Show y j j Navys Navy's Golden Age 1 I NEW inventions and changed d public attitudes attitudes attitudes atti atti- tudes often work hardships on a a. alot lot of f. f p people ople but no one class clas seems to have suffered suffered suf suf- feted any more through the last decade or so than the navys navy's admirals The admirals admirals in in this country at least I aren arent t h happy On the one hand they find tl their eirY Y very ry profession itself under fire with the the- government gov- gov whittling the navy down just w when len it it was was' really realty getting somewhere on the other hand the scientists have toyed with naval traditions the battleship has lost its proud position and cruisers are being reconstructed with broad decks on which airplanes n s can land and all in all being an admiral is neither a simple nor a comfort comfortable ble job any longer The golden giden age of admirals in fact has passed And if you doubt that such an n age ever eyer existed just look back a century or two and you ou will find fin an era when an admirals admiral's life was ever everything thing that any admiral could ask for Modern navies have developed largely along the lines marked by the British so it is isto isto t to the British navy that one must turn f for r illustration In the first place the technical side of the he navy in the old d days s was nothing to worry about People weren't brin bringing ing out new newin in ii- inventions in every so often to o make existing ships obsolete and destroy the fundamentals of naval tactics and strategy The backbone of ofa a a. a n navy vy for generations was the of line-of-battle sl ship ip a ponderous square-rigger square with long rows rows of guns on two three and sometimes four decks For a cruiser force one had frigates swifter frigates swifter es-swifter swifter ships with only one main gu- gu de-ck de designed for scout and patrol duty rI These ships had only minor changes for mall many d decades cades not until the arrival of steam power was as there any essential change in their design But Butt a today Alas there has been a change Navies are restricted by treaties and nd a assailed d by peace societies If a gunboat fIJI flings a shell at a Nicaraguan hut or a Chinese fort for the h is apt to get into serious trouble trouble- r unless he can show all kinds of justi justi- fic Ships change from year jear to year and nd tactics change with them The golden age ae o of admirals is over I- I A |