There was no Navy Week this year—you all know why, so T need not go into the reasons. But as many of you lost a chance of learning something about the Royal Navy and its work Tam ready to put before you some simple facts about the Navy—the Navy which that great writer and pook, Rudyard Kipling, called so expressively 'A Fleet in Being.
Where docs this Fleet have its bel what does it consist and what are ils duties Let me tell you. 'The Fleet can be divided Into four main groups. 'There are the Home Fleet and, the Mediterranean Fleet. These are our main fleets, 'Then there are the 'Overseas Squadrons stationed in such widely separated places as China, the West' Indies, the East Indies and Africa; and finally the Reserve Fleet. Besides these four groups there are also the Dominion Navies of Aus-
Walla, New Zealand, and Canada, Providing their' respective governments agree, these are available to help us when we want them.
Why is the Navy divided up into these groups? Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond, the well-known naval historian, has likened an island kingdom to a fortress. It can only be taken in, two ways: either by direct as~ sault or by'having all supplies cut off and 80 being starved out, The task of the Navy, in conjunction with the Army and the Royal Air Force, is to prevent attempts by an enemy to achieve either of these objects. Of course, the comparison is not quite cor rect, becatise the Navy does not merely seek to protect the United Kingdom and supplies to that Kingdom. Certainly the "United Kingdom is the heart of the British Empire anda stab in the heart is fatal, but to protect the heart alone is not suMMcient. The stationing of the various Fleets and squad-vons is designed to ensure that every part the Imperial body will he guarded against attack, What types of ships are required for this purpose?" It is a formidable and varied list. Great battleships and battle cruisers, which are fast battleships; cruisers, swift lightly armoured ships, but mounting a large num= ber of guns: aircraft carriers, those floating acrodromes that carry the bulk of the Fleet Air Arm; destroyers, high-speed ships with many torpedoes and good gun armament, with apparatus for detecting submarines and depth charges with which to destroy them submarines; mine sweepers; mine layers escort vessels that protect the merchant navy convoys from. air or submarine attack Motor torpedo boats and trawlers converted for duty as anti-submarine ships, Some people have suggested that the battle ship nowadays is an extremely expensive basket containing most valuable eggs that are very liable to be cracked, owing to the development of the submarine and aeroplane. But the general opinion of the Navy, and certainly the opinion of those in authority {at the Admiralty, is that the lessons of his tory still hold good. Castles of old had their keeps, the strong point of their defence, and the Fleet, too, must have its strong Point—the battleship—under cover of which the lighter forces can conduct their opera: tions secure in the knowledge that here rallying point should superior enemy forces be encountered.
The battleship with her large guns and heavy armour is designed to give and receive hard Knocks. She has a powerful battery of anti-aircraft guns to beat off air attacks and the best underwater defence against torpedo fallacy. True, she cannot hit back at the submarine that attacks her. For that she must rely on the destroyers. Beautiful ships, these destroyers—the cavalry of the Navy and yet oddly enough maids of all work, ssu multifarious are their duties. What finer sight than a flotilla of destroyers launched the attack, foam and spray screening their bows, twisting and turning together, every officer: and man tense and concentrated on his duty? And at night too—searching for the enemy; ghostlike forms in the black darkness. Only an experienced eye can tell that those two faint white blurs, separated bya dark patch, are the bow waves and stern wash of some destroyer, shadowing and reporting to the attacking forces every move~ ment of the enemy.
The cruisers you will find in every fleet and squadron. Some are specially-designed for work with the main Meets, but the great majority can be used, either with the main fleets or for the protection of our Imperial ines of communication—the great trade routes. We have 61 of these cruisers and another 23 are now being built:
Aircraft carriers are confined to the Home Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet, the China Squadron and the Reserve Fleet. Why does the Navy require an Air Force? Nowadays, aeroplanes are an indispensable part of the naval forces. With their help, the admiral of a fleet or squadron can have hundreds of square miles of the sea examined for signs of enemy ships. If enemy surface ships are detected, he can launch attacks with his air striking force, armed with bombs or torpedoes. If lurking submarines are sighted they can be forced to dive and thus prevented from taking up positions from which to attack.
Why is it necessary for these aircraft to be manned by naval officers and men? 1 suggest that whether their duties lie 2n the sea, under the sea or over the sea, sea men are required. Men bred to the sea, men who know the ways of ships and above all how good a friend the sea can prove and how bad an enemy. There are seven of these aircraft carriers in the Fleet at present and we are building six more, of which two have been launched: in fact, one—the Formidable '<laupehed herself. Our latest aircraft car~ rier is named the Ark Royal—a fine and historic name for any of the King's ships and a singularly appropriate name for a ship that cradles 60 alreralt.
Destroyers and submarines are distributed mainly between the Home, Mediterranean and Reserve Fleets, but in the China Squadron there are thirteen destroyers and sixteen submarines.
Now let us turn to the Reserve Flest for 'a moment. In this Fleet you will find ships that are undergoing extensive refits and also the older ships or—shall T say?—the not-so-young ships, since they are still capable of Very good service. This Fleet consists of tone battleship, with two other battleships refitting, 24 cruisers, three aircraft carriers, 94 destroyers and submarines, together with a great number of smaller ves-gels such as mine-sweepers, trawlers and other craft: a valuable reinforcement indeed to the home and overseas fleets and squadrons in time of war.
'A word about these trawlers. Why does the Navy want trawlers? Well, it is not to catch fish, but to catch submarines. They are magnificent scaboats and manned by magnificent seamen. Equipped with submarine detecting apparatus and depth charges, their duty is to hunt and destroy submarines lying off the approaches to our harbours at-home and abroad. For this purpose they are admirably adapted.
In peace, the Navy that I have described is manned by 133,000 officers and men, but in war this number is increased by the addition of between 60 and 70 thousand pensioners and reservists. Pensioners are men who have completed 22 years' service but are certainly not too old at 40.
One of the finest sights to be seen anywhere is a man-of-war entering harbour. She is like a good-looking well-dressed Woman entering a room. Every eye is on her—every sailor's "eye anyway. Should a single man be out of position on deck, oat at the davits an inch down by the bows or the stern, or, worst of all horrors, some= body's head' looking out of a porthole, it will be many a long day before they hear the fast of it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.