Leg-eb en vloot bij de verdediging van N.-I. [April 1912.
Ra vervolgens gevraagd te hebben, wat bij toepassing van
de aan de Engelsche Admiraliteit toegeschreven strategische
denkbeelden, een verbond van Engeland met een vastelands-
mogendheid zou beteekenen, vinden we verder vermeld:
Op gevaar af eentonig te worden, willen we hier mede
nog wijzen op een andere studie in hetzelfde tijdschrift, ge
titeld: „The admiralty and the autumn crisis," door Lieute
nant Alfred Dewar, R. N.
Ook daaruit een enkele greep.
Ook in verband met wat Kolonel Umbgrove zegt over
den Italiaansch-Turkschen oorlog, trof ons de laatst aange
haalde zinsnede bijzonder. Had Turkye een sterkere vloot
bezeten, dan waren van de Italiaansche vloot groo^ere offers
geëischt, maar, m aanmerking genomen de geestdrift, waar-
417
»So long as the national flag of any belligerent flies oh the smallest and
most insignificant torpedo-boat in the present day, just so long can that
country declare that she has still a »fleet in being".
»When the Japanese crossed the Yellowsea there were many cruisers
and battleships also «large and unlocated" and yet the combinations
came off, and the army was landed."
»If on the other hand, we are prepared to take the legitimate risk of
war, then the expeditionary Force must sail from England within the
time specified, convoyed and escorted by that great fleet which is not a
defensive but essentially an attacking force."
The ideas (usually fathered on Mahan) that the primary objective of
a commander must be the enemy's fleet, and that the only place for a
fleet is the enemy's coast, are exploded rules- of thumb. The Americans
in 1898 did not make the Spanish-Fleet their primary objective, and the
Japanese in 1901 despatched their transports under infinitely greater risks
before their fleet had even reconnoitred Port-Arthur. The true conception
of the matter is to be found in Corbett's «Principles of Maritime Strategy."
The primary object of the Higher Strategy of a campaign depends on the
nature of the war, and the primary objective of the navy will depend on
the primary object of the campaign.
Here the primary object of the campaign for the moment seems to have
been the safe passage of an expeditionary force, and the primary object
of the fleet would then consist in keeping the enemy's fleet from interfering
with the operation or approaching the maritime area in which it was been
carried out."
