and thus the logic of the situation brings us back to
the battleship once more with its characteristic functions. It may
perhaps be urged that this chain of argument takes too little account of
the submarine vessel which is at present singularly invulnerable because
for the most part invisible to any vessels, whether big or little, which
operate only on the surface and even if discovered betimes by the
latter, is not very readily assailable by them. But of two things one.
Either the submarine vessel will remain small and therefore weak, and
lacking in enduring mobility, in which case it can never establish and
maintain an effective command of the sea. Or it will grow indefinitely
in size, in which case it will fall under the inexorable stress of the
logic which brings us back once more to the battleship. It may be that
the battleship of the still distant future will be a submersible
battleship. But many exceedingly complex problems of construction and
stability will have to be solved before that consummation is reached.

Lastly, the specific function of the so-called battle-cruiser would seem
to need some further elucidation. At first sight this hybrid type of
vessel might seem to be an anomalous intrusion into the time-honoured
hierarchy of battleship, cruiser, and small craft, which the ripe
experience of many wars, battles, and campaigns had finally established
in the last golden days of the sailing ship period. It is indeed held by
some high authorities that the battle-cruiser is in very truth a hybrid
and an anomaly, and that no adequate reason for its existence can be
given. In face of these opinions I cannot presume to dogmatize on the
subject. But some not wholly irrelevant considerations may be advanced.
The battle-cruiser is, as its name implies, a vessel not only fitted by
the nature of its armour and armament "to lie in a line," whenever
occasion may require, but also exceedingly well qualified by its armour
and armament, and still more by its speed, to discharge many of the
functions of a cruiser either alone or in company with other cruisers.
In this latter capacity, it can overhaul nearly every merchant ship
afloat, it can scout far and wide, it can push home a vital
reconnaissance in cases where a weaker and slower cruiser would have to
run away if she could, it can serve as a rallying point to a squadron of
smaller cruisers engaged in the defence of this or that vital line of
communication, and alone or