Eventually, of course, aerial Dreadnoughts fighting each other are probable enough; but “the Trafalgar of the air” is unlikely to be witnessed within the lifetime of most or any of us now living. Nor is it likely that aerial Dreadnoughts will replace Dreadnoughts of the water, although as years go on they may cause profound modifications in design in order to allow of mounting guns for vertical fire. We are in the presence of the introduction of a “new arm.” But between what a “new arm” can actually accomplish, and what enthusiastic inventors say it will do, there is always an enormous gap. Inventors, when they come to prophesying, are usually one of two things--asses, or prodigious asses! France--once the second Naval Power in Europe--became of little or no account because it took the submarine at the enthusiastic inventor’s face value, and neglected the present and immediate future. The present stage of aerial progress in the British Navy is briefly to be summarised as follows:-- 1. A big Zeppelin type naval airship was built in 1909–1911. It proved a total failure. 2. In 1911 four naval officers were appointed to learn aeroplane work. Subsequently a few others were appointed. Others, again, qualified privately. In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps was established--both naval and military aviators becoming “wings” of the same body--an excellent principle, but one necessarily experimental so far as practical work was concerned. 3. In practice it proved a failure; so the Naval Air Service was formed into a branch by itself. Four small army airships were handed over to it--craft too small to be of any value except for instructional purposes. At the outbreak of war there were two effective dirigibles--one of French type of Astra-Torres design, the other a Parseval purchased in Germany. Neither of these ships is in any way comparable to the German Zeppelins in dimensions or endurance. A number of other dirigibles of varying sizes were on order, but it is inadvisable to publish any particulars on this subject. The designs for these were foreign, but the construction was British. In the matter of aeroplanes a number of special naval stations were established and supplied with seaplanes and landplanes of various types, while strenuous efforts were made towards the training of a large number of efficient pilots. The building of an aeroplane is a matter of only a few weeks, whereas the training of a really efficient pilot is a matter of a year or thereabouts. VII AUXILIARY NAVIES. No account of the British battle fleet would be complete without reference to the various auxiliary navies. Though none of them possesses any very serious fighting value, yet all possess potentialities for the future which can with difficulty be computed. The auxiliary navies may be divided into two main sections--(1) those which are direct branches of the British Navy, and (2) those which belong to the semi-independent colonies.