FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0491.PDF
TUNB 8, 1916. \pMH iEFLECTIONS ON this day, like everybody in these Islands, I can reflect upon one subject, and one subject only—our Magnificent Navy. It would surely be excusable were I to devote every line of this my page this week in writing my appreciation of their bravery and sacrifice— those who have laid down their lives for England in the great sea battle. The glorious history of our Navy is inseparably inter mixed with sadness. It was ever so, and must remain whilst ships of war carry death and destruction to ships of war. Glorious and sad is the news of that great Naval battle which, all unsuspected by us here in comfort at home, was for our sakes raging out there on the great North Sea last Wednesday, raging almost at the very door of our enemy.' Our Navy has earned and carried a glorious record from time immemorial, and splendidly did those of our ships engaged in the great battle of last week uphold the traditions of England's mighty sea-power. We have lost many ships. This was only to be expected, and we can bear the loss with equanimity. No two great sea-powers could possibly fight under modern conditions without the loss on each side being enormous. High explosives and scientific gunnery, backed up by under-water craft, is bound to create havoc on both sides. Victory can only rest with those who see the fight through to the end, prevent the enemy from carrying out their objective, and remain masters of the battle ground when the others have either fled, surrendered, or gone to the bottom. And this we may safely claim to have done, although the cost in men and material is terrific—a corollary impossible to be otherwise. Unfortunately our death-roll is high, so high that one hardly dare think about it. Many brave men have given up their lives in order that this fresh page of glorious history shall be added to the annals of Great Britain. The first reports are staggering in their vast- ness, future reports can hardly, unfortunately, do other than increase the list of casualties. We may glean some inkling of what a modern naval battle is like, to what pitch science and training has brought the capabilities of man to deal out death and annihilation to his fellow man, when we read that ship after ship on both sides, huge leviathans of the sea, vessels carrying upwards of a thousand humans on board, were rent and split asunder like boats of paper, sinking in a few moments, and carrying with them to an ocean grave every soul on board. And what can we say for those who are gone—what is there to say beyond " Well done " ? Magnificent as it is, they have only done what we expected them to do, what they were bound to do, what we knew they would do, coming as they do, many of them, from stock which for generations have manned our gallant Navy. Boys there were in those great ships, boys in then- teens, sons of Admirals and Captains, Admirals and Captains whose forefathers away back into the remote past were Admirals and Captains with Nelson, and 491 DREAMER." before him, each in emulation of his forebear! adding his duty to the mighty whole which has made, and will keep, Britannia Mistress of the Seas so long as sons are bom to seamen. This nipping in the bud of these young lives, the lives of boys who were but a few short years ago children of the nursery, appears to me to be a great blow to our future generations of naval fighting men, thereby seriously jeopardising the source for the supply of these men, upon whom will fall, in the coming years, the task of taking the ships of their King to the four corners of the world in honour of their country. For it is in these boys that succession is vested. Great as is our -sorrow at the losing of valuable men who command our battleships, that sorrow becomes doubly great when, not only are these brave and skilful men taken from us, but their progeny, those to whom we have to look for the furthering of the gallant race, are taken also, and this without what to a landsman seems adequate reason. I suppose, were I to suggest such a thing as that these noble young spirits should not accompany their ship when she is out on such death-dealing business as that of last week, I should bring trouble about my ears, not the least insistent of which would be these little " Middies " themselves, for the salt of the sea and the fighting blood of generations is in their veins. Opposed to the above suggestion, we have the report of one who in the destroyer "Onslaught" took part in this latest melee. One of these midshipmen it appears was, after the destroyer had sunk a German battleship, on the bridge with his commander and other officers when a shell from the enemy spread death around, clearing the bridge of all but himself. Yet, so the story goes, this boy, with the courage, coolness and resourcefulness of a grown man, took his vessel out of action, piloted her through those mine-strewn waters, and, although all charts were destroyed by the explosion which robbed the ship of her officers, brought her and the rest of the crew safely into port. In the face of such happenings, what can a mere " landlubber " suggest ? I suppose there is no other way of turning midshipmen into admirals except through the hard school of expe rience, and, therefore, these things must be, although modern naval battles are vastly different affairs to those of bygone days. In the great Battle of Trafalgar, for instance, Britain's losses in men was less than half the crew of a modern battle cruiser, and the little " middie " stood a fair chance of coming out unscathed, and with a deal of valuable experience. England has been immune from anything approaching the tremendous sea-fight of last week, for so many years, and so much data will no doubt have been gathered from that event, that perhaps many new conditions may be instituted in the Service, and it may be that it will be thought inexpedient to take such valuable young lives into action. Even so, I can quite see the possibility of these same " Middies" being the first to kick against any such tiew regulation. That's the worst of that " Bull-dog " spirit the young rascals are born with.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
