Item 02: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett articles on the Gallipoli campaign, 1915 - Page 219

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[Page 219]

[Text incorporates handwritten corrections by E.A.B.]
Destroyers and Trawlers in the Mediterranean

The arrival of the submarine as an active factor in Naval Warfare has entirely altered the peculiar role which the different units composing a Fleet were supposed to play when they were originally designed. Battleships and great Crusiers can no longer command the sea by strength of numbers and weight of armament. Even light crusiers nominally intended for commerce destroying, protection of Trade Routes and as scouts are frequently exposed to danger from submarines. Battleships and armoured crusiers are still the final court of appeal between nations

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but there are grave doubts if the case will ever be carried to the decision of this supreme court - in the present instance on account of the unwillingness of the Germans to put the issue to the final test. For this they can hardly be blamed for there can be only one issue for them namely a crushing defeat at sea, which would also mean a final blow at their already tottering financial system . For their immense issues of paper money would fall to zero in value once their High Seas Feat ceased to exist as a standing menace to our command of the Seas.

The Torpedo boat was originally intended as the great offensive weapon against armoured ships. A weapon which might be of supreme value in the hands of a weaker power and enable her to weaken a stronger adversary sufficiently to allow of a general action between the Fleets on even, or more even terms. But modern gunnery has already rendered the Torpedo boat obsolete for the purpose for which she was originally constructed. I do not know of a single instance in the course of this

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