It may have been this which justified his later statement that he
did not really mean to invade England. In any case, the English
practice of fixing the station of their fleet wherever that of
the enemy's was, would have seriously shortened the duration
of his command of the Channel, even if it had allowed it to be
won at all. Moreover, attempts to carry out a great operation
of war against time as well as against the efforts of the enemy
to prevent it are in the highest degree perilous.
In war the British Navy has three prominent duties to discharge. It
has to protect our maritime trade, to keep open the communications
between the different parts of the empire, and to prevent invasion.
If we command the sea these duties will be discharged effectually.
As long as we command the sea the career of hostile cruisers
sent to prey on our commerce will be precarious, because command
of the sea carries with it the necessity of possessing an ample
cruiser force. As long as the condition mentioned is satisfied
our ocean communications will be kept open, because an inferior
enemy, who cannot obtain the command required, will be too much
occupied in seeing to his own safety to be able to interfere
seriously with that of any part of our empire. This being so,
it is evident that the greater operation of invasion cannot be
attempted, much less carried to a successful termination, by the
side which cannot make head against the opposing fleet.
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