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[page 41]
79
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on the walls of which was not hung a large map of the Western Front well covered with pencil marks shewing the progress of operations. They seem to recognise that this war will be decided on the battle- fields of France and that they are there merely in a helping capacity, to see that the Army gets its reinforcements, munitions and stores without hindrance. On the question of whether the German Fleet will ever come out in force and fight, their opinions are divided, but one and all agree that the men of the German Navy are willing and anxious to fight and of course nothing would please our men more than to give them a chance to prove their skill. At Jutland and elsewhere they shewed that they were no mean enemy; their tactics were good and their gunnery was good, a specialty in the latter being their rapid big gun fire. But Jutland has been of immense value to us. It has shewn us our weak points and we have been able to make such structural alterations to our ships as should in the future more than compensate us for the losses sustained at Jutland. Simple enough they seem, but still it needed a big engage-ment to make them apparent and the Navy is ever open to learn. Should a big encounter ever take place again we must expect to lose ships for we must fight the German when and where he pleases. He won't come out boldly into the open but will make a sort of running fight of it, if possible in thick weather, with a possible object of dragging us over a prepared mine field or into some such trap. But our chaps will take all this into account and give him battle on whatever terms he likes - anything to get at him. Meantime he will make his occasional small raids in the Channel and North Sea and will catch a shop of ours now and then, but these little affairs should cause no concern, they are merely the price of our Sea Supremacy. The Navy is surprised at the infrequency of these