6o4 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



THE BLINDFOLD GAME. 



The destroyer is doomed shortly to 

 disappear, or, if you like, she will in 

 future be invested with the power to 

 dive. The types, at any rate, will be 

 amalgamated. It is a matter of per- 

 fecting the internal-combustion engine 

 for marine purposes. Afterwards — who 

 knows ? — the submarine may attain the 

 power of flying as well, and we shall 

 have a ship possessing all the qualities 

 of the wild duck, except that of sitting 

 on eggs and reproducing herself. 

 Gerard Fiennes writes thnllingiy of the 

 work of the submarine m the June Pall 

 Mall Magazine, a magazine which, since 

 it was taken over by Messrs. lliffe, has 

 been wonderfully improved, for he 

 draws the following picture of what an 

 attack by submarine may be like : — 



THE .\TTACK. 



It is tlie darkest hour, the hour before the 

 dawn. The hostile fleet lies in its harbour, 

 behind the boom and under the shelter of the 

 forts. It has suffered damage in an encoun- 

 ter with a superior force, but is still "in 

 being." The beams of the searchlights wheel 

 and cross and see-saw up and dowji ; the 

 guarding destroyers prowl hither and tliither 

 in the outer harbour. • Of a sudden there is 

 a itish from seaward of black hulls and flam- 

 ing funnels. No concealment is attempted; 

 it would be useless. The attackers crept, un- 

 perceived, near enough to make their rush. 

 In an instant the scene is ablaze with quick- 

 firing guns, hurling shell on friend and foe 

 alike. The assailants hold on. One boat 

 after another sinks, but ever fresh squadrons 

 rush in to the attack. A dozen, twenty, 

 thirty boats will bo well lost if the attempt 

 succeed 



THE BOOM BREAKS. 



The boom which protects the harbour 

 mouth is made of huge baulks of timber, 

 wound and bound with .stout steel hawsers. 

 From its lower edge hang torpedo nets. It 

 would be vain to char^!:o it as the " Poly- 

 phemus " years ago charged the boom at 

 Portsmouth for an experiment, and got over. 

 It must be blown up. A rending crish. fol- 

 lowed by another, proclaims the failure of 

 the trusted defence. Tlie boom is in splin- 

 ters ; the destroyers which wrecked it actu- 

 ally make their way to safety amid the smoke 

 and confusion caused by the explosions. 



Now the fast-breaking dawn discloses a 

 number of slim poles cutting the surface of 

 the water. Again the crash of the fire breaks 

 out. It is futile, but the nerves of the gun- 

 ners will not stand inaction. The de- 

 fending destroyers charge the submarines, 

 trying i:o knock away their periscopes and to 

 explode mines close to their hulls. Here and 

 there thev succeed. A whale-like snout is 



thrown out of the water, and sinks again for 

 e\'er 



AEROPLANES AT WORK. 



There is a whirr of wings overhead. The 

 aeroplanes are up. Soon fountains of water 

 are .spouting from where their dropped bombs 

 explode. But, above all the din, there arises 

 a dull muffled roar — a second, a third. Some 

 of the battleships are hit. One torpedo which 

 mi.ssed its mark destroys the caisson of the 

 clock in which the flagship is lying for repairs. 



Worst of all, the fleet has lost its sense of 

 security. It must go out and fight at any 

 cost. What the fireships were designed to do 

 in the old wars, and seldom did. the sub- 

 marine can accomplish — at least, if she justi- 

 fies the hopes of those who believe in her. 



A REVOLUTION IN WARFARE. 

 The submarine has revolutionised 

 naval warfare. The French and 

 Americans produced the first practicable 

 craft, but British assimilativeness and 

 sea-sense has demonstrated its larger 

 possibilities. Great Britain has now gone 

 far ahead of other countries. The 

 newest type exceed in displacement and 

 almost match in speed the destroyer of 

 ten years ago. 



They carry tweh-e-pounder guns and are 

 fitted with wireless telegraphy. They can 

 make voyages of 2000 miles or more " on their 

 own," and fear dirty weather less than a 

 destroyer. English boats make the vovage 

 from Sheerness to Cromarty Firth continu- 

 ally, and some of the smaller and older craft 

 have gone, under convoy, of coui'se, to the 

 Mediterranean and to China. 



THE LAST BLOCKADE. 



Never again will a hostile fleet block- 

 ade any port. The submarine has killed 

 that idea altogether. 



Togo's fleet off Port Artluir was the last 

 which will ever " observe " a port as Nelson 

 observed Toulon, or blockade as Cornwallis 

 blockaded Brest. In future the battleships 

 will be kej)t at a "certain place," which will 

 be frequently changed. It is not necessary 

 that their exact whereabouts should be known 

 even to their own light craft, for the word 

 of the wireless runs in all directions at once. 



THE NEED OF DREADNOUGHTS. 



Mr. Fiennes certainly draws a picture 

 of the submarine as an all-conquering 

 craft. But to the question whether those 

 are not right who say that the day of 

 the battleship is past, and that the mil- 

 lions spent in Dreadnoughts is wasted 

 monev, he answers : — 



