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ENGLISH AND GERMAN FLEETS
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of facts and figures which will, I think, convince them that so far from Germany's being in a position to invade England, her fleet, should there ever be war between the two countries, would scarcely dare to weigh anchor and venture out into the open sea.
So recently as six years ago dissemination, as opposed to concentration, was Great Britain's Naval policy. Her ships-of-war were "scattered here and there as with a pepper-box" [1]; but, in 1906, Lord Fisher put an end to this haphazard state of things, and to-day we are literally in a position to talk with the enemy in our gates.
- ↑ "All these small detachments scattered here and there as with a pepper-box are common devices, but are dangerous, and proofs of extreme ignorance in military matters."—Indian Misgovernment, by Sir Charles Napier, p. 408.
Sir C. Napier's remarks are as applicable to the Navy as to the Army.—H. B. H.
