It was easy to recognise the foresight that induced the military authorities of the Muscovite Empire to protest against the reorganisation of the Ottoman Navy. People had often wondered at the patience exhibited by the Russian Government, in permitting hosts of German engineering officers and German contractors to employ their time and energy in constructing works and mounting batteries upon the shores of the Bosphorus, which were obviously erected with a view of staying the advance of the Russian Black Sea Squadron. The Bosphorus was an easily defended passage and it would have been a bold admiral indeed who would have endeavoured to negotiate its difficulties in the face of a resolute enemy. The risk might have been worthwhile if it only meant the loss of several ships between the Black Sea and Scutari, if the Sea of Marmora was available as a haven afterwards; but if a crippled invading squadron met a fresh and capable naval force on emerging from the Straits, its chances of coming out well from the encounter would have been small indeed.