Future Navies and Armies of the World
How will aviation affect warfare in the future? Will it abolish entirely this undesirable condition of affairs, or will it serve to provide added inducements? It is, indeed, a debatable point. If we incline to the latter view, every known argument and theory points to the fact that warfare of the future will be to all intents and purposes instantaneous. There will be no preparatory delay caused by the necessity of placing large armies in the field, of gradually marching forward to establish contact with the enemy, and of carrying out skirmishes which may be prolonged to weeks and months before the actual battle takes place. The belligerent fleets will set off in the dawn or in the darkness, as the case may be, and before twelve hours have elapsed, after entering into the conflict, a definite decision will have been reached. For the airman, there is no falling back to a second line of trenches, to a natural position heavily defended, or to a concrete fortress or emplacement, or to fight a rearguard action. The fight in the air must be to the death, without quarter asked or given, for no prisoners can be taken. The loss of men and material will be tremendous.
It is doubtful whether aviation will entirely do away with fighting on land and sea, but it is very obvious that either fleet or army of one belligerent nation, at the mercy of the air fleet of another nation, will be in a very helpless position. Should the warfare in the air be indecisive, were such a condition within the realm of reasonable argument, it might be possible for the fleet or army to be brought into action with advantage, but even this is doubtful. As regards our own nation, before 1926, the Royal Naval Air Service will be the largest and most important service in Great Britain. Possibly there will be a single Air Service, and before ten years will have elapsed it will be the most important of all the British services, and will be composed both of aeroplanes and airships. The only other form of aircraft, the seaplane, being too slow, too clumsy, and too costly, will long ago have been abandoned.