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COALING STATIONS
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COALING STATIONS . Maritime See also:war in all ages has required that the See also:ships of the belligerents should have the use of sheltered See also:waters for See also:repairs and for replenishment of supplies. The operations of See also:commerce from the earliest days demanded natural harbours, See also:round which, as in the conspicuous instance of See also:Syracuse, large populations gathered. Such points, where See also:wealth and re-See also:sources of all kinds accumulated, became See also:objects of attack, and See also:great efforts were expended upon their See also:capture. As maritime operations extended, the importance of a seaboard increased, and the See also:possession of See also:good natural harbours became more and more advantageous. At the same See also:time, the growing See also:size of ships and the complexity of fitments caused by the development of the sailing See also:art imposed new demands upon the equipment of ports alike for purposes of construction and for repairs; while the differentiation between warships and the commercial marine led to the See also:establishment of See also:naval bases and See also:dockyards provided with See also:special resources. From the days when the great sailors of See also: Other needs required to be met, and during the See also:wars of the See also:French Revolution it was usual, when possible, to allow ships engaged in See also:blockade to return to See also:port every five or six See also:weeks " to refresh." For a sailing See also:fleet acting on the offensive, a port from which it could easily get to See also:sea was a great See also:advantage. Thus See also:Raleigh protested against the use of closely landlocked harbours. " Certain it is," he wrote, " that these ships are purposely to serve His See also:Majesty and to defend the See also:kingdom from danger, and not to be so penned up from casualitie as that they should be less able or serviceable in times of need." See also:Nelson for this See also:reason made great use of Maddalena Bay, in See also:Sardinia, and was not greatly impressed with the strategic value of See also:Malta in spite of its See also:fine natural harbour. The introduction of See also:steam gave rise to a new naval requirement—coal—which soon became vital. Commerce under steam quickly settled down upon fixed routes, and depots of See also:coal were established to meet its needs. Coaling stations thus came into existence by a natural See also:process, arising from the exigencies of See also:trade, and began later to See also:supply the needs of navies. For many years there was no inquiry into the war requirements of the See also:British fleet as regards coal, and no See also:attempt to regularize or to fortify the ports at which it was stored. Successful naval war had won for Great See also:Britain many British points of vantage throughout the See also:world, and in some QD~iDg stations. cases the strategic value of ports had been proved by actual experience. The extreme importance of the Cape of Good See also:Hope, obscured for a time after the opening of the See also:Suez See also:Canal, was fully realized in sailing days, and the naval conditions of those days to some extent determined the choice of islands and harbours for occupation. There does not, however, appear to have been any careful study of relative strategic values. See also:Treaties were occasionally drafted by persons whose See also:geographical know-ledge was at See also:fault, and positions were, in some cases, abandoned which ought to have been retained, or tenaciously held when they might have been abandoned. It was See also:left to the See also:personal exertions of See also:Sir See also:Stamford See also:Raffles to secure such a supremely important roadstead as that of See also:Singapore for the See also:empire. Al-though, therefore, the relative values of positions was not always recognized, Great Britain obtained as a See also:legacy from sailing days a large number of harbours admirably adapted for use as coaling stations. Since the See also:dawn of the era of steam, she has acquired See also:Aden, See also:Perim, Hong-See also:Kong, See also:North See also:Borneo, See also:Fiji, See also:part of New See also:Guinea, Fanning See also:Island, and many other islands in the Pacific, while the striking development of See also:Australia and New See also:Zealand has added to the See also:long See also:roll of British ports. The coaling stations, actual and potential, of the empire are unrivalled in number, in convenience of geographical See also:distribution, and in resources. Of the numerous British ports abroad which contained coal stores, only the four so-called " fortresses "—Gibraltar, Malta, See also:Halifax and Bermuda—were at first fortified as naval stations after the introduction of rifled See also:ordnance. The See also:term fortress is a misnomer in every case except See also:Gibraltar, which, being a See also:peninsula separated only by a See also:neck of neutral ground from the territory of a See also:foreign See also:power, exists under fortress conditions. Large sums were expended on these places with little regard to principles, and the defences of Bermuda, which were very slowly constructed, are monuments of misapplied ingenuity. In 1878 great alarm arose from strained relations with See also:Russia. Rumours of the presence of See also:Russian cruisers in many waters, and of hostile projects, were readily believed, although the Russian See also:navy, which had just shown itself unable CCommisaraarvoa to See also:face that of See also:Turkey, would at this See also:period have won. been practically powerless. Widespread fears for the See also:security of coaling stations led to the See also:appointment of a strong royal See also:commission, under the See also:presidency of the See also:earl of See also:Carnarvon, which was instructed to inquire into and See also:report upon the See also:protection of British commerce at sea. This was the first attempt to formulate any principles, or to determine which of the many ports where coal was stored should be treated as coaling stations essential for the purposes of war, The terms of the reference to the commission were See also:ill-conceived. The basis of all See also:defence of sea-See also:borne commerce is a See also:mobile navy. It is the See also:movement of commerce upon the sea during war, not its security in port, that is essential to the British empire, and a navy able to protect commerce at sea must evidently protect ports andcoalingstations. The first object of inquiry should, therefore, have been to See also:lay down the necessary See also:standard of naval force. The vital question of the navy was not referred to the royal commission, and the four fortresses were also strangely excluded from its purview. It followed inevitably that the protection of commerce was approached at the wrong end, and that the labours of the commission were to a great extent vitiated by the elimination of the See also:principal See also:factor. Voluminous and important See also:evidence, which has not been made public, was, however, accumulated, and the final report was completed in 1881. The commissioners recalled See also:attention to the extreme importance of the Cape route to the See also:East; they carefully examined the See also:main maritime communications of the empire, and the distribution of trade upon each; they selected certain harbours for defence, and they obtained from the War See also:Office and endorsed projects of fortification in every case; lastly, they condemned the great See also:dispersion of troops in the See also:West Indies, which had arisen in days when it was a See also:political object to keep the See also:standing See also:army out of sight of the British See also:people, and had since been maintained by pure inadvertence. Although the principal outcome of the careful inquiries of the commission was to initiate a great See also:system of passive defence, the able reports were a distinct gain. Some principles were at last formulated by authority, and the See also:information collected, if it had been rendered accessible to the public, would have exercised a beneficial See also:influence upon See also:opinion. Moreover, the commissioners, overstepping the See also:bounds of their See also:charter, delivered a See also:wise and statesmanlike warning as to the position of the navy. Meanwhile, the impulse of the fears of 1878 caused indifferent armaments to be sent to Cape See also:Town, Singapore and Hong-Kong, there to be mounted after much delay in roughly designed See also:works. At the same time, the great colonies of See also:Australasia began to set about the defence of.their ports with commendable earnestness. There is no machinery for giving effect to the recommendations of a royal commission, and until 1887, when extracts were laid before the first colonial See also:Conference, the valuable report was veiled in secrecy. After several years, during which See also:Lord Carnarvon persistently endeavoured to See also:direct attention to the coaling stations, the See also:work was begun. In 1885 a fresh panic arose out of the See also:Panjdeh difficulty, which supplied an impetus to the belated proceedings. Little had then been accomplished and the works were scarcely completed before the introduction of long See also:breech-loading guns rendered their armaments obsolete.
The fortification of the coaling stations for the British empire is still proceeding on a See also:scale which, in some cases, cannot easily be reconciled with the principles laid down by the See also:president of the See also:cabinet See also:committee of defence. At the See also:Guildhall, See also:London, on the 3rd of See also:December 1896, the See also:duke of See also:Devonshire stated that " The See also:maintenance of sea supremacy has been assumed as the basis of the system of imperial defence against attack from over the sea. This is the determining factor in fixing the whole defensive policy of the empire." It was, however, he added, necessary to provide against " the predatory raids of cruisers "; but " it is in the highest degree improbable that this raiding attack would be made by more than a few ships, nor could it be of any permanent effect unless troops were landed. " This is an unexceptionable statement of the requirements of passive defence in the case of the coaling stations of the British empire. Their protection must depend primarily on the navy. Their immobile armaments are needed to See also: In war, the possession of secure coal stores in distant ports may be a great advantage, but it will rarely suffice for the needs of a fleet engaged in offensive operations, and requiring to be accompanied or met at prearranged See also:rendezvous by colliers from which coal can be transferred in any sheltered waters. In the British naval manceuvres of 1892, Admiral Sir See also:Michael See also:Seymour succeeded in coaling his See also:squadron at sea, and by the aid of See also:mechanical appliances this is frequently possible. In the See also:Spanish-See also:American War of 1898 some coaling was thus' accomplished; but Guantanamo Bay served the purpose of a coaling station during the operations against See also:Santiago. Watering at sea was usually carried out by means of casks in sailing days, and must have been almost as difficult as coaling. As, however, it is certainty of coaling in a given time that is of See also:primary importance, the utilization of sheltered waters as improvised coaling stations is sure to be a marked feature of future naval wars. Although coaling stations are now eagerly sought for by all See also:powers which cherish naval ambitions, the See also:annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the See also:United States being a case in point, it is probable that they will See also:play a somewhat less important part than has been assumed. A fleet which is able to assert and to maintain the command of the sea, will not find great difficulty in its coal supply. More-over, the increased coal endurance of ships of war tends to make their necessary replenishment less frequent. On the other See also:hand, the See also:modern warship, being entirely dependent upon a See also:mass of complex machinery, requires the assistance of workshops to maintain her continuous efficiency, and unless docked at intervals suffers a material reduction of See also:speed. Prolonged operations in waters far distant from See also:home bases will therefore be greatly facilitated in the case of the Power which possesses See also:local docks and means of executing repairs. Injuries received in See also:action, which might otherwise disable a ship during a See also:campaign, may thus be remedied. During the hostilities between See also:France and See also:China in 1884, the French ship " La See also:base d re:. ary Galissonniere " was struck by a See also:shell from one of the See also:Min forts, which, though failing to burst, inflicted serious damage. As, by a technical fiction, a See also:state of war was not considered to exist, the " La Galissonniere " was repaired at Hong-Kong and enabled again to take the sea. Local stores of reserve See also:ammunition and of spare armaments confer evident advantages. Thus, independently of the question of coal supply, modern fleets employed at great distances from their bases require the assistance of ports furnished with special resources, and a power like See also:Japan with well-equipped naval bases in the China Sea, and possessing large sources of coal, occupies, for that reason, a favoured position in regard to naval operations in the Far East. As the term " coaling station " refers only to a naval need which can often be satisfied without a visit to any port, it appears less suitable to modern conditions than " secondary base." Secondary bases, or coaling stations, when associated with a powerful mobile navy, are sources of maritime strength in proportion to the services they can render, and to their convenience of geographical position. In the hands of an inferior naval power, they may be used, as was See also:Mauritius in 1809-1810, as points from which to carry on operations against commerce; but unless situated near to trade routes, which must be followed in war, they are probably less useful for this purpose than in sailing days, since convoys can now be more effectively protected, and steamers have considerable See also:latitude of courses. Isolated ports dependent on sea-borne resources, and without strong bodies of organized fighting men at their backs are now, as always, hostages offered to the power which obtains command of the sea. (G. S. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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