Vol. XXXIII, No. 4 WASHINGTON 



April, 191 



THE 



ATDOMAL 

 QEOG RAPED 

 AGAZI 



THE GEM OF THE OCEAN: OUR AMERICAN 



NAVY* 



By Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy 



IN POPULAR acceptance the navy is 

 a fighting organization. Unless it is 

 ready to fight and win victories, it 

 fails of the main purpose of its existence. 

 Its chief aim and object is national de- 

 fense. In time of peace it studies and 

 learns, and in time of war it practices 

 the art of naval warfare. 



In the naval service men are in training 

 for a generation to fight, perhaps, for only 

 a single day. But such a day ! as when 

 John Paul Jones said, "I have not yet 

 begun to fight," as he boarded the enemy 

 ship and sailed away with his prize ; or 

 when Lawrence won immortal fame by 

 his admonition to his associates, "Don't 

 give up the ship" ; or when Perry, in his 

 hour of triumph, sent the message, "We 

 have met the enemy and they are ours" ; 

 or when Macdonough won the decisive 

 victory on Lake Champlain ; or when the 

 Monitor and the Merrimac ushered in 

 a revolution in naval construction and 

 warfare as they clashed in mortal com- 

 bat at Hampton Roads ; or when Farra- 

 gut steamed into Mobile Bay, heeding not 

 the torpedoes ; or when Dewey's guns 

 at Manila conquered Spanish sea power 

 and Dewey's diplomacy prevented Ger- 

 man aggression; or when a few weeks' 

 ago the destroyer Fanning, assisted by 

 the Nicholson, captured the whole crew 



* Address by Hon. Josephus Daniels before 

 the National Geographic Society, Washington, 

 D. C, Friday, March 29, 1918. 



and sank a German U-boat. Xaval bat- 

 tles are always short, sharp, decisive. 



It is because the tactics and the strategy 

 call for quickness and the battle is won 

 or lost in a few minutes that there is a 

 glamour and a fascination and a glory 

 in encounters at sea that appeal to the 

 imagination more strongly than the larger 

 and more sanguinary conflicts on land. 



EVERY GENERATION HAS HAD ITS WAR 



There has been, on an average, one war 

 in every 29 years of our national life, 

 and in most wars the naval engagements 

 can be counted by minutes. Men, there- 

 fore, spend most of their careers getting 

 ready for the supreme moment. It may 

 never come, but woe to that officer who 

 lacks initiative and coolness and cour- 

 age in the one moment when all he has 

 learned and practiced is worthless unless 

 he can summon it to his command upon 

 the instant of decision ! 



Great generals have won renown who 

 were masters of the defensive, and there 

 are times when Fabian methods on land 

 spell victory. But at sea, the captain 

 who depends upon defense is lost. Of- 

 fensive methods, daring attack, ability to 

 maneuver so as to obtain the advantage, 

 and to shoot quickly and hit the enemy 

 vessel — these are the essentials of high 

 command afloat. They are attained only 

 because the navy, in its shore establish- 

 ments and afloat, is maintained and oper- 



