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This article was downloaded by: [University of Liverpool] On: 04 January 2015, At: 18:44 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Royal United Services Institution. Journal Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rusi19 The Study of Naval History J. K. Laughton M.A., R.N. a a King's College , London Published online: 11 Sep 2009. To cite this article: J. K. Laughton M.A., R.N. (1896) The Study of Naval History, Royal United Services Institution. Journal, 40:221, 795-820, DOI: 10.1080/03071849609416248 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03071849609416248 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Downloaded by [University of Liverpool] at 18:44 04 January 2015 THE STUDY OF NAVAL HISTOKY. 705 THE STUDY OF NAVAL HISTORY. By 1. A’. LA UGHTOiY, M.A., R.AT.,Pi-ofissor of illbdern Hisfoa, d King’s Co!!egc, Lonaott. l?ednesday, March. llth, 189G. Colonel The Right Hon. Thc Marquis of Lothian, K.T., 3rd Un. The Royal Scots, in the Chair. R,IANY of us must have been struck with thc increased interest now felt in Naval History, both in thc Service and out of it. It is now rcaliscd that it is the past which must lead Us in the future, and that the study of riavnl stratcgy and of naval tactics is linkcd in the closest possible nianncr with the study of our history ; that to know what the incn of old did, and why and how they did it, to knoy \vl@ they failed in doing, and why and how they failed, is the bcst of all guides for achieving succcss or avoiding failure. Curiously enough, this has not alwayp been so. It is within my memory, and the memory of many here, httwenty years ago a very different feeling was prcvalent ; that it was <cry gcncrally believed that under the circumstances of modern war-steam, torpedoes, rams, elcc- tricity, and so forth-the story of thc past no longer held out any lessons for thc future; that in thc science of naval war we werc absolutely without a guide. and that we should enter on,any new contest in utter ignorance of the possibilities or the.probabilities before- us ; out of which bclicf came many wild proposals, many wild theories, and much vague, but acute, Downloaded by [University of Liverpool] at 18:44 04 January 2015 alarm. It is not for me now to discuss any of these ; but I may just mention as one of tllcm, the theory-still living, I understand, in France-that the naval war of the future will bc waged-like an epidemic of small-pox or cholera-by microbes or bacilli; that the torpedo-boat will be the master of the situation, and that the strength of a nation will mainly depend on the infinitesimal nature of its armament. Such a theory is not’altogcther new ; the alarm to which it gives rise was familiar ninety years ago, whcn our enemy across the Channel proposed to annihilate our naval power by means of oar-impelled gun-boats. One of the heaviest charges brought against thc Earl oi St. Vincent, and put into the mouih of Rlr. Pitt, was that he had endangered the safety of the Kingdom by neglecting to provide an adequate number of gun-boats ’ to repel the contcniplalcd attack. St. Vincent and Troubridgc, his colleague at the Admiralty, held that thc enemy’s gun-boats ~vouldbe most effectively nict by ships of the line ; and Pellcm, in set phrasc, agreed with them ; through thc enemy’s “ mosquito-flcct,” he said, ‘‘ ships of the line and frigates would make their way in all directions.” . It will be, perhaps, interesting to yoti- if I cntleavour to trace the grolvth of the more hcalthy feeling to which I have referred ; and this I can the bcttcr do, as I believe I hwc nijsclf bccn one of the instrumcnts cmploycd in bringing it about. Othcr agencies have, no doubt, also been at work, but the first and principal movcr was-to the best of my knoivledge-the late Admiral Sir CoopcrI<ey. Twenty-two ycars ago I had the honour of reading a papin the lheatre of this Institution on what I called-I bclici-e rightly called-“ The Scientific Stiidy of Naval History.” The term ’‘ scientific ” I&, .hoivcver, objected to: probably bccausc at that date men could not, and did not, realise that there was any sciencc about it: ’ Naval history \;.as siipposetl to be a vcry unscicntifi? .story of blood and thunder. In that papcr I urged “the use, advaritazc, and importance to naval olliccrs of the study of naval history,” not considered as “a bald relation of battles and armanients, of victories or defeats,” but as a serious attempt “ to ’trace the course of events to their origin, to distinguish the causes’ which have led to success or to failure, and to esamine into the iiiflucnces \vhicli have, at diffcrcnt pcriods, rcndcrcd different countries powerful by sea.” Sir Cooper Key, then President of the Royal Naval Collcgc, and Admiral Sir Alfrctl Ryder were both present on that occasion; both spoke strongiy in support of my contention, and the latter said-it serves now to mark the date-“ I believe our young oficers have not studicd naval history as they ought to have done: I doubt very much if they ~voulclknow the names of many of our grcat victories, or anything about them, if you questioned them.” . In the .following ycar, 1875, the Council of this Institution, by inviting nic’to read a paper on the work of the Royal Naval Collcge, gave me another opportunity of urging the importance of thd~studyof .naval history; and in consequence of this assault, Sir Cooper ICcy asked me to undertake a course of lectures on the subject at Greenwich. This I gladly agreed to do, and for the nest twelve years I gave a short course Downloaded by [University of Liverpool] at 18:44 04 January 2015 each ycar to the oficers studying at the Collegc. Admiral Colonib then took up the work, and has continued it in a somewhat modified form to the present time. Now, though it.is quite impossible in a short course of sis, or eight, or, at most, ten Icctures, to do more than givc an outline of thc subject, or to illustrate some few of the more important cvcnts, I am happy in knowing that many of those who have attended these lectures have bccn led by them to pursue the study at their leisure, with-in some cases, at any rate-very marked succcss. It is, in sonic sense, difiailt to over- estimate the value of the boon which Sir Coopcr Key conferred on the Service in instituting these lectures. I think I do not err in assigning to them a large sharc in the preparation of the ground for the good seed scattcrcd.- by Captain BIahan in 1890. .TIIE SIXDY 01.‘SX\’XL IIISTOKY. 797 Captain AIahan’s admirable work, “ The Influcncc of Sea-Power upon History,” obtained a ready recognition in our Service, but not from the general public. It is true that the several review, written by more or less ,competent men, strongly commended it ; but the world at large cared little for it, or-which comes to .the same thing-refused to buy it. But thc Naval Eshibition of 1891 woke the public up to a knowletlgc that me have a Navy, that our Navy has a history, and that aftcr all that has been said about them, sailors differ from their countrymen mainly in being finer specimens of thc race. We all have vividly before us the enthusiasm which that eshibition excited. and the eagerness with which peoplc began to read about the Navy, not almp from the best sources, but still to read and to enquire. The panorama of l‘rafalgar, false as it was in almost every .detail, ncverthcless served to give the crowds of London sode conception of what the battle might be like ; and the presentment of the “Victory,” and of the cclcbrated scene in the “ Victory’s”. cockpit struck a senti- mental chord in the great English heart. And before the fcelings and memories so escited had time to die, Captain Idahan’s second great work, ‘‘ ?‘he Influence of Sea-Power-upon the French Revolution and Kmpirc,” was published.