Superiority, and again Superiority! In this one word lies the secret of our success at sea. Yet it would be hard to say how many careless civilians there are, taking all things for granted, who fail to recognise that fact even now. Not numbers nor organisation, nor men nor guns nor ships--though these have counted for something--have been responsible for our victory. It has been due above all to superiority--sheer superiority. Think what would have happened if there had been any strategic fumbling at the opening of the War! It is not pleasant to reflect upon what might have occurred (had not superiority stepped in) at the very outset if, for instance, we had sent several _Dreadnoughts_ to catch the _Emden_. It was strongly suspected, mind you, that there were German armed vessels on the trade routes. As one merchantman after another was sunk there could no longer be any doubt about it. What if, in panic, we had suddenly dispersed our naval force to every part of the globe? What then? But we didn't. What again if it had been determined, in accordance with some fanciful scheme, to concentrate our main striking force in the Mersey? Germany well might have captured the initiative. But authority was not distracted from its primary purpose. Was its policy a success? Come, now, was it? The old year has gone. On January 4th the British Fleet had been at war seventeen months--roughly seventy-four weeks (anyone can count them up; there is nothing abstruse about my statistics). In a word, it might almost be said, with some approach to accuracy, that it has been in the throes of the struggle for a year and a half. Very well. The German Flag has been banished from the ocean. Not since the War began has a German battleship steamed down the Channel--nor a battle cruiser, nor yet an armoured cruiser, nor even a light cruiser, nor a monitor, nor a destroyer. None of them--not one. Why is that? Because (_vide supra_) the German Fleet has been banished from the ocean. It still exists, but it is safely locked up behind explosive agents (mines) and protected by submersive factors (submarines). The German Fleet is in a zareba. Let us recall the striking words of one of Germany's leading naval strategists, written, mark you, before the War: "England's strength is mainly in her Fleet." I wonder now if that is generally known. He goes on to define the duties of a fleet in the following words:-- (1) To avert invasion. (2) To keep the sea open for the arrival of imports; (3) And the departure of exports; (4) And for the exit of re-exports; (5) Also the entrance of re-imports. (6) To protect trade. Has the British Fleet succeeded? The German Flag is banished from the seas. In January 1916 the German Fleet is still lurking in that zareba. The _Dreadnought_ embodied an offensive _in excelsis_, even as the expansion of the _Dreadnought_ policy embodies an offensive _in extenso_ and imposes upon the enemy a defensive _in extremis_.