to doubt that it is still possible for hard sea-training
to make "the activity and spirit of our officers and seamen" give the
results which Nelson so confidently expected.

II. MINOR COUNTER-ATTACKS

For the weaker of two belligerents minor-attack has always exercised a
certain fascination. Where a Power was so inferior in naval force that it
could scarcely count even on disputing command by fleet operations, there
remained a hope of reducing the relative inferiority by putting part of the
enemy's force out of action. Such hopes were rarely realised. In 1587 Drake
succeeded in stopping the Spanish invasion by such a counter-attack on the
Cadiz division of the Armada while it was still unmobilised. In 1667 the
Dutch achieved a similar success against our Chatham division when it was
demobilised and undefended, and thereby probably secured rather more
favourable terms of peace. But it cannot be said that the old wars present
any case where the ultimate question of command was seriously affected by a
minor counterattack.

The advent of the torpedo, however, has given the idea a new importance
that cannot be overlooked. The degree of that importance is at present
beyond calculation. There is at least no evidence that it would be very
high in normal conditions and between ordinarily efficient fleets. The
comparative success of the opening Japanese attack on the Port Arthur
squadron is the only case in point, and where only one case exists, it is
necessary to use extreme caution in estimating its significance. Before we
can deduce anything of permanent value we must consider very carefully both
its conditions and results.

To begin with, it was a new experience of a new class of weapon, and it by
no means follows that the success of a new expedient will be repeated with
anything like equal result. It will not be irrelevant again to recall the
case of fireships. At the outset of the sailing era in 1588, this device
prepared the way for a decisive success against a fleet in the open. In the
succeeding wars the new weapon found a prominent place in the organisation
of sea-going fleets, but its success was never repeated. Against ships in
ill-defended harbours it did occasionally produce good results, and during
the infancy of tactics its moral and even material effects in fleet actions
were frequently demonstrated. But as naval science developed and the
limitations of the weapon were more accurately measured, it was able to