THE event which has just been accomplished in the south of France deserves to be marked as the most important and menacing fact which has for a long time presented itself to the consideration of the advocates of England's naval supremacy. The torpedo-boat, No. 68, which passed up the mouth of the Seine a couple of weeks ago, has completed its inland voyage and entered the waters of the Mediterranean. The naval power of France, as regards the most formidable arm of the naval warfare of the future, has been doubled at a blow. The dangers of a sea voyage, the guns of Gibraltar, are no longer to be reckoned in the path of France's torpedo flotillas. Already the deadly craft can pass in safety and by land between the Northern and Southern seas, and from the British Channel to the mouths of the Khone, or from the mouths of the Rhone to the British Channel. The bearing of this revolution is almost incalculable. In the treatise on "Future naval battles," recently published by Sir George Elliot, K.C.B., there is a passage which will serve to impress upon the country the significance of the achievement which has been accomplished: "In the event of a war with France alone," says Admiral Elliot, (in the present condition of our navy and coast defences, and after strengthening our squadrons abroad, the whole fleet of England would be required for the defence of the Channel, and any idea of commanding the Mediterranean waters must be abandoned. On this point I have consulted many naval officers and have received but one answer -- namely, that to divide the fleet we possess, which is only numerically equal to that of France, between the Mediterranean and the Channel, would be to indict certain defeat." The prospect becomes alarming in the highest degree in view of the enormous, increase of the offensive power of the French Navy which results from the discovery of the capacity of torpedo vessels for being carried in from one sea to the other. A fleet of five hundred torpedo vessels, divided between the Bay of Biscay, the British Channel, and the Mediterranean, would be capable of concentration in any number upon either coast, and an enemy's fleet would be liable to be suddenly and secretly overwhelmed by accessions to the French local force which no blockade and no previous superiority at sea could hinder from arriving. It is admitted that the voyage of "Torpilleur 68" was made under difficulties as it was essentially experimental, and the obstacles which imposed a certain delay upon its progress need not be expected to exist when the imitators of "Torpilleur 68" are required to make their way from sea to sea. The canal and river navigation of France "was hardly constructed with a view to such uses, and the French naval authorities can congratulate themselves upon the good fortune which hag allowed the rivers and canals to be employed so successfully for the initial experiment in this remarkable proceeding. Steps will be undertaken immediately to utilise the lessons derived from the passage of the torpedo boat, and waterways will be widened and deepened where necessary. There is also a project under consideration for carrying a smaller class of torpedo boats overland by rail, and competent engineers express no apprehension as to the difficulty of providing both trucks and boats mutually fitted for the arrangement. Very powerful torpedo boats can be built to any extent in compartments, capable of being easily carried by rail and united into a single vessel at the point of destination. Tunnels would be the greatest difficulty, but it is believed that by choosing not always the shortest line a road can be secured free from tunnels. As to the use of the river and canal navigation there can now, however, be no doubt. For all practical purposes France can now direct the moat powerful portion of her fleet, in any strength which may be required, into any of the seas which bathe her ashore. It is a momentous turning point in naval history.
Morning Post, June 1, 1885
The Congo Valley
Foreign Fish Foe, British Waters
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
