dockyards, and our aircraft and shipping centres, for it is here that, apart from any question of invasion. Great Britain is most vulnerable. The problem of giving adequate protection to these is manifestly a work which only the Admiralty is competent to undertake. As already pointed out there are geographic positions which in no way lend themselves to aeronautical defence, it will be incumbent upon the Naval Authorities to determine when and under what conditions these will need to be abandoned. Generally speaking, a point can only be defended from hostile aircraft when its approach necessitates a considerable length of flight over British territory. Alternatively a point may also be considered defendable if the total distance from hostile territory is sufficient, provided that the intervening sea is effectively patrolled; thus again the intimate relation of aeronautical to naval defence becomes manifest.
§ 130. The Future of the Aeronautical Arm a National Question. It is more than probable that before the termination of the present war we may witness and experience aerial raids on a scale immeasurably greater than anything so far attempted, either by the enemy or by our own airmen; it is also probable that the strategic employment of the aeronautical Arm on the lines laid down in the preceding chapter (§ 119) will become a fait accompli. The extent of realisation depends upon the duration of the war and the numerical strength of the air-fleets which will become available before the conclusion of hostilities.
In the author's opinion it is vitally necessary, both with a view to ensuring speedy victory and to our future as a nation, that our manufacturing resources in the production of aircraft should be developed to the utmost; aeroplanes and still more aeroplanes will be needed, aeroplanes in the maximum possible quantities of every useful
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