be seen from a perusal of the Parliamentary Return1 (No. 129) issued on March 31, 1906, that the strength of the navy when compared with any possibly hostile two-Power combination shows a considerable preponderance in favour of Great Britain. 2

The value of the now completed harbour at Gibraltar, and of the harbour under construction at Dover, lies in the protection which such harbours give to battleships from torpedo attack. A similar harbour has been projected, and is required, at Rosyth, in the Firth of Forth, where, according to the most recent statement of Admiralty policy, preliminary works are being carried out with a view to the construction, not only of a protected harbour of refuge, but of a fully-equipped naval base for the Home Fleet. With the Channel Fleet watching the Straits of Dover, and the Home Fleet eventually moved up to Rosyth, the North Sea

1 See Appendix II.

2 Having regard to present and prospective ship-building programmes of the other maritime powers, this preponderance will be maintained and increased, even with the reduced programme of the present Board of Admiralty. For full information on this important question the reader should consult Sir William White's able series of articles, recently published in the Times (November 15, December 25 and 27, 1906), under the title British and Foreign Warshipbuilding Capability.'

3 Whether Rosyth is a suitable site for this new naval base will depend on the result of the preliminary works now in progress; but the intention of the Admiralty to construct somewhere on the East Coast an effective and always

will be a mare clausum except to British ships. Potentially and strategically the maritime position of Great Britain is under existing conditions unassailable. Securely based on Gibraltar, Dover and Rosyth, our naval commanders in the event of war

will have the enormous initial advantage of operating on interior lines, while their adversaries will be divided by long sea distances, and unable to concentrate without first overcoming a superior com

accessible naval base for the Home Fleet' may be regarded as settled by the reply of the Secretary to the Admiralty to a question asked by Mr. Arthur Lee in the House of Commons on December 19 last.

bination of British ships. Assuming the maintenance of the present relative standard of strength as between ourselves and the other maritime Powers of the world, it is no exaggeration to say that the naval supremacy of Great Britain is 'unchallenged and unchallengeable."1

The local conditions under which Gibraltar acts as the pivot base for the war distribution of our fleets will be discussed in the next chapter.

1 The Naval Situation,' Quarterly Review, October, 1906.

CHAPTER III

GIBRALTAR HARBOUR

THE new harbour at Gibraltar, which is the home of the Atlantic Fleet, was begun in 1893, when Lord Spencer was First Lord of the Admiralty, and is now practically completed. The total cost of construction has been about £4,500,000, the funds having been provided, as required from time to time, by means of loans authorized under successive Naval Works Acts. It was originally intended that a portion of the harbour should be assigned for the use of merchant ships when coaling, but since the completion of the works the Admiralty have found it necessary to take over the whole harbour for naval use, and merchant steamers must coal from hulks as heretofore. The new harbour is protected by three moles, enclosing an area of about 400 acres of water, and there are three graving-docks, one of which can take the largest battleship afloat. The harbour, which has been built under contract with Messrs. Topham, Jones and Railton, is admirably designed for pur

poses of refitting and rapid coaling, and as a naval base leaves nothing to be desired.

Its military security in time of war is another

MAP OF GIBRALTAR AND OF THE ADJACENT SPANISH TERRITORIES.

Showing the positions of the three moles forming the enclosed harbour, and of the three docks recently constructed, as well as the distances thereof from various points in Spanish territory.

matter. To those who are not acquainted with the geography of Gibraltar, it may be explained that the famous Rock fortress juts out seawards