8 



The Review of Reviews. 



There would be a millionfold breath- 

 holding; incredulity, terror, uncertainty 

 would struggle for mastery, and panic 

 would result. The inconceivable is always 

 the most terrible when it arrives, and a 

 Zeppelin over London would be visualised 

 as to results in the terms of the various 

 novels dealing with future wars. And yet 

 it would be well if some patriotic millionaire 

 were to buy a Zeppelin simply in order to 

 make the millions of Londoners hold their 

 breath for a few seconds when they saw the 

 German flag unfurled above them and there 

 was absolutely no means of defence. For 

 they would not forget quickly, and the toll 

 of accidents in the streets would increase for 

 the simple reason that everyone would be 

 looking upwards, waiting for the peril in 

 the air. 



The time has passed when 



n o I D -uT* we can afford to laugh at 

 A Real Possibility. . o 



dirigibles, just as we no 

 longer take aeroplanes 

 lightly. It was no doubt amusing to see 

 photographs and cinematograph pictures 

 of wrecks of Zeppelins and naval airships, 

 but we can no longer be amused ; we must 

 realise facts. The map which we print here 

 gives some rough sort of an idea of the range 

 of modern airships and aeroplanes. Who can 

 say that it does not give us furiously to 

 think ? The Zeppelin Fihloria Liii.se has 

 travelled nearly five hundred miles with 

 eleven men on hoard, and might have 

 travelled still further had there been any 

 need. An aeroplane has flown from Belgium 

 to Dover and back without stopping. These 

 are serious facts, and change all our ideas 

 about islands and fleets. A writer in the 

 Tacii/idir RmK/fir/iaii, commcnUng upon the 

 fact that iliL- distance of the new (iernian 

 army airship is the same as the distance 

 from Heligoland to Rosyth, writes: — 



At this naval station on the Firth of Forth which is now 

 being developed there are stationed the sixteen English battle- 

 ships and the ten large cruisers of the strongest type which are 

 the factor of prime importance in deciding the issue of an 

 engagement at sea. Moreover, it is from this point that the 

 "sealing of the North Sea" — extended blockade — is to be 

 effected in the area between Norway and Scotland. Nowadays, 

 however, a Zeppelin airship can fly over from its shed at 

 Hamburg to Rosyth, landing, if necessary, on Heligoland on 

 the way. She can make such a flight with all the greater 

 security because changes of temperature at sea are very slight 

 and there are not the vertical air currents to be encountered 

 which make the handling of an airship so difficult in Central 

 Germany, particularly in the Rhine valley. For that reason the 

 capabilities of a naval airship can be estimated as nearly half as 

 great again as the capabilities of an airship inland. A Zeppelin 

 ship flying to Rosyth to watch the advance of the super- 

 Dreadnoughts could either fly back after accomplishing her task, 

 or else, in cert.ain circumstances, hover on the horizon all day 

 and transmit by wireless all the information acquired, finally 

 sinking into the depths of the ocean as soon as her supply of 

 fuel was exhausted. 



Still more simple is the reconnaiss.ance of Harwich with its 

 active destroyer flotilla. This' naval station is 2S5 nautical 

 miles distant from Heligoland and only 235 from Borkum — 

 mere child's play for our big airships. Dover, with its six 

 battleships and four large cruiseis, and Shecrness, with its 

 reserve ships, lie, so to speak, one excursion station further 0:1 

 and could be patrolled at the same time. Directly the German 

 naval administration has four ships of the rigid system and of a 

 capacity of al)0ut 20,000 cubic metres, they can undertake a 

 reconnaissance along the entire English coast at the moment of 

 mobilisation. 



In other words, every naval 



What Must be Station in this country, 



Done. every great city, and every 



fleet is at the mercy of the 

 dirigible ! Perchance the first news of war 

 which we will have, should it come, will be 

 the destruction of Chatham and Sheerness. 

 This will be bringing home the horrors of 

 war to the ])eople in no gentle fashion, and 

 the moral eft'ect must be taken into accoimt. 

 Wc believe that the first realisation, at first 

 hand and not through the papers, of 

 what modern war means will create a ])anic 

 without precedent in national history. It is 

 probable that panic will be succeeded by 

 determination and courage even against the 

 unfightable; but for a certain period the 

 i)eople will be stunned with the horror of 

 knowledge. And yet we are doing nothing 

 to enable us to cope with this pci-il already 



