the tactical lessons are valid. The galley was never reduced to
impotence by a calm, and hence receives more respect in our day than
the sailing-ship; yet the latter displaced it and remained supreme
until the utilization of steam. The powers to injure an enemy from a
great distance, to manoeuvre for an unlimited length of time without
wearing out the men, to devote the greater part of the crew to the
offensive weapons instead of to the oar, are common to the sailing
vessel and the steamer, and are at least as important, tactically
considered, as the power of the galley to move in a calm or against
the wind.

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1. Thus Hermocrates of Syracuse, advocating the policy of thwarting
the Athenian expedition against his city (B.C. 413) by going boldly to
meet it, and keeping on the flank of its line of advance, said: "As
their advance must be slow, we shall have a thousand opportunities to
attack them; but if they clear their ships for action and in a body
bear down expeditiously upon us, they must ply hard at their oars, and
when spent with toil we can fall upon them."

2. The writer must guard himself from appearing to advocate elaborate
tactical movements issuing in barren demonstrations. He believes that
a fleet seeking a decisive result must close with its enemy, but not
until some advantage has been obtained for the collision, which will
usually be gained by manoeuvring, and will fall to the best drilled
and managed fleet. In truth, barren results have as often followed
upon headlong, close encounters as upon the most timid tactical
trifling.
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