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Wood, William (William Charles Henry), 1864-1947

"Flag and Fleet How the British Navy Won the Freedom of the Seas"


Transports are any ships that can be used to carry troops, horses,
motors, stores, munitions, guns, and all the other things an army
needs. They come third on this list. Fourthly, come those Merchantmen
which are not used by the Army or Navy because they carry on the
regular oversea trade as best they can. Fifthly, comes the Fishing
Fleet, many of whose best men and vessels have to be used to fish for
mines and submarines, but much of which must still be left to help out
the food supply. The merchantmen and fishing craft which carried on
their peace-time trade throughout the Great War had many an adventure
quite as thrilling and many a hero quite as glorious as any in the
fighting fleets. So there was no kind of British sea-power which did
not feel the awful stress of war; and none, we may be proud to add,
that failed to do its duty.
On the second War Wednesday (July 29th) the British Foreign Minister
warned the German Ambassador that the British could not be so base as
not to stand by their friends if Germany attacked them without good
reason.


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