“I can show you a quiet spot where nobody goes,” answered Evans.
Together they went ashore and Evans led the way to the Borge garden. The old gardener opened the gate, and the two men entered and strolled off among the great tree-ferns and other rare plants. Fraser was enchanted. He had never even heard of the place before. As they explored the deep grottoes, he exclaimed with delight at the vistas of rich and varied greenery. Finally their walk led them to the old watch-tower at the top of the garden where they sat down and, looking out under the branches of the old cedar toward the ocean, continued to discuss communications and their relation to tactics. The little birds, accustomed to a feast whenever Evans came to the garden, now gathered round him and hopped on the ground searching for the usual crumbs in vain, for to-day he was too much occupied to recall what was expected of him.
FRASER SCRATCHED ON THE GROUND DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE FORMATIONS HE HAD IN MIND
Evans, questioning Fraser about major naval actions, drew from him an expression of his views on the most important elements of success. Among these Fraser placed great emphasis on surprise. From this the conversation went on to a discussion of the pros and cons of various possible fleet formations, in which Evans questioned and listened attentively. With a sharp stick Fraser scratched on the ground diagrams illustrative of the formations he had in mind. A few leading questions made him warm to his theme and crystallize certain ideas on tactics hitherto latent in his mind. And as he disposed the great units of the mighty Allied fleet on the wide expanse of the sea, he kept reaching the point where his hands were tied by the limits of visibility; in his tactics the units must be within sight of each other to be operated accurately as coördinated parts of an organized whole. This limitation restricted him, and he mentioned it specifically as obstructing certain expansions in tactical arrangement at which Evans had hinted.
“Suppose you could find a way to overcome that limitation, and place the divisions of the fleet in their desired relative positions beyond the range of visibility, what use could you make of it; that is, what effective formations might you then adopt?” asked Evans.
“Well,” said Fraser, “that might open lots of possibilities. But how could you ever place your divisions accurately at distances beyond the limits of vision?”
“If you wanted to badly enough, you could place and maintain any unit in the fleet in any desired relation to any other by triangulation from radio-compass bearings.”
“That’s an idea,” said Fraser. “But, then, your units would have to keep sending radio signals, and the enemy could locate them with their radio compasses; so that you’d lose all the advantages of surprise, and that would cut out most of what you might gain by that sort of trick.”
“Only one unit need reveal its position by sending radio; the rest can take bearings on the signals of the key unit, and thus take station without ever making a sound.”