Show i I THE SILENT V WAR AR AROne One of the great surprises of the war at least for the general public has been the complete inactivity in inactivity inactivity in- in activity of the battleships and cruisers battle-cruisers of Great Britain and Germany When war was de declared lared and the mighty fleet fleetw w wHich ich had just been reviewed by King George disappeared suddenly sudden sudden- ly to the eastward the world awaited with breathless interest the first tidings of that long- long talked of battle between dreadnoughts dreadnoughts dreadnoughts dread dread- noughts which h was now apparently apparently apparently about to be fought somewhere somewhere some some- where e in the North Sea Though the war is now over four months old the public is still awaiting that Homeric contest conI con con- test and the way things are going go go- I ing it will be many many- months and possibly two or three years year be be- fore for the riv rival l battleships line u upa up A a against each other for a decisive fleet engagement if if indeed that engagement ever takes place When we bear in mind the I enormous size and strength of the two navies it will be seen that such cruiser and submarine actions as have occurred OCCUlTed must be regarded as mere outpost affairs which have had practically no effect upon the line first fighting g strength either of Great Britain n or jr r Germany The dreadnoughts dreadnought s of the two navies total together sr r nearly half a hundred ships For Far four months they have been Within a few hours steaming o of f each other and keyed up to th the e highest pitch of fighting fig i cy Yet in all this time not a single gun has spoken To the naval strategist this silence is the token of a victory victo ry as complete as any that could be bewon b e won by the shock of inch 12 h I j I k salvos satires and the wrecking of armor bel belts ts turrets and barbettes forit for forit it is the unspoken evidence of oJ th the e persistent remorseless pressure pressur e of the most remarkable blockade e in all the history of naval ware- ware fare this silent victory is isa isa a a striking example of he controlling controlling controlling con con- trolling the absolutely decisive e advantage upon the nation which obtains the complete command of the sea sea sea-a a subject which for fo r many years past has formed the principal theme of the lectures and writing of our own Capt Mahan The command of the sea Let Letus us consider what the acceptance f of the blockade of her main fighting fighting fight fight- ing fleet has meant to Germany fight I In the first place it has resulted in the complete disappearance from all the seven seas of her vast merchant marine such o of f her ships as escaped capture having fled to neutral ports or to her own protected bases on the North Sea and the Baltic Her colonial possessions in the acquisition and of which she hes expended so much energy and treasure being I J 4 cut off from any military I or naval assistance have passed one by one to the enemy Her IZ warships on foreign stations after a series of exploits in com commerce commerce com merce destroying and engagement engagement engagement engage engage- ment with the enemy which will form one of the brightest chapters chap chap- chapters in the history of her navy are being gradually sunk or driven into neutral ports Finally her oversea trade except a few neutral ports has ceased to exist But it is not in these respects that the silent victory of the war is making a pressure most keenly keenly keen keen- ly felt in this life-and-death life struggle of the great German Empire It is in its bearing upon upon upon up up- on the military operations in France and Belgium that the British command commando of f the sea is exercising an influence so dominant dominant domi domi- I nant that it already promises to be the decisive factor in the whole I Had the conditions been reversed reversed reversed re re- re- re versed had the German Gorman fleet fth been superior in strength or had th weaker fleet by virtue of its superior materiel personnel strategy and tactics been able to defeat the British and French in a series of decisive engagements engagements engage engage- ments not a single regiment of British troops could have been I sent to the western theater of I war As it is the enemy's troopships troopships troop troop- ships come and go with absolute impunity while within a few hundred miles the second secondi strongest battleship fleet in the 1 world lies Hes impotently at anchor and watches the gradual recruiting recruiting recruit recruit- ing training and transportation I to the fighting line of some tw two million armed troops of the enemy without being able to toi strike a blow to assist the valiant German army of the west Herein is a lesson in the value I of the command of the sea th 1 moral of which we of the great I 1 Republic o of the Western Hemis Hemig Hemisphere j Hemis-j g l phere should laYwell lay wen well to heart I a j d t Sc Scientific American i I v i-h. i r i-I i e Jo Ir e |