File:Heresies of sea power (1906) (14759335206).jpg

Identifier: heresiesofseapow00jane (find matches)
Title: Heresies of sea power
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Jane, Fred T. (Frederick Thomas), 1865-1916
Subjects: Sea-power Naval history War
Publisher: London, New York and Bombay : Longmans, Green, and co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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eature of his galleys, builtto compete with the Danish raiders, was that they werebigger than the Danes. In the time of the Crusaders, much of the SaracenSea Power rested on big dimensions. Now and again,of course, these big ships were captured. The moremoderate dimensioned ship of King Eichard himselfcaptured one, but owing to the size of the Saracen hismen were several times repulsed and only succeeded inthe end when the King assured them that death bytorture would be the fate of all if the Saracen gotaway.1 The Harry Grace a Dieu, the Great Michael, theGreat Harry and all such ships were strivings after themastodon. Uniformly successful they were not, butthey soon became the moderate dimensions of asucceeding age. In the Spanish Armada the Spanishmastodons did not win against the smaller ships ofEngland, but no thoughtful student can see in thatan argument for moderate dimensions. Would theSpaniards have won had the two sides changed fleets ?1 See account of this fight in Nicholas.
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ft, I >- ir < x h < UJ eno LUIh THE DIMENSIONS OF WAKSHIPS 303 Assuredly not. They failed for other than construc-tional reasons : their size indeed helped them in theirbattles in the Channel, since relatively little impressionwas made upon them by the English vessels. Hadthe galleons been of moderate dimensions few probablywould ever have passed the Straits of Dover. In the Nelson era and thereabouts, size many a timeproved advantageous, despite the already stated draw-backs that the mastodon then suffered from. There is, for instance, the well-known case of theKevolutionnaire, 110, in Lord Howes battle of 28thMay, 1794. She was first engaged by the Bellerophon,74, for an hour and a quarter. She was then engagedin succession by two other seventy-fours, but survivedall three attacks of ships aggregating just double hergun fire, coming in succession against her. The con-centration upon her, says Captain Mahan, thougheminently judicious, served to bring out vividly theadvantage

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