It had been the practice of the naval Powers to keep about one-half only of their ships in full sea-going commission. The armed peace, before Germany began to give expression to her maritime ambitions, was a yoke which rested easily upon the navies of the world. As a British naval officer has remarked:-- "Up to the end of the last century our Navy enjoyed a peace routine. We maintained squadrons all over the world, and the pick of our personnel was to be found anywhere but in home waters. The Mediterranean claimed the pick of both our ships and men. Here naval life was one long holiday. The routine was to lay in harbour for nine months out of the year. About July the whole fleet would congregate at Malta for the summer's cruise. Sometimes it would be east of Malta, taking in the Grecian Archipelago and the Holy Land; at others it would be west, visiting the French and Italian ports, paying a visit to the Rock, and then home to Malta for another long rest. "Preparation for war was never thought of. Why should it be? The French Navy had no aggressive designs, and was much below our own, both in material strength and in personnel, while the Russian Navy was partly confined in the Black Sea, the other part being in the Baltic. And so we, both officers and men, set out to have a good time. Our ships were kept up to yacht-like perfection as regards their paintwork, while their bright work shone like gold, and the road to promotion lay not through professional efficiency, but the state of cleanliness and splendour of one's ship. All kinds of drills and evolutions were devised, not because of their war value, but because they had a competitive value, and so ship could be pitted against ship and an element of sport introduced. "There was nothing really wrong in all this. The British Navy was there to maintain for us our title of 'Mistress of the Seas,' and as no other nation apparently wished to challenge our title, there was nothing to do but pass away the time as pleasantly as possible; when the Navy was called on to perform any task it carried it through with vigour, valour, and efficiency, and immediately settled down again."[4]