Frederick William Lanchester

“ A numerical superiority of ships of individually equal strength will mean definitely that the inferior fleet at the outset has to face the full fire of the superior, and as the battle proceeds and the smaller fleet is knocked to pieces, the initial disparity will become worse and worse, and the fire to which it is subjected more and more concentrated. ”

“ It must not be forgotten that, even with this enormous increase, the security will not be so great as appears on paper, for the enemy's fleet, having met and defeated one section of our fleet, may succeed in falling back on his base for repair and refit, and emerge later with the advantage of strength in his favour. ”

“ Thus, when battle fleet meets battle fleet, there is no advantage to the defender analogous to that secured by the entrenchment of infantry. Again, from the time of opening fire, the individual ship is the mark of the gunner, and there is no phase of the battle or range at which areas are searched in a general way. In a naval battle every shot fired is aimed or directed at some definite one of the enemy's ships ”

“ By attacking from above and below, as well as from all points of the compass, there is, within reason, no limit to the number of machines which can be brought to bear on a given small force of the enemy, and so a numerically superior fleet will be able to reap every ounce of advantage from its numbers. ”

“ In order further to embarass the enemy's van, and more effectively to prevent it from coming into action, it became part of the scheme of attack that a few ships, a comparatively insignificant force, should be told off to intercept and engage as many of the leading ships as possible; in brief, to fight an independent action on a small scale; we may say admittedly a losing action. In this connection Nelson's memorandum of October 9 is illuminating. ”

“ Before attempting to apply the foregoing, either as touching the conduct of aerial warfare or the equipment of the fighting aeroplane, it is of interest to examine a few special cases and applications in other directions and to discuss certain possible limitations. ”

“ The same observations will probably be found to apply to aerial warfare when air fleets engage in conflict, more especially so in view of the fact that aeroplane can attack aeroplane in three dimensions of space instead of being limited to two, as is the case with the battleship. This will mean that even with weapons of moderate range the degree of fire concentration possible will be very great. ”

“ Once more we are led to contrast the ancient conditions, under which the weapons of a large army could not be brought to bear, with modern conditions, where it is physically possible for the weapons of ten thousand to be concentrated on one. ”

“ In this respect our present diposition—a single battle fleet or "Grand" fleet—is far more economical and strategically preferable as a defensive power to the old-time distribution of the Channel Fleet. Mediterranean Fleet, etc. If it had been really necessary, for any political or geographical reason, to maintain two separate battle fleets at such distance asunder as to preclude their immediate concentration in case of attack, the cost to the country would have been enormously ”

“ It will be understood by those acquainted with the sailing-ship of the period that the van could only turn to come to the assistance of those in the rear at the cost of a considerable interval of time, especially if the van should happen to be to leeward of the centre and rear. ”