he commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should
not go dancing in the weeds of peace; but warned, self-collected,
and neither defying nor dreading the thunder; let him take both
reputation and life in his hands, and with perfect urbanity dare
the gibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech and
rectitude of his behavior."--EMERSON.

NAVAL LESSONS OF THE WAR

By REAR ADMIRAL AUSTIN M. KNIGHT, U. S. N.

Although the greatest war in history is not yet at an end, and none
of us can even guess when the end will come, it is possible to draw
certain very important conclusions from the developments to date,
especially in so far as these developments are concerned with war
upon the sea. The great sea fight for which the world has looked
since its two greatest naval powers went to war against each other
has not taken place. It may never take place, although both sides
profess that they are eager for it. And until it does take place,
the final word will not be spoken as to the relations between guns
and armor, between battleships and battle cruisers, or between
either of these types of "capital" ships on the one hand, and the
destroyer and submarine on the other.

The submarine has proven its power, it is true, and against the
battleship; but always where the element of _surprise_ has entered
into its attack in quite a different fashion from that which is
inherent in its always mysterious and stealthy nature. The battle
cruiser has shown the value of speed and long-range guns combined,
but in a comparatively restricted field. The destroyer has played a
part in coast patrol and has doubtless accounted for a number of
submarines; but in its proper sphere of activity it has accomplished
nothing. And the wonderful achievements of the airship have been
practically confined to operations on land. We have waited vainly
and shall continue so to wait for the one supreme lesson which the
war has been expected to yield, unless it chance that on some day to
be forever memorable in the annals of the world there shall sweep
out upon the stormy waters of the North Sea two fleets complete in
every type of craft that human ingenuity has thus far contrived, to
engage in a struggle to the death--a struggle by which the issue of
the war may be decided in an hour, and in a fashion incomparably
more dramatic than anything which the warfare on land, with all its
horrors, has presented or by a