BOOKS.

WITH THE BATTLE CRUISERS.*

Ma. Frusow YOUNG'S book is not only a most entertaining and skilfully written narrative of adventure, but a statement of facts which those who are beating out the history of the war cannot ignore. Most serious naval books are written in the interest of some policy or some person. Though this book is no exception, the comments are to be found rather between the lines. They are, however, plain enough. The book is distinctly a Beatty book—it exalts his strategy as against the strategy of the material school. In the Spectator we have continually referred to the rival schools of strategy, and in Mr. Young's book the conflict is brought to an issue. In our opinion nothing is more important than that the Navy should decide what its strategy and tactics are to be. The fashionable school argues in effect that if passage and communication are maintained you have a real command of the sea, and the destruction of the enemy is a sort of luxury. Lord Beatty, on the other hand, is a devout follower of Nelson, and at the Dogger Bank in 1915 his signal, when his flagship Lion' fell out of the line—" Keep nearer to the enemy "—was the equivalent of Nelson's famous and moat characteristic signal, " Engage the enemy more closely."

The argument for the policy of containing instead of destroying rests, no doubt, on the fact that Nelson had not to contend with torpedoes, submarines, and mines. Nevertheless, the attitude of mind which assumes that the enemy need not be destroyed is probably fatal to a proper degree of enterprise. Mr. Young's narrative seems to supply plenty of evidence of this. At the Dogger Bank, when the Lion' was badly injured, the command passed from Lord Beatty to Admiral Moore. At that time two of the three German battle cruisers were very badly mauled and were trying to limp home. They were allowed to get clear away. The " case for the defence " here, of course, is that the probability that mines were being sown made it too dangerous to follow. But Lord Beatty did not think so. When Mr. Young afterwards showed him an American commentator's account of the battle, in which, on the assumption that Lord Beatty had failed to follow up the battered Germans, it was

• WWI the Battle Cruisers. By Flbon Young. London : Cassell. [25s. net.]

remarked that he "ought to be shot," Lord Beatty exclaimed; " I quite agree with him." It is only right to add that Admiral Moore had been appointed to the Battle Cruiser Squadron shortly before the battle. His principles were presumably not those of Lord Beatty. Lord Beatty trained his subordinates in tactics which were not officially approved in the Grand Fleet. It is well known that Lord Jellicee had agreed with the Admiralty long before Jutland that the right method of protecting ships from a torpedo attack was to turn away. Mr. Young relates how this turn-away was practised by Admiral Jellicoe when he and Admiral Beatty wore engaged in manoeuvres. An officer of the Lion,' on seeing this, remarked : "If he does that when the Germans attack, he can't be defeated, but he can't win."

It may be said that as nothing but the Navy really stood between us and failure in the war, Lord Beatty's methods were an unjustifiable gamble. Mr. Young is very careful to point out, however, how accurately, in his opinion, Lord Beatty combined judgment with dash. He never took a risk that could he eliminated, and never went into an enterprise in which the risks were too great.

So far we have dealt with the matter which seems to ns of greatest general importance for the future of the Navy. But there are other statements in the book of great particular importance. On these the truth ought to be known. We mention Mr. Young's grave charges without knowing what the official answer may be. He says that the Dogger Bank Battle revealed the danger of the open ammunition hoists in the battle cruisers, and that though this was quickly and definitely reported upon no remedy was provided by tho Admiralty. If this be so, it must be said that the consequences were as avoidable as they were disastrous. At Jutland three of tho battle cruisers—the Queen Mary,' the ' Invincible,' and the Indefatigable '—with some 3,000 officers and men were lost owing to the unprotected ammunition hoists.

The next accusation in order of importance is that, although the Intelligence Department at the Admiralty was splendidly efficient, there was no adequate system of Fleet Intelligence, and that many failures and the acceptance of many unnecessary risks were due to this omission.

Let us turn now to the lighter side of the book. Nowhere have we read a better analysis of Lord Fisher's character with its limita- tions and its strength. At the beginning of the war Mr. Young had two admiration—Lord Fisher and Captain Beatty. Ho was pained to find that the younger man did not believe in the older, and that the older had never heard of the younger. Mr. Young's description of tho wiles and stratagems by which be got himself attached to the staff of the Lion' is very good reading indeed. When he arrived to take up his duties Admiral Beatty—for very good reasons—was not in the least expecting him, and his only comment was " Well, I'm damned ! " There are many pages describing life on board ship which we should like to quote, but we must not quote more than one passage on this subject. Mr. Young is describing the seamen's habit of decorating their mess tables on Christmas Day :- " What chiefly impressed one during the walk along the packed area was the way in which so much had been made out of so very little. That these same mess decks, which earlier in the morning had been lying all stark and orderly under the ruthless eye of inspection, every dish and fork in its pace , and no extrane- ous scrap of colour or ornament visible, should then be trans- formed into the likeness of the bargain basement of a dry goods store was remarkable enough ; yet that, after all, was only such a feat of transformation as was a daily commonplace in the organized life of ships. What was more remarkable, and not a little touching, was that men living such a life of unchang- ing routine and toil, cramped and crowded, poised insecurely between life and death, should think it worth while to add to their labours by buntline," up for such a brief moment these childish structures of decorative rubbish. It was eloquent of the need there is in every heart to make festival at some time or other, and surely eloquent also of that enviable gift, one of the' best which the bluejacket possesses, of making something out of nothing, of being happy with little, and of constructing out of the material of daily toil a bright-hued fabric of pleasure. As the line of officers struggled past the apparently eadlea!, succession of decorated tables, exchanging the compliments 01 the season with their occupants, and here and there being obliged to taste some deadly dainty, words of critical apprecia- tion of this or that effect became inevitable ; and with them just a little delicate badinage, of a kind inconceivable at any other moment, but which never by a hair's breadth went beyond what the relaxations of the hour and the matelot's ' inner sense of the fitness of things dictated. And, as in all human displays' the element of rivalry and competition was not absent, nor the pathos inseparable from the juxtaposition of some vast structure of ice and snow enshrining various objects of high value and

ingenuity, the effort of a prosperous and rather swanking mess ; and the feeble little collection of Christmas cards, home photo- graphs, pencil cases, packets of swceti and more or less decora- tive articles of diet momentarily diverted from their destiny on the dinner-table itself, which reiresimted the effort of some small and poor mess whose men_b3rs were often in trouble with the master-at-arms, and whore joint exchequer had been heavily depleted by ' stoppages.' Bu', on Christmas Day the defaulters' bugle did not sound ; thera was respite for those who had trouble hanging over them ; and a joke could even be cracked with the stern Rhadamanthus who would on the morrow whack out the due doses of 10A without turning a hair."

We should do an injustice to Mr. Young's analysis of sensation under fire at the Dogger Bank by making extracts from it. We will end with his delightful account of how ho assisted at a wordy duel between Lord Fisher and Mr. Churchill, the subject of controversy being whether Mr. Young should be allowed to write to the Press as an eye-witness with the Fleet :- " Besides,' continued Lord Fisher, the Commander-in-Chief would never consent.'

Of course he would have to be consulted,' said Winston. I don't know what his views would be ; but supposing that he did approve, would you still object 1 ' Yes,' said Lord Fisher, retiring on his second line of defence. ' The Press would never stand it ; they'd be jealous, and say we were showing partiality and allowing one writer special privileges.' Oh, I think I could manage the Press,' said Winston, with a wave of the hand.

Oh, I could manage the Press,' said Lord Fisher, ' if that were all.' And for an amazing moment these two potentates boasted to one another as to their respective powers of ' handling ' the Press.

' So if that is all,' continued Winston, I do not think it would be a serious difficulty.' Then Lord Fisher, at bay, was driven into his last strong- hold, and giving the table a mighty thump, he thundered, I shall object as First Sea Lord ! ' and burst out into a great tirade. The Navy was everything we had in the world ; it stood between us and defeat and destruction ; the whole of the Army might be wiped out to-morrow and it would make no difference to the Empire, but if we touched the Navy—and so on, with a great deal of anger and eloquence. To my embarrassment he suddenly turned to me at the end of his address (for it amounted to that) and asked, Don't you agree with me ? I said I did, but added that I did not quite see how the existence of the Navy depended on the people being kept in ignorance of its life and services, upon which he turned upon me, apparently boiling with wrath : Oh, you don't, don't you ; and who asked you for your opinion, sir ? '

You did, sir.'

Well, rub your nose in your opinion, sir, and let me tell you that a certain person has got his eye on you ; ho does not at all approve of you being where you are—remember that I ' I felt that this was becoming childish, as well as rude ; and as the First Lord hastily interposed with a red herring which drew the old man's attention off me, I waited for a lull (I had been edging towards the door all the time) and said to Winston, if you do not want me any more, sir, perhaps I may be allowed to retire.' Upon which the old man, like one erne ng from a nerve-storm, turned to me, walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. I didn't mean anything personal against you,' he said. ' I entirely agree that if anyone were to do this work, you are the right man for it, and I. shouldn't consent to anyone else ; but I know it would never do ; the Press would never stand it. And don't mind what I said just now. I am always violent 1 I was born violent ; I wouldn't be weaned ! ' "