Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/272

TACTICS 228 TADPOLE after some ineffective attempts at land- ing, returned to Brest. During the Napoleonic wars, the English fleets hav- ing more or less complete command of the sea, the strategy of the commanders seems to have resolved itself into blockade of the enemy where possible, or a close observation of his movements with a view to prevent any junction of his scattered forces; and if he ventured to put to sea, into efforts to bring him to action as soon as possible. The line of battle consisted in a fleet of ships being extended in a straight .line either ahead or abreast one ship of another, keeping as close together as weather permitted, so that at all times every ship should be ready to sustain and relieve one another. It was directed that each ship in the line should keep within half a cable's length (about 50 fathoms) of one another. It was introduced into the English navy by Sir William Penn. At the battle of the Nile (1798) Nelson doubled on the van of the French line and attacked it on both sides, while the other ships of the line, the whole fleet being at anchor, could afford no assis- tance; but at Trafalgar, where his bril- liant career terminated with a decisive victory, he broke the enemy's line in two places, bearing down on it in two columns. Steam may be said to have revolution- ized naval strategy and tactics; whereas the best-laid schemes were often frus- trated by foul winds and gales, now the great steam power of battleships and cruisers renders them independent of wind and to a great extent of bad weather. As a set-off, however, to this, the coal endurance of ships and the re- plenishing of their supplies of fuel be- come important factors in deciding on their movements. The value of a block- ade was demonstrated in the World War (1914-1918). The British were unable to effect a complete blockade of Ger- many, but it was effective to the extent of so reducing the amount of supplies entering the Empire that the German masses suffered great hardships, and thus were sown the seeds of the subse- quent revolution. The first real test of the ironclad as developed by modern naval science was given during the war between Japan and China, in 1894. Each of the contending nations had navies, which, while small, included a couple of the best battleships and cruisers of the world. The only fault with such a test is that the Japanese were so much superior to the Chinese in the skill with which they manoeuvred their ships that the battle cannot be taken as a wholly fair test. One thing sufficiently established was the effectiveness of the modern vessel of war and its death- dealing power. The battle lasted six hours. The Japanese lost no ships, while they destroyed seven of the Chinese fleet of 10 and put others to flight. The Japan- ese loss was 200 men and that of the Chinese six times as great. See China: Japan. The Japanese- Chinese War, however, did not settle many of the great problems of marine warfare, and really proved nothing but the superior skill and prow- ess of the Mikado's subjects. Since then have been fought the most remarkable naval battles in history. See Manila Bay: Santiago de Cuba: Jutland Bank, Battle of: Falkland Islands, Battle of: Submarines: Navy: Navy, United States. TADPOLE, the larva of the anurous amphibia, sometimes so far extended as to include larvas of the urodela, which undergo a much less complete metamor- phosis. At first the young have no respiratory organs or limbs. They are all head and tail with simple entire gills which soon disappear, to be followed by ! 4 f ? METAMORPHOSIS OP A FROG others of more complicated structure, situated within the cavity of the body as in fishes. After a certain length of time the hind legs begin to appear, the head becomes more developed, and the body