lity did not hesitate to attack.

A glance at Chart F [Transcriber's note: Not preserved in book.] will
show how widely separated are these objectives and how impossible it was
for the small Dover force to defend them all simultaneously, especially
during the hours of darkness. Any such attempt would have led to a
dispersion of force which would have been criminal. The distance from
Dunkirk along the French coast to Calais, thence to Dover and along the
English coast to the North Foreland is 60 miles. The distance at which
an enemy destroyer can be seen at night is about a quarter of a mile,
and the enemy could select any point of the 60 miles for attack, or
could vary the scene of operations by bombarding Lowestoft or towns in
the vicinity, which were only 80 miles from Zeebrugge and equally
vulnerable to attack, since the enemy's destroyers could leave their
base before dark, carry out their hurried bombardment, and return before
daylight. In whatever quarter he attacked he could be certain of great
local superiority of force, although, of course, he knew full well that
the first sign of an attack would be a signal to our forces to try to
cut him off from his bases. Therein lay the reason for the tip-and-run
nature of the raids, which lasted for a few minutes only. The enemy
realized that we should endeavour to intercept his force as soon as it
had disclosed its presence. The Germans had naturally to take the risk
of encountering our vessels on the way to his objectives, but at night
this risk was but slight.

As it was obviously impossible to prevent bombardments by stationing
destroyers in adequate force for the protection of each town, the only
possible alternative, unless such bombardments were ignored, was to give
the most vulnerable points protection by artillery mounted on shore.
This was a War Office, not an Admiralty, responsibility; but as the War
Office had not the means available, the Admiralty decided to take the
matter in hand, and in the spring of 1917 some 6-inch naval guns taken
from our reserves were mounted in the vicinity of the North Foreland.
Further, an old monitor, which was of no use for other work owing to her
machinery being unfit, was moored to the southward of Ramsgate, and her
guns commanded the Downs. Searchlights were also mounted on shore, but
more reliance was placed on the use of star shells, of which the
earliest supplies were sent to these guns. The result was immediately
apparent