each other, and each set of plans must include
all the various orders that must be signed for carrying it into
effect, including the particular word or phrase that directs the
execution of that particular set of plans.

It is the story that the final order to the British navy in the
early part of August, 1914, was the word "Go." All the units went
immediately, understandingly, unitedly; and the greatest machine
the world has ever known was almost instantly in operation at full
speed. No such stupendous feat, physically considered, had ever
been done before. The mobilization of the Prussian army in 1870 and
of the German army about August 1, 1914, were as great performances
mentally and strategically, but not physically, by reason of the
relative feebleness of the forces set in motion. This relative
feebleness was due, of course, to the insignificance of muskets
compared to navy guns, of railway-trains compared to battleships,
etc.--an insignificance far from being neutralized by the greater
number of the units, for one 14-inch shell has an energy equal
to that of about 60,000 muskets, and no army contains anything
approximating the powerfulness of a battleship.

Not only, however, must the strategist make plans in peace for
preparations that culminate in mobilization, and simply insure
that the navy shall be ready in material and personnel when war
breaks; he must also make plans for operating the navy strategically
afterward, along each of the various lines of direction that the
war may take. In other words, the work of preparation strategy
in making war plans may be divided into two parts--mobilization
and operation.

The plans of mobilization deal naturally with all the activities
concerned, material and personnel, and endeavor to arrange a passing
from a state of peace to a state of war in the quickest possible time,
and with the least chance of errors and omissions. A considerable
degree of imagination is required, an almost infinite patience, and
a perfect willingness to work indefinitely without any reasonable
expectation of getting tangible results. A more hopeless task can
hardly be given any man or body of men than that of working out
plans, general and detailed, day after day, for contingencies that
will probably never happen, and to guard against dangers that will
probably never come; preparing tables, diagrams, and schedules
which are almost certainly doomed to rest forever in the sepulchre
of the conf