY 1917, Page 3

Fighting officers need that support just as much as a

Commander-in- Chief needs to be protected from the slander when he incurs heavy casualty-lists that he is a " butcher." That is the whole sense and purport of anything we have had to say on naval strategy. We want full rein to be given to the glorious spirit of the Fleet, whose young officers have never shown the smallest sign of wanting to do anything but follow in the proud wake of Nelson.