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NAVAL OPERATIONS.
THE BRITISH FLEET
ITS GIGANTIC TASK.
i
ANXIOUS FOR "THE DAY.
The message given below is a description
of a visit to the British Fleet, but
as a result of the censorship the beginning
of the message and some other portions
did not come to hand, hence the
disjointed nature of the account and the
lack of anything to disclose the writer
LONDON, October 31
A thorough inspection of Admiral Jellicoe's
fleet would occupy two or three
years The modern Dreadnought is
a world in itself, in which are concentrated
scores of man's victories over
the imponderable forces of nature A
day's visit could not exhaust the Avon
ideas of one of these majestic ci cations
The Grand Fleet does not wholly to
present Great Britain's shaking power
There are 2,300 auxiliary craft, mine
sweepers, patiolboate, and other vessels
which all day long and all night long,
in fair weather and in foul weather, are
continually feeling for the enemy, and
defeating his designs There are also
2,000 transports and storeships with
multifarious duties
Forgetting all these, the Grand Fleet
remains a creation too gigantic even for
a painstaking description It is only
possible to give random impressions of
a small section of the ships, and of the
still more wonderful men who compose
the crows
An American tourist was amazed at
the velvet lawns of Oxford, and the
grade explained, "Its perfectly simple
We cut and oil it for a thousand
years " It is much the same with the
navy. Successive generations give sons
to it, and there are some now serving
whose ancestors served under Pi mee
Rupert in the 17th century In Rear
Admiral Sydney Fremantle's cabin
hangs the telescope that Nelson gave
to that one of a band of brother s whose
grandson flies his flag over a division
of the fleet to-day.
The story regarding Rear-Admiral
Pakenham is an epic of calm assurance
Dressed in immaculate ducks, and seated
in a deck-chair on a Japanese war
ship he was watching the battle of
Tsu-shima, when a Japanese office!
politely suggested he should retire to
a place of greater safety At that moment
a shell killed the signalman aloft
and covered Admiral PaKenham with
blood Without showing the slightest
concern he changed his spotless uniform
and resumed his deck clean
The fleet has developed and changed
through the centuries but the men are
the same There could be nothing more
impressive than the spirit of these
super healthy men The Admiral said
the average number of sick was less
than eleven per ship The British made an
ascendancy over the enemy is OVM
growing Physically, the men are in the
pink of condition, and mentally they
are as keen as a i 1701 Thor are preparing
for the ordeal of battle and do
not devote their leisure to killing the
enemy with their mouth There no
endless means of recreation, boxing
concerts, lectures gramophones, chess
draughts, CNCICISCS, and sometimes
football ashore t One ship has a cure
matograph, which is thronged every
night
Amid the northern mists the Grand
Fleet awaits its fortune in the confidence
of health and good spirits, and is
preparing for a fateful morrow
The Admiral said he had not taken a
day's leave since the war began
' I do not expect to live to see the
navy confronting another enemy," he
said, "and I would never forgive myself
if the day came apel I was not here"
That is the spirit of the navy All no
nervous lest they should miss the
chance of a lifetime
Winter has again brought hardships,
especially for those on the outpost"
Then work must be done whether the
sea is smooth or rough, the sky clear
01 domed with dripping clouds the
wind light 01 blowing a gale All the
King's dominions depend on their vigilance
The ships would be mere non
monger but for the skilled courageous,
resourceful, and dogged officers
and men It is fortunate that in the
greatest crisis of our history we are
fully supplied with new and additional
ships '
Small men of restricted vision would
have wanted to keep their ships at
home basing their own coasts The
great people of the Dominions realised
that the sense are one, and that the
concentration of power is the talisman
of victory These people shale with us
the pride of descent from the golden
age when the Empire had its birth on
the sea We who are living in Britain
pay homage to the courage and breadth
of perception of those standing side by
side with us defending the world's freedom
A Dutch journalist who came on
board the Tiger which the Germans
had reported as sunk, remarked lium
oronsay, "Surely this is the largest submarine
ever seen " Deft workmen have
charmed away the Tiger's scars
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