"Had I fought otherwise," he said, "our
fleet had been totally lost, and the kingdom had lain open to
invasion. As it was, most men were in fear that the French would
invade; but I was always of another opinion, for I always said that
whilst we had a fleet in being, they would not dare to make an
attempt."

A "fleet in being," therefore, is one the existence and maintenance of
which, although inferior, on or near the scene of operations, is a
perpetual menace to the various more or less exposed interests of the
enemy, who cannot tell when a blow may fall, and who is therefore
compelled to restrict his operations, otherwise possible, until that
fleet can be destroyed or neutralized. It corresponds very closely to
"a position on the flank and rear" of an enemy, where the presence of
a smaller force, as every military student knows, harasses, and may
even paralyze offensive movements. When such a force is extremely
mobile, as a fleet of armored cruisers may be, its power of mischief
is very great; potentially, it is forever on the flank and rear,
threatening the lines of communications. It is indeed as a threat to
communications that the "fleet in being" is chiefly formidable.

The theory received concrete and convincing illustration during the
recent hostilities, from the effect exerted--and justly exerted--upon
our plans and movements by Cervera's squadron, until there had been
assembled before Santiago a force at once so strong and so numerous as
to make his escape very improbable. Even so, when a telegram was
received from a capable officer that he had identified by night, off
the north coast of Cuba, an armored cruiser,--which, if of that class,
was most probably an enemy,--the sailing of Shafter's expedition was
stopped until the report could be verified. So much for the positive,
material influence--in the judgment of the writer, the reasonable
influence--of a "fleet in being." As regards the moral effect, the
effect upon the imagination, it is scarcely necessary more than to
allude to the extraordinary play of the fancy, the kaleidoscopic
effects elicited from our own people, and from some foreign critics,
in propounding dangers for ourselves and ubiquity for Cervera. Against
the infection of such tremors it is one of the tasks of those in
responsibility to guard themselves and, if possible, their people.
"Don't make pictures for yourself," was Napoleon's warning to his
generals. "Every naval operation since I b