chy Head, was a
sufficient bar to the further enterprises of Tourville, nor can
Tourville's subsequent action be explained on any other hypothesis than
that he shared Torrington's opinion and acted on it.

The truth is, that the doctrine of the fleet in being, as understood
and illustrated by Torrington, is in reality the counterpart and
complement of the doctrine of the command of the sea as expounded above.
"I consider," said the late Sir Geoffrey Hornby, a strategist and
tactician of unrivalled authority in his time, "that I have command of
the sea when I am able to tell my Government that they can move an
expedition to any point without fear of interference from an enemy's
fleet." This condition cannot be satisfied so long as the enemy has a
fleet in being, that is a fleet strategically at large, not itself in
command of the sea, but strong enough to deny that command to its
adversary by strategic and tactical dispositions adapted to the
circumstances of the case. Thus command of the sea and a fleet in being
are mutually exclusive terms. So long as a hostile fleet is in being
there is no command of the sea; so soon as the command of the sea is
established there is no hostile fleet in being. Each of these
propositions is the complement of the other.

Nevertheless, the mere statement of these abstract propositions solves
none of the concrete problems of naval warfare. War is not governed by
phrases. It is governed by stern and inexorable realities. The question
whether a particular fleet in any particular circumstances is or is not
a fleet in being is not a question of theory, it is a question of fact.
The answer to it depends on the spirit, purpose, tenacity, and
strategic insight of those who control its movements. No fleet is a
fleet in being unless inspired by what may be called the _animus
pugnandi_, that is, unless, if and when the opportunity offers, it is
prepared to strike a blow at all hazards. For this reason the Russian
fleet in Sebastopol at the time of the invasion of the Crimea was not a
fleet in being, although it had a splendid opportunity, which a Nelson
would assuredly have found too tempting to be resisted, of showing its
mettle when the French warships were employed as transports; and the
allies might have been made to pay heavily for their neglect to blockade
it had it been inspired by an effective _animus pugnandi_. On the other
hand, the four ill-fated Spanish cruisers which crossed the Atlant