ws--many of them unauthorized by the Government. The experience
of this war, and of former wars, proves only that these enterprises lose
a great part of their value if they are timidly designed or
half-heartedly executed. To condemn them out and out is to prefer the
German plan of empire, which depends wholly on central initiative and
central control, to the sporadic energy of the British Empire, which can
never be killed by a blow aimed at the centre, for its life is in every
part. Military theory, based as it is chiefly on the great campaigns of
continental conquerors, has so impressed some of its British students
that they forget their own nature, renounce their pride, and cheapen
their dearest possessions.

The overseas work of the Naval Air Service during the closing months of
1914, from the battle of Ypres onwards, can be briefly stated. It
consisted of help given to the British army, reconnaissances and attacks
carried out along the occupied coast of Belgium, and two great
air-raids.

During the battle of Ypres one naval aeroplane was working for the First
Army Corps. Reconnaissances were carried out daily by the few available
machines. Squadron Commander Davies on three occasions attacked German
machines in the air; they escaped by planing down to behind their own
lines. Flight Lieutenant Collet, whose aeroplane had been wrecked, flew
as observer to Squadron Commander Davies, and reported the positions of
six new German batteries. Flight Lieutenant Pierse, in an old
inefficient machine which climbed badly, made many flights along the
coast, and was wounded by shrapnel in the air over Antwerp.

Meantime, on the 31st of October, a seaplane base was established at
Dunkirk in the works of the shipbuilding company, which occupied a part
of the harbour. Under Squadron Commander J. W. Seddon the seaplanes did
some good work; they located enemy guns, dropped heavy bombs on Bruges
railway station, co-operated with the ships' guns in the bombardment of
the coast, kept a look-out for German submarines, and reported on the
enemy defences.

This base at Dunkirk remained an active centre for our seaplane and
aeroplane work throughout the war, and did much to defeat the German
plans. The possession of the coast of Flanders had a twofold value for
the Germans; it served to safeguard the right flank of their invading
army and it provided them with a base both for their submarine campaign
and for occasional attacks on the nav