Page:The Next Naval War - Eardley-Wilmot - 1894.djvu/54

 from Malta to Gibraltar must pass within close distance.

It was to Algiers the French fleet was now steering with a view to intercept the English squadron, which must be reinforced from England before it could take the offensive.

The formidable nature of the French position in the Mediterranean had been observed and pointed out frequently in England for a considerable period previously. Sir Geoffrey Hornby had plainly said: "I don't see how we can possibly hold the Mediterranean with our present force," and the Admiralty had been urged to strengthen it. But the requirements of a modern fleet differ materially from those of former times, and render it more dependent on a dockyard. We have only one place in the Mediterranean with the necessary plant, and Malta is only just capable of supplying the wants of a limited number of ironclads. Gibraltar has no dock, and its naval yard is incapable of coping with big repairs. Hence we could only maintain a much larger fleet in this sea by sending some of the ships home periodically, a course to which all naval tradition was opposed. A few additional cruisers had been sent out, but they did not materially strengthen the squadron in the most important element of sea power.

It had, however, been considered that on an emergency the Channel squadron could reinforce that in the Mediterranean in a few days, our home