ven a hint as to what a sailor means by "naval
supremacy," "freedom of the seas," and other terms so misused that
to-day they mean nothing. "Coast defense" means defense against
invasion; "colonial defense" means the safeguarding of distant
possessions against enemy forces; the "defense of commerce" means such
supremacy on the seas as will insure absolute safety of the mercantile
marine from enemy commerce-destroyers.

To-day every great nation is waging a trade war. The industrial
competition of peace is as keen as the competition of war. All the
great Powers realized years ago that, to gain and keep their "place in
the sun," it was necessary for them to construct navies that would
insure to them a certain control of the seas for the protection of
their commerce. In this way began the abnormal naval construction in
which the Powers have vied with one another for supremacy.

A simple way of looking at the question, what constitutes the power of
a fleet, is to consider the warship as merely a floating gun-platform.
Even though this floating platform is the most complex piece of
mechanism that was ever contrived by man, nevertheless its general
function is simple. The war has given us enough experience to convince
us that the backbone of a navy is, after all, the heavily armored
ship of moderately high speed, carrying a very heavy armament. This
floating gun-platform is the structure best fitted to carry large guns
into battle, and to withstand the terrific punishment of the enemy's
fire.

The battleship is to-day, notwithstanding the development of other
types, queen of the seas. It is therefore not difficult to estimate
the relative power of the fleets of different nations. In fact, a
purely engineering estimate of this kind can be made, and the
respective ranks of the world's naval powers ascertained. Germany has
shown all through the war that she thoroughly appreciated the British
naval supremacy. Her fleet has ventured little more than sporadic
operations from the well-fortified bases behind Heligoland. It was
probably the pressure of public opinion, and not the expectation
that she would achieve anything of military advantage, that forced her
to send her high-sea fleet into conflict with the British squadrons
off Jutland.

If one should examine the course of this battle, which has been
represented by lines graphically showing the paths of the British and
German fleets, one could easily see how the British impos