s that the value of past experimental work is
shown. In the matter of organization we must be certain that adequate
means are taken to ensure that the different arms which must co-operate
in war are trained to work together under peace conditions. A modern
fleet consists of many units of different types--battleships,
battle-cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Before I
relinquished the command of the Grand Fleet, large sea-going submarines
of high speed, vessels of the "K" class, had been built to accompany the
surface vessels to sea. It is very essential that senior officers should
have every opportunity of studying tactical schemes in which various
classes of ships and kinds of weapons are employed. In considering the
future of the Navy it is impossible to ignore aircraft. There are many
important problems which the Navy and the Air Service ought to work out
together. A fleet without aircraft will be a fleet without eyes, and
aircraft will, moreover, be necessary, not only for reconnaissance work,
but for gun-spotting, as well as, possibly, for submarine hunting. Air
power is regarded by many officers of wide practical experience as an
essential complement to sea power, whatever future the airship and
aeroplane may have for independent action. A captain who is going to
fight his ship successfully must have practised in time of peace with
all the weapons he will employ in action, and he must have absolute
control over all the elements constituting the fighting power of his
ship. In a larger sense, the same may be said of an admiral in command
of a fleet; divided control may mean disaster. The advent of aircraft
has introduced new and, at present, only partially explored problems
into naval warfare, and officers commanding naval forces will require
frequent opportunities of studying them. They must be worked out with
naval vessels and aircraft acting in close association. With the Air
Service under separate control, financially as well as in an executive
and administrative sense, is it certain that the Admiralty will be able
to obtain machines and personnel in the necessary numbers to carry out
all the experimental and training work that is essential for efficiency
in action? Is it also beyond doubt that unity of command at sea, which
is essential to victory, will be preserved? In view of all the
possibilities which the future holds now that the airship and aeroplane
have arrived, it is well that there sho