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diff --git a/old/69497-0.txt b/old/69497-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5022141..0000000 --- a/old/69497-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9776 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Records, by John Fisher - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Records - by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher - -Author: John Fisher - -Release Date: December 7, 2022 [eBook #69497] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECORDS *** - - - - - -RECORDS - - - - -[Illustration: - - _Photo J. Russell and Sons._ - -1882. CAPTAIN OF H.M.S. “INFLEXIBLE.”] - - - - - RECORDS - - - BY - - ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET - LORD FISHER - - - HODDER AND STOUGHTON - - LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO - - MCMXIX - - - - -_Preamble_ - - -The main purpose of this second book is obvious from its title. It’s -mostly a collection of “Records” confirming what has already been -written, and relates almost exclusively to years after 1902. As Lord -Rosebery has said so well, “The war period in a man’s life has its -definite limits”; and that period is what interests the general reader, -and for that reason all attempt at a biography has been discarded. - -In our present distress we certainly want badly just now Nelson’s -“Light from Heaven”! Nelson had what the Mystics describe as his -“seasons of darkness and desertion.” His enfeebled body and his mind -depressed used at times to cast a shade on his soul, such as we now -feel as a Nation, but (if I remember right) it is Southey who says that -the Sunshine which succeeded led Nelson to believe that it bore with it -a prophetic glory, and that the light that led him on was “Light from -Heaven.” We don’t see that “Light” as yet. But England never succumbs. - - - - -PREFACE - - -Napoleon at St. Helena told us what all Englishmen have ever -instinctively felt--that we should remain a purely Maritime Power; -instead, we became in this War a Conscript Nation, sending Armies of -Millions to the Continent. If we stuck to the Sea, said Napoleon, we -could dictate to the World; so we could. Napoleon again said to the -Captain of the British Battleship “Bellerophon”: “Had it not been for -you English, I should have been Emperor of the East, but wherever -there was water to float a ship, we were sure to find you in the way.” -(Yes! we had ships only drawing two feet of water with six-inch guns, -that went up the Tigris and won Bagdad. Others, similar, went so many -thousand miles up the Yangtsze River in China that they sighted the -Mountains of Thibet. Another British Ship of War so many thousand miles -up the Amazon River that she sighted the Mountains of Peru, and there -not being room to turn she came back stern first. In none of these -cases had any War Vessel ever before been seen till these British -Vessels investigated those waters and astounded the inhabitants.) - -Again, Napoleon praised our Blockades (Les Anglais bloquent très bien); -but very justly of our Diplomacy he thought but ill. Yes, alas! What -a Diplomacy it has been!!! If our Blockade had been permitted by the -Diplomats to have been effective, it would have finished the War at -once. Our Diplomats had Bulgaria in their hands and lost her. It was -“Too Late” a year after to offer her the same terms as she had asked -the year before. We “kow-towed” to the French when they rebuffed our -request for the English Army to be on the Sea Flank and to advance -along the Belgian Coast, supported by the British Fleet; and then there -would have been no German Submarine War. At the very beginning of the -War we deceived the German Ambassador in London and the German Nation -by our vacillating Diplomacy. We wrecked the Russian Revolution and -turned it into Bolshevism. - -I mention these matters to prove the effete, apathetic, indecisive, -vacillating Conduct of the War--the War eventually being won by an -effective Blockade. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - PAGE - EARLY YEARS 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD AND OTHERS 24 - - - CHAPTER III - - THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 38 - - - CHAPTER IV - - EPISODES 50 - - - CHAPTER V - - DEMOCRACY 69 - - - CHAPTER VI - - PUBLIC SPEECHES 79 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 88 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - JONAH’S GOURD 97 - - - CHAPTER IX - - NAVAL PROBLEMS 127 - - - CHAPTER X - - NAVAL EDUCATION 156 - - - CHAPTER XI - - SUBMARINES 173 - - - CHAPTER XII - - NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 189 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - THE BIG GUN 204 - - - CHAPTER XIV - - SOME PREDICTIONS 211 - - - CHAPTER XV - - THE BALTIC PROJECT 217 - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE NAVY IN THE WAR 225 - - - POSTSCRIPT 249 - - - APPENDIX I - - LORD FISHER’S GREAT NAVAL REFORMS 251 - - - APPENDIX II - - SYNOPSIS OF LORD FISHER’S CAREER 259 - - - INDEX 271 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - 1882. CAPTAIN OF H.M.S. “INFLEXIBLE” _Frontispiece_ - - _Facing page_ - KING EDWARD VII. AND THE CZAR, 1909 16 - - TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF KING EDWARD VII. AND SIR JOHN - FISHER ON BOARD H.M.S. “DREADNOUGHT” ON HER - FIRST CRUISE 33 - - PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN AND SENT TO SIR JOHN FISHER BY THE - EMPRESS MARIE OF RUSSIA, OF A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. - “STANDARD,” 1909 48 - - A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. “STANDARD,” 1909 65 - - A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. “STANDARD,” 1909 80 - - A GROUP AT LANGHAM HOUSE. PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AND - SENT TO SIR JOHN FISHER BY THE EMPRESS MARIE OF - RUSSIA 97 - - SIR JOHN FISHER GOING ON BOARD THE ROYAL YACHT 112 - - SIR JOHN FISHER AND SIR COLIN KEPPEL (CAPTAIN OF THE - ROYAL YACHT) 129 - - “THE DAUNTLESS THREE,” PORTSMOUTH, 1903 160 - - SOME SHELLS FOR 18-INCH GUNS 177 - - LORD FISHER’S PROPOSED SHIP, H.M.S. “INCOMPARABLE,” - SHOWN ALONGSIDE H.M.S. “DREADNOUGHT” 208 - - THE SUBMARINE MONITOR M 1 240 - - - - -RECORDS - - - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLY YEARS - - -Of all the curious fables I’ve ever come across I quite think the idea -that my mother was a Cingalese Princess of exalted rank is the oddest! -One can’t see the foundation of it! - - “The baseless fabric of a vision!” - -My godfather, Major Thurlow (of the 90th Foot), was the “best man” at -my mother’s wedding, and very full of her beauty then--she was very -young--possibly it was the “Beauté du diable!” She had just emerged -from the City of London, where she was born and had spent her life! -One grandfather had been an officer under Nelson at Trafalgar, and -the other a Lord Mayor! He was Boydell, the very celebrated engraver. -He left his fortune to my grandmother, but an alien speculator (a -scoundrel) robbed her of it. My mother’s father had, I believe, some -vineyards in Portugal, of which the wine pleased William the Fourth, -who, I was told, came to his counting house at 149, New Bond Street, to -taste it! Next door Emma, Lady Hamilton, used to clean the door steps! -She was housemaid there. - -I don’t think the Fishers at all enjoyed my father (who was a Captain -in the 78th Highlanders) marrying into the Lambes! The “City” was -abhorred in those days, and the Fishers thought of the tombs of -the Fishers in Packington Church, Warwickshire, going back to the -dark ages! I, myself, possess the portrait of Sir Clement Fisher, -who married Jane Lane, who assisted Charles the Second to escape by -disguising his Majesty as her groom and riding behind him on a pillion -to Bristol. - -The Fishers’ Baronetcy lapsed, as my ancestor after Sir Clement -Fisher’s death wouldn’t pay £500 in the nature of fees, I believe. I -don’t think he had the money--so my uncle told me. This uncle, by name -John Fisher, was over 60 years a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, -and told me the story of an ancestor who built a wing of Balliol at -Oxford, and they--the College Authorities--asked him whether they might -place some inscription in his honour on the building! He replied: - - “Fisher--non amplius,” - -(but someone else told me it was:-- - - “Verbum non amplius Fisher!”) - -My uncle explained that his ancestor only meant just to put his name, -and that’s all. - -But the College Authorities put it all on: - - “_Fisher!_ Not another blessed word is wanted.” - -One of my ancestors changed his motto and took these words (I have them -on a watch!):-- - - “Ubi voluntas--ibi piscatur.” - (We fish where we like). - -A Poacher, I suppose! or was there a “double entendre”? - -I’m told in the old days you could change your motto and your crest as -often as you liked, but not your coat of arms! - -A succession of ancestors went and dwelt at Bodmin, in Cornwall--all -clergymen down to my grandfather, who was Rector of Wavendon, in Bucks, -where is a tablet to his brother, who was killed close to the Duke of -Wellington at Waterloo, and who ordered his watch to be sent to my -uncle’s relatives with the dent of the bullet that killed him, and that -watch I now have. - -My uncle was telling this story at a _table d’hôte_ at Brussels a -great many years afterwards, and said he had been unable to identify -the spot, when an old white-haired gentleman at the table said he had -helped to bury him, and next day he took him to the place. - -I remember a Dean glancing at me in a Sermon on the Apostles, when he -said the first four were all Fishers! - -On the death of Sir Robert Fisher of Packington in 1739, a number of -family portraits were transferred apparently to the Rev. John Fisher -of Bodmin, born January 27th, 1708. The three principal portraits are -a previous Sir Robert Fisher, his son Sir Clement Fisher, who died -1683, and Jane Lane, his wife. Another portrait is a second Sir Clement -Fisher, son of the above and of Jane Lane. This Sir Clement Fisher died -1709, and was succeeded by his only brother, Sir Robert Fisher, who -died A.D. 1739, one year before his niece, Mary Fisher, wife of Lord -Aylesford. All these portraits were transmitted in direct inheritance -to Sir John Fisher. The four generations of Reverend John Fishers of -Bodmin, commencing with John Fisher born 1708, were none of them in a -position to incur the heavy expenses involved for their assumption of -the Baronetcy. They were descended from a brother of the Sir Robert -Fisher who lived before the year A.D. 1600. - -I was born in 1841, the same year as King Edward VII. There was never -such a healthy couple as my father and mother. They never married -for money--they married for love. They married very young, and I was -their first child. All the physical advantages were in my favour, so -I consider I was absolutely right, when I was nine months old, in -refusing to be weaned. - - “She walks in beauty like the night - Of cloudless climes and starry skies; - And all that’s best of dark and bright - Meets in her aspect and her eyes: - Thus mellow’d to that tender light - Which heaven to gaudy day denies.” - -These lines were written by Lord Byron of my godmother, Lady Wilmot -Horton, of Catton Hall, Burton-on-Trent. She was still a very beautiful -old lady at 73 years of age when she died. - -One of her great friends was Admiral Sir William Parker (the last of -Nelson’s Captains), and he, at her request, gave me his nomination for -entering the Navy. He had two to give away on becoming Port Admiral at -Plymouth. He gave the other to Lord Nelson’s own niece, and she also -filled in my name, so I was doubly nominated by the last of Nelson’s -Captains, and my first ship was the “Victory” and it was my last! In -the “Victory” log-book it is entered, “July 12th, 1854, joined Mr. John -Arbuthnot Fisher,” and it is also entered that Sir John Fisher hauled -down his flag on October 21st, 1904, on becoming First Sea Lord. - -A friend of mine (a yellow Admiral) was taken prisoner in the old -French War when he was a Midshipman ten years old, and was locked -up in the fortress of Verdun. He so amused me in my young days by -telling me that he gave his parole not to escape! as if it mattered -what he did when he was only four foot nothing! And he did this, he -told me, in order to learn French; and when he had learned French, -to talk it fluently, he then cancelled his parole and was locked up -again and then he escaped; alone he did it by filing through the iron -bars of his prison window (the old historic method), and wended his -way to England. I consider this instance a striking testimony to the -inestimable benefit of sending little boys to sea when they are young! -What splendid Nelsonic qualities were developed! - -But it was quite common in those days of my old yellow Admiral for -boys to go to sea even as young as seven years old. My present host’s -grandfather went to sea as a Midshipman at seven years old! Afterwards -he was Lord Nelson’s Signal Midshipman, his name was Hamilton, and his -grandson was Midshipman with me in two ships. He is now the 13th Duke -of Hamilton! It is interesting as a Nelsonic legend that the wife of -the 6th Duke of Hamilton (she was one of the beautiful Miss Gunnings; -she was the wife of two Dukes and the mother of four) peculiarly -befriended Emma, Lady Hamilton, and recognised her, as so few did then -(and, alas! still fewer now), as one of the noblest women who ever -lived--one mass of sympathy she was! - -The stories of what boys went through then at sea were appalling. I -have a corroboration in lovely letters from a little Midshipman who -was in the great blockade of Brest by Admiral Cornwallis in 1802. This -little boy was afterwards killed just after Trafalgar. He describes -seeing the body of Nelson on board ship on its way to Portsmouth. This -little Midshipman was only eleven years old when he was killed! This is -how he describes the Midshipman’s food: “We live on beef which has been -ten or eleven years in a cask, and on biscuit which makes your throat -cold in eating it owing to the maggots, which are very cold when you -eat them! like calves-foot jelly or blomonge--being very fat indeed!” -(It makes one shudder!) He goes on again: “We drink water the colour of -the bark of a pear tree with plenty of little maggots and weevils in -it, and wine, which is exactly like bullock’s blood and sawdust mixed -together”; and he adds in his letter to his mother: “I hope I shall not -learn to swear, and by God’s assistance I hope I shall not!” He tried -to save the Captain of his Top (who had been at the “Weather earing”) -from falling from aloft. This is his description: “The hands were -hurried up to reef topsails, and my station is in the foretop. When -the men began to lay in from the yards (after reefing the topsails) -one of them laid hold of a slack rope, which gave way, and he fell out -of the top on deck and was dashed to pieces and very near carried -me out of the top along with him as I was attempting to lay hold of -him to save him!!!” Our little friend the Midshipman was eight years -old at this time! What a picture! this little boy trying to save the -sailor huge and hairy! His description to his mother of Cornwallis’s -Fleet is interesting: “We have on board Admiral Graves, who came in his -ten-oared barge, and as soon as he put his foot on shipboard the drums -and fifes began to play, and the Marines and all presented their arms. -We are all prepared for action, all our guns being loaded with double -shot. We have a fine sight, which is the Grand Channel Fleet, which -consists of 95 sail of the line, each from 120 down to 64 guns.” - -That is the Midshipman of the olden day, and one often has misgivings -that the modern system of sending boys to sea much older is a bad -one, when such magnificent results were produced by the old method, -more especially as in the former days the Captain had a more paternal -charge of those little boys coming on board one by one, as compared -with the present crowd sent in batches of big hulking giants, some of -them. However, there is more to learn now than formerly, and possibly -it’s impossible (all the entrance examination I had to pass was to -write out the Lord’s Prayer, do a rule of three sum and drink a glass -of sherry!); but one would like to give it a trial of sending boys to -sea at nine years old. Our little hero tried to save the life of the -Captain of his Top when he was only eight years old! Still, the Osborne -system of Naval education has its great merits; but it has been a -grievous blow to it, departing from the original conception of entry -at eleven years of age. - -However, the lines of the modern Midshipman are laid in pleasant -places; they get good food and a good night’s rest. Late as I came to -sea in 1854, I had to keep either the First or Middle Watch every night -and was always hungry! Devilled Pork rind was a luxury, and a Spanish -Onion with a Sardine in the Middle Watch was Paradise! - -In the first ship I was in we not only carried our fresh water in -casks, but we had some rare old Ship’s Biscuit supplied in what were -known as “bread-bags.” These bread-bags were not preservative; they -were creative. A favourite amusement was to put a bit of this biscuit -on the table and see how soon all of it would walk away. In fact one -midshipman could gamble away his “tot” of rum with another midshipman -by pitting one bit of biscuit against another. Anyhow, whenever you -took a bit of biscuit to eat it you always tapped it edgeways on the -table to let the “grown-ups” get away. - -The Water was nearly as bad as the Biscuit. It was turgid--it was -smelly--it was animally. I remember so well, in the Russian War -(1854–5), being sent with the Watering Party to the Island of Nargen -to get fresh water, as we were running short of it in this old Sailing -Line of Battleship I was in (there was no Distilling Apparatus in those -days). My youthful astonishment was how on earth the Lieutenant in -charge of the Watering Party discovered the Water. There wasn’t a lake -and there wasn’t a stream, but he went and dug a hole and there was -the water! However, it may be that he carried out the same delightful -plan as my delicious old Admiral in China. This Admiral’s survey of the -China Seas is one of the most celebrated on record. He told me himself -that this is how he did it. He used to anchor in some convenient -place every few miles right up the Coast of China. He had a Chinese -Interpreter on board. He sent this man to every Fishing Village and -offered a dollar for every rock and shoal. No rock or shoal has ever -been discovered since my beloved Admiral finished his survey. Perhaps -the Lieutenant of the Watering Party gave Roubles! - -I must mention here an instance of the Simple Genius of the Chinese. -A sunken ship, that had defied all European efforts to raise her, -was bought by a Chinaman for a mere song. He went and hired all the -Chinamen from an adjacent Sponge Fishery and bought up several Bamboo -Plantations where the bamboos were growing like grass. The way they -catch sponges is this--The Chinaman has no diving dress--he holds his -nose--a leaden weight attached to his feet takes him down to where the -sponges are--he picks the sponges--evades the weight--and rises. They -pull up the weight with a bit of string afterwards. The Chinese genius -I speak of sent the men down with bamboos, and they stuck them into the -sunk ship, and soon “up she came”; and the Chinaman said: - - “Ship hab Bamboo-- - No hab Water!” - -It’s a pity there’s no bamboo dodge for Sunk Reputations! - -An uncle of mine had a snuff box made out of the Salt Beef, and it was -french-polished! That was his beef--and ours was nearly as hard. - -There were many brutalities when I first entered the Navy--now -mercifully no more. For instance, the day I joined as a little boy I -saw eight men flogged--and I fainted at the sight. - -Not long ago I was sitting at luncheon next to a distinguished author, -who told me I was “a very interesting person!” and wanted to know what -my idea of life was, I replied that what made a life was not its mature -years but the early portions when the seed was sown and the blossom -so often blasted by the frost of unrecognition. It was then that the -fruit of after years was pruned to something near the mark of success. -“Your great career was when you were young,” said a dear friend to me -the other day. I entered the Navy penniless, friendless and forlorn. -While my mess-mates were having jam, I had to go without. While their -stomachs were full, mine was often empty. I have always had to fight -like hell, and fighting like hell has made me what I am. Hunger and -thirst are the way to Heaven! - -When I joined the Navy, in 1854, the last of Nelson’s Captains was the -Admiral at Plymouth. The chief object in those days seemed to be, not -to keep your vessel efficient for fighting, but to keep the deck as -white as snow and all the ropes taut. We Midshipmen were allowed only -a basin of water to wash in, and the basin was inside one’s sea-chest; -and if anyone spilt a drop of water on the deck he was made to -holy-stone it himself. And that reminds me, as I once told Lord Esher, -when I was a young First Lieutenant, the First Sea Lord told me that -_he_ never washed when he went to sea, and he didn’t see “why the Devil -the Midshipmen should want to wash now!” I remember one Captain named -Lethbridge who had a passion for spotless decks; and it used to put him -in a good temper for the whole day if he could discover a “swab-tail,” -or fragment of the swabs with which the deck was cleaned, left about. -One day he happened to catch sight of a Midshipman carefully arranging -a few swab-tails on deck in order to gratify “old Leather-breeches’” -lust for discovering them! And as for taut ropes, many of my readers -will remember the old story of the lady (on the North American station) -who congratulated the Captain of a “family” ship (officered by a set of -fools) because “the ropes hung in such beautiful festoons!” - -There was a fiddler to every ship, and when the anchor was being -weighed, he used to sit on the capstan and play, so as to keep the -men in step and in good heart. And on Sundays, everyone being in full -dress, epaulettes and all, the fiddler walked round the decks playing -in front of the Captain. I must add this happened in a Brig commanded -by Captain Miller. - -After the “Victory,” my next ship was the “Calcutta,” and I joined it -under circumstances which Mr. A. G. Gardiner has narrated thus:-- - - “One day far back in the fifties of last century a sailing ship - came round from Portsmouth into Plymouth Sound, where the fleet - lay. Among the passengers was a little midshipman fresh from - his apprenticeship in the ‘Victory.’ He scrambled aboard the - Admiral’s ship, and with the assurance of thirteen marched up - to a splendid figure in blue and gold, and said, handing him a - letter: ‘Here, my man, give this to the Admiral.’ The man in - blue and gold smiled, took the letter, and opened it. ‘Are you - the Admiral?’ said the boy. ‘Yes, I’m the Admiral.’ He read - the letter, and patting the boy on the head, said: ‘You must - stay and have dinner with me.’ ‘I think,’ said the boy, ‘I - should like to be getting on to my ship.’ He spoke as though - the British Navy had fallen to his charge. The Admiral laughed, - and took him down to dinner. That night the boy slept aboard - the ‘Calcutta,’ a vessel of 84 guns, given to the British Navy - by an Indian merchant at a cost of £84,000. It was the day of - small things and of sailing-ships. The era of the ironclad and - the ‘Dreadnought’ had not dawned.” - -I think I must give the first place to one of the first of my Captains -who was the seventh son of the last Vice-Chancellor of England, Sir -Lancelot Shadwell. The Vice-Chancellor used to bathe in the Thames -with his seven sons every morning. My Shadwell was about the greatest -Saint on earth. The sailors called him, somewhat profanely, “Our -Heavenly Father.” He was once heard to say, “Damn,” and the whole ship -was upset. When, as Midshipmen, we punished one of our mess-mates for -abstracting his cheese, he was extremely angry with us, and asked us -all what right we had to interfere with his cheese. He always had the -Midshipmen to breakfast with him, and when we were seasick he gave us -champagne and ginger-bread nuts. As he went in mortal fear of his own -steward, who bossed him utterly, he would say: “I think the aroma has -rather gone out of this champagne. Give it to the young gentlemen.” The -steward would reply: “Now you know very well, Sir, the aroma _ain’t_ -gone out of this ’ere champagne”; but all the same we got it. He always -slept in a hammock, and I remember he kept his socks in the head clews -ready to put on in case of a squall calling him suddenly on deck. I -learned from him nearly all that I know. He taught me how to predict -eclipses and occultations, and I suppose I took more lunar observations -than any Midshipman ever did before. - -Shadwell’s appearance on going into a fight I must describe. We went up -a Chinese river to capture a pirate stronghold. Presently the pirates -opened fire from a banana plantation on the river bank. We nipped -ashore from the boats to the banana plantation. I remember I was armed -to the teeth, like a Greek brigand, all swords and pistols, and was -weighed down with my weapons. We took shelter in the banana plantation, -but our Captain stood on the river bank. I shall never forget it. He -was dressed in a pair of white trousers, yellow waistcoat and a blue -tail coat with brass buttons and a tall white hat with a gold stripe -up the side of it, and he was waving a white umbrella to encourage us -to come out of the bananas and go for the enemy. He had no weapon of -any sort. So (I think rather against our inclinations, as the gingall -bullets were flying about pretty thick) we all had to come out and go -for the Chinese. - -Once the Chinese guns were firing at us, and as the shell whizzed over -the boat we all ducked. “Lay on your oars, my men,” said Shadwell; -and proceeded to explain very deliberately how ducking delayed the -progress of the boat--apparently unaware that his lecture had stopped -its progress altogether! - -His sole desire for fame was to do good, and he requested for himself -when he died that he should be buried under an apple tree, so that -people might say: “God bless old Shadwell!” He never flogged a man in -his life. When my Captain was severely wounded, I being with him as his -Aide-de-Camp (we landed 1,100 strong, and 463 were killed or wounded), -he asked me when being sent home what he could do for me. I asked him -to give me a set of studs with his motto on them: “Loyal au mort,” and -I have worn them daily for over sixty years. When this conversation -took place, the Admiral (afterwards Sir James Hope, K.C.B.) came to -say good-bye to him, and he asked my Captain what he could do for him. -He turned his suffering body towards me and said to the Admiral: “Take -care of that boy.” And so he did. - -Admiral Hope was a great man, very stern and stately, the sort of man -everybody was afraid of. His nickname was composed of the three ships -he had commanded: “Terrible ... Firebrand ... Majestic.” He turned to -me and said: “Go down in my boat”; and everyone in the Fleet saw this -Midshipman going into the Admiral’s boat. He took me with him to the -Flagship; and I got on very well with him because I wrote a very big -hand which he could read without spectacles. - -He promoted me to Lieutenant at the earliest possible date, and sent -me on various services, which greatly helped me. - -My first chance came when Admiral Hope sent me to command a vessel in -Chinese waters on special service. His motto was “Favouritism is the -secret of efficiency,” and though I was only nineteen he put me over -the heads of many older men because he believed that I should do what I -was told to do, and carry out the orders of the Admiral regardless of -consequences. And so I did, although I made all sorts of mistakes and -nearly lost the ship. When I came back everyone seemed to expect that I -should be tried by Court-Martial; but the Admiral only cared that I had -done what he wanted done; and then he gave me command of another vessel. - -The Captain of the ship I came home in was another sea wonder, by name -Oliver Jones. He was Satanic; yet I equally liked him, for, like Satan, -he could disguise himself as an angel; and I believe I was the only -officer he did not put under arrest. For some reason I got on with him, -and he made me the Navigating Officer of the ship. He told me when I -first came on board that he thought he had committed every crime under -the sun except murder. I think he committed that crime while I was with -him. He was a most fascinating man. He had such a charm, he was most -accomplished, he was a splendid rider, a wonderful linguist, an expert -navigator and a thorough seaman. He had the best cook, and the best -wines ever afloat in the Navy, and was hospitable to an extreme. Almost -daily he had a lot of us to dinner, but after dinner came hell! We -dined with him in tail coat and epaulettes. After dinner he had sail -drill, or preparing the ship for battle, and persecution then did its -utmost. - -Once, while I was serving with him, we were frozen in out of sight -of land in the Gulf of Pechili in the North of China. And there were -only Ship’s provisions, salt beef, salt pork, pea soup, flour, and -raisins. Oliver Jones was our Captain, or we wouldn’t have been frozen -in. The Authorities told him to get out of that Gulf and that’s why -he stayed in. I never knew a man who so hated Authority. I forget how -many degrees below zero the thermometer was, and it was only by an -unprecedented thaw that we ever got out. And with this intense cold he -would often begin at four o’clock in the morning to prepare for battle, -and hand up every shot in the ship on to the Upper Deck, then he’d -strike Lower Yards and Topmasts (which was rather a heavy business), -and finish up with holystoning the Decks, which operation he requested -all the Officers to honour with their presence. And when we went to Sea -we weren’t quite sure where we would go to (I remember hearing a Marine -Officer say that we’d got off the Chart altogether). Till that date I -had never known what a delicacy a seagull was. We used to get inside an -empty barrel on the ice to shoot them, and nothing was lost of them. -The Doctor skinned them to make waistcoats of the skins--the insides -were put on the ice to bait other seagulls, and a rare type of onion we -had (that made your eyes water when you got within half a mile of them) -made into stuffing got rid of the fishy taste. - -[Illustration: KING EDWARD VII. AND THE CZAR, 1909.] - -On the way home he landed me on a desert island to make a survey. -He was sparse in his praises; but he wrote of me: “As a sailor, an -officer, a Navigator and a gentleman, I cannot praise him too highly.” -Confronted with this uncommon expression of praise from Oliver Jones, -the examiners never asked me a question. They gave me on the spot a -first-class certificate. - -This Captain Oliver Jones raised a regiment of cavalry for the Indian -Mutiny and was its Colonel, and Sir Hope Grant, the great Cavalry -General in the Indian Mutiny, said he had never met the equal of Oliver -Jones as a cavalry leader. He broke his neck out hunting. - -When I was sent to the Hythe School of Musketry as a young Lieutenant, -I found myself in a small Squad of Officers, my right hand man was a -General and my left hand man a full Colonel. The Colonel spent his time -drawing pictures of the General. (The Colonel was really a wonderful -Artist.) The General was splendid. He was a magnificent-looking man -with a voice like a bull and his sole object was Mutiny! He hated -General Hay, who was in Command of the Hythe School of Musketry. He -hated him with a contemptuous disdain. In those days we commenced -firing at the target only a few hundred yards off. The General never -hit the target once! The Colonel made a beautiful picture of him -addressing the Parade and General Hay: “Gentlemen! my unalterable -conviction is that the bayonet is the true weapon of the British -Soldier!” The beauty of the situation was that the General had been -sent to Hythe to qualify as Inspector-General of Musketry. After -some weeks of careful drill (without firing a shot) we had to snap -caps (that was to get our nerves all right, I suppose!); the Sergeant -Instructor walked along the front of the Squad and counted ten copper -caps into each outstretched hand. At that critical moment General Hay -appeared on the Parade. This gave the General his chance! With his -bull-like voice he asked General Hay if it was believable after these -weeks of incessant application that we were going (each of us) to be -entrusted with ten copper caps! When we were examined _vivâ voce_ we -each had to stand up to answer a question (like the little boys at -a Sunday School). The General was asked to explain the lock of the -latest type of British Rifle. He got up and stated that as he was -neither Maskelyne and Cooke nor the Davenport Brothers (who were the -great conjurers of that time) he couldn’t do it. Certainly we had some -appalling questions. One that I had was, “What do you pour the water -into the barrel of the rifle with when you are cleaning it?” Both my -answers were wrong. I said, “With a tin pannikin or the palm of the -hand.” The right answer was “_with care_”! Another question in the -written examination was, “What occurred about _this_ time?” Only one -paragraph in the text-book had those words in it “About _this_ time -there occurred, etc.”! All the same I had a lovely time there; the -British Army was very kind to me and I loved it. The best shot in the -British Army at that date was a confirmed drunkard who trembled like -a leaf, but when he got his eye on the target he was a bit of marble -and “bull’s eyes” every time! So, as the Scripture says, never judge -by appearance. Keble, who wrote the “Christian Year,” was exceedingly -ugly, but when he spoke Heaven shone through; so I was told by one who -knew him. - -It’s going rather backwards now to speak of the time when I was a -Midshipman of the “Jolly Boat” in 1854, in an old Sailing Line of -Battleship of eighty-four guns. I think I must have told of sailing -into Harbour every morning to get the Ship’s Company’s beef (gale or no -gale) from Spithead or Plymouth Sound or the Nore. We never went into -harbour in those days, and it was very unpleasant work. I always felt -there was a chance of being drowned. Once at the Nore in mid-winter all -our cables parted in a gale and we ran into the Harbour and anchored -with our hemp cable (our sole remaining joy); it seemed as big round as -my small body was then, and it lay coiled like a huge gigantic serpent -just before the Cockpit. Nelson must have looked at a similar hemp -cable as he died in that corner of the Cockpit which was close to it. -All Battleships were exactly alike. You could go ashore then for forty -years and come on board again quite up to date. On our Quarter Deck -were brass Cannonades that had fired at the French Fleet at Trafalgar. -No one but the Master knew about Navigation. I remember when the Master -was sick and the second Master was away and the Master’s Assistant had -only just entered the Navy, we didn’t go to Sea till the Master got out -of bed again. There was a wonderfully smart Commander in one of the -other Battleships who had the utmost contempt for Science; he used to -say that he didn’t believe in the new-fangled sighting of the guns, -“Your Tangent Sights and Disparts!” What he found to be practically the -best procedure was a cold veal pie and a bottle of rum to the first man -that hit the target. We have these same “dears” with us now, but they -are disguised in a clean white shirt and white kid gloves, but as for -believing in Engineers--“Sack the Lot”! - -It is very curious that we have no men now of great conceptions who -stand out above their fellows in any profession, not even the Bishops, -which reminds me of a super-excellent story I’ve been told in a letter. -My correspondent met by appointment three Bishops for an expected -attack. Before they got to the business of the meeting, he said, “Could -their Lordships kindly tell him in the case of consecrated ground how -deep the consecration went, as he specially wanted to know this for -important business purposes.” They wrangled and he got off his “mauvais -quart d’heure.” My correspondent explained to me that his old Aunt (a -relation of Mr. Disraeli) said to him when he was young “Alfred, if you -are going to have a row with anyone--_always you begin_!” - -I come to another episode of comparatively early years. - -Yesterday I heard from a gentleman whom I had not seen for thirty-eight -years, and he reminded me of a visit to me when I was Captain of the -“Inflexible.” I was regarded by the Admiral Superintendent of the -Dockyard as the Incarnation of Revolution. (What upset him most was -I had asked for more water-closets and got them.) This particular -episode I’m going to relate was that I wanted the incandescent light. -Lord Kelvin had taken me to dine with the President of the Royal -Society, where for the first time his dining table was lighted with -six incandescent lamps, provided by his friend Mr. Swan of Newcastle, -the Inventor in this Country of the Incandescent light, as Mr. Edison -was in America (it was precisely like the discovery of the Planet -Neptune when Adams and Leverrier ran neck and neck in England and -France). After this dinner I wrote to Mr. Swan to get these lamps for -the “Inflexible,” and he sent down the friend who wrote me the letter -I received yesterday (Mr. Henry Edmunds) and we had an exhibition to -convert this old fossil of an Admiral Superintendent. - -Here I’ll put in Mr. Henry Edmunds’s own words:-- - - At last we got our lamps to glow satisfactorily; and at that - moment the Admiral was announced. Captain Fisher had warned me - that I must be careful how I answered any questions, for the - Admiral was of the stern old school, and prejudiced against - all new-fangled notions. The Admiral appeared resplendent in - gold lace, and accompanied by such a bevy of ladies that I was - strongly reminded of the character in “H.M.S. Pinafore” “with - his sisters, and his cousins, and his aunts.” The Admiral - immediately asked if I had seen the “Inflexible.” I replied - that I had. “Have you seen the powder magazine?” “Yes! I have - been in it.” “What would happen to one of these little glass - bubbles in the event of a broadside?” I did not think it would - affect them. “How do you know? You’ve never been in a ship - during a broadside!” I saw Captain Fisher’s eye fixed upon me; - and a sailor was dispatched for some gun-cotton. Evidently - everything had been ready prepared, for he quickly returned - with a small tea tray about two feet long, upon which was a - layer of gun-cotton, powdered over with black gun-powder. The - Admiral asked if I was prepared to break one of the lamps over - the tray. I replied that I could do so quite safely, for the - glowing lamp would be cooled down by the time it fell amongst - the gun-cotton. I took a cold chisel, smashed a lamp, and let - it fall. The Company saw the light extinguished, and a few - pieces of glass fall on the tray. There was no flash, and - the gun-powder and gun-cotton remained as before. There was - a short pause, while the Admiral gazed on the tray. Then he - turned, and said to Lord Fisher, “We’ll have this light on the - ‘Inflexible.’” - - And that was the introduction of the incandescent light into - the British Navy. - -Talking about water-closets, I remember so well long ago that one of -the joys on board a Man-of-War on Christmas Day was having what was -called a “Free Tank,” that is to say, you could go and get as much -fresh water as ever you liked, all other days you were restricted, so -much for drinking and so much for washing. The other Christmas Joy was -“Both sides of the ‘Head’ open”! What that meant was that right in the -Bows or Head of the Ship were situated all the Bluejackets’ closets, -and on Christmas Day all could be used! “all were free.” Usually only -half were allowed to be open at a time. It was a quaint custom, and I -always thought outrageous. “Nous avons changé tout cela.” - -When I was out in the West Indies a French Frigate came into the -Harbour with Yellow Fever on board. My Admiral asked the Captain of -the English Man-of-War that happened to be there what kindness he had -shown the French Frigate on arrival? He said he had sent them the keys -of the Cemetery. This Captain always took his own champagne with him -and put it under his chair. I took a passage with him once in his Ship, -he had a Chart hanging up in his cabin like one of those recording -barometers, which showed exactly how his wine was getting on. When he -came to call on the Admiral at his house on shore, he always brought a -small bundle with him, and after his Official visit he’d go behind a -bush in the garden and change into plain clothes! All the same, this is -the stuff that heroes are made of. Heroes are always quaint. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD AND OTHERS - - -King Edward paid a visit to Admiralty House, Portsmouth, 19th February -to 22nd February, 1904, while I was Commander-in-Chief there; and after -he had left I received the following letter from Lord Knollys:-- - - BUCKINGHAM PALACE, - _22nd February, 1904._ - - MY DEAR ADMIRAL, - - I am desired by the King to write and thank you again for your - hospitality. - - His Majesty also desires me to express his great appreciation - of all of the arrangements, which were excellent, and they - reflect the greatest credit both on you and on those who worked - under your orders. - - I am very glad the visit was such a great success and went off - so well. The King was evidently extremely pleased with and - interested in everything. - - Yours sincerely, - KNOLLYS. - -I can say that I never more enjoyed such a visit. The only thing was -that I wasn’t Master in my own house, the King arranged who should -come to dinner and himself arranged how everyone should sit at table; -I never had a look in. Not only this, but he also had the Cook up in -the morning. She was absolutely the best cook I’ve ever known. She was -cheap at £100 a year. She was a remarkably lovely young woman. She died -suddenly walking across a hay field. The King gave her some decoration, -I can’t remember what it was. Some little time after the King had -left--one night I said to the butler at dinner, “This soup was never -made by Mrs. Baker; is she ill?” The butler replied, “No, Sir John, -Mrs. Baker isn’t ill, she has been invited by His Majesty the King to -stay at Buckingham Palace.” And that was the first I had heard of it. -Mrs. Baker had two magnificent kitchenmaids of her own choosing and -she thought she wouldn’t be missed. I had an interview with Mrs. Baker -on her return from her Royal Visit, and she told me that the King had -said to her one morning before he left Admiralty House, Portsmouth, -that he thought she would enjoy seeing how a Great State Dinner was -managed, and told her he would ask her to stay at Buckingham Palace or -Windsor Castle to see one! Which is only one more exemplification of -what I said of King Edward in my first book, that he had an astounding -aptitude of appealing to the hearts of both High and Low. - -My friends tell me I have done wrong in omitting countless other little -episodes of his delightful nature. - -“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin!” - -This is a sweet little episode that occurred at Sandringham. The King -was there alone and Lord Redesdale and myself were his only guests. -The King was very fond of Redesdale, and rightly so. He was a most -delightful man. He and I were sitting in the garden near dinner time, -the King came up and said it was time to dress and he went up in the -lift, leaving Redesdale in the garden. Redesdale had a letter to write -and rushed up to his bedroom to write the letter behind a screen -there was between him and the door; the door opened and in came the -King, thinking he had left Redesdale in the garden, and went to the -wash-hand-stand and felt the hot water-can to see if the water was hot -and went out again. Perhaps his water had been cold, but anyhow he came -to see if his guest’s was all right. - -On another occasion I went down to Sandringham with a great party, I -think it was for one of Blessed Queen Alexandra’s birthdays (I hope -Her Majesty will forgive me for telling a lovely story presently about -herself). As I was zero in this grand party, I slunk off to my room to -write an important letter; then I took my coat off, got out my keys, -unlocked my portmanteau and began unpacking. I had a boot in each hand; -I heard somebody fumbling with the door handle and thinking it was the -Footman whom Hawkins had allocated to me, I said “Come in, don’t go -humbugging with that door handle!” and in walked King Edward, with a -cigar about a yard long in his mouth. He said (I with a boot in each -hand!) “What on earth are you doing?” “Unpacking, Sir.” “Where’s your -servant?” “Haven’t got one, Sir.” “Where is he?” “Never had one, Sir; -couldn’t afford it.” “Put those boots down; sit in that arm chair.” -And he went and sat in the other on the other side of the fire. I -thought to myself, “This is a rum state of affairs! Here’s the King of -England sitting in my bedroom on one side of the fire and I’m in my -shirt sleeves sitting in an armchair on the other side!” - -“Well,” His Majesty said, “why didn’t you come and say, ‘How do you -do’ when you arrived?” I said, “I had a letter to write, and with so -many great people you were receiving I thought I had better come to -my room.” Then he went on with a long conversation, until it was only -about a quarter of an hour from dinner time, and I hadn’t unpacked! So -I said to the King, “Sir, you’ll be angry if I’m late for dinner, and -no doubt your Majesty has two or three gentlemen to dress you, but I -have no one.” And he gave me a sweet smile and went off. - -All the same, he could be extremely unpleasant; and one night I had to -send a telegram for a special messenger to bring down some confounded -Ribbon and Stars, which His Majesty expected me to wear. I’d forgotten -the beastly things (I’m exactly like a Christmas Tree when I’m dressed -up). One night when I got the King’s Nurse to dress me up, she put the -Ribbon of something over the wrong shoulder, and the King harangued -me as if I’d robbed a church. I didn’t like to say it was his Nurse’s -fault. Some of these Ribbons you put over one shoulder and some of them -you have to put over the other; it’s awfully puzzling. But the King was -an Angel all the same, only he wasn’t always one. Personally I don’t -like perfect angels, one doesn’t feel quite comfortable with them. One -of Cecil Rhodes’s secretaries wrote his Life, and left out all his -defects; it was a most unreal picture. The Good stands out all the more -strikingly if there is a deep shadow. I think it’s called the Rembrandt -Effect. Besides, it’s unnatural for a man not to have a Shadow, and -the thought just occurs to me how beautiful it is--“The Shadow of -Death”! There couldn’t be the Shadow unless there was a bright light! -The Bright Light is Immortality! Which reminds me that yesterday I -read Dean Inge’s address at the Church Congress the day before on -Immortality. If I had anything to do with it, I’d make him Archbishop -of Canterbury. I don’t know him, but I go to hear him preach whenever I -can. - -The Story about Queen Alexandra is this. My beloved friend Soveral, -one of King Edward’s treasured friends, asked me to lunch on Queen -Alexandra’s sixtieth birthday. After lunch all the people said -something nice to Queen Alexandra, and it came to my turn, I said -to Her Majesty, “Have you seen that halfpenny newspaper about your -Majesty’s birthday?” She said she hadn’t, what was it? I said these -were the words:-- - - “The Queen is sixty to-day! - May she live till she looks it!” - -Her Majesty said “Get me a copy of it!” (Such a thing didn’t exist!) -About three weeks afterwards (Her Majesty has probably forgotten all -about it now, but she hadn’t then) she said, “Where’s that halfpenny -newspaper?” I was staggered for a moment, but recovered myself and -said “Sold out, Ma’am; couldn’t get a copy!” (I think my second lie -was better than my first!) But the lovely part of the story yet -remains. A year afterwards she sent me a lovely postcard which I much -treasure now. It was a picture of a little girl bowling a hoop, and Her -Majesty’s own head stuck on, and underneath she had written:-- - - “May she live till she looks it!” - -I treasure the remembrances of all her kindnesses to me as well as -that of her dear Sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia. The trees they -both planted at Kilverstone are both flourishing; but strange to say -the tree King Edward planted began to fade away and died in May, 1910, -when he died--though it had flourished luxuriantly up till then. Its -roots remain untouched--and a large mass of “Forget-me-nots” flourishes -gloriously over them. - - * * * * * - -For very many consecutive years after 1886 I went to Marienbad in -Bohemia (eight hundred miles from London and two thousand feet above -the sea and one mass of delicious pine woods) to take the waters there. -It’s an ideal spot. The whole place is owned by a Colony of Monks, -settled in a Monastery (close by) called Tepl, who very wisely have -resisted all efforts to cut down the pine woods so as to put up more -buildings. - -I had a most serious illness after the Bombardment of Alexandria -due to bad living, bad water, and great anxiety. The Admiral (Lord -Alcester) had entrusted me (although I was one of the junior Captains -in the Fleet) with the Command on shore after the Bombardment. Arabi -Pasha, in command of the Rebel Egyptian Army, was entrenched only a few -miles off, and I had but a few hundreds to garrison Alexandria. For the -first time in modern history we organised an Armoured Train. Nowadays -they are as common as Aeroplanes. Then it excited as much emotion -as the Tanks did. There was a very learned essay in the _Pall Mall -Gazette_. - -I was invalided home and, as I relate in my “Memories,” received -unprecedented kindness from Queen Victoria (who had me to stay at -Osborne) and from Lord Northbrook (First Lord of the Admiralty), who -gave me the best appointment in the Navy. I always have felt great -gratitude also to his Private Secretary at that time (Admiral Sir Lewis -Beaumont). For three years I had recurrence of Malarial Fever, and -tried many watering places and many remedies all in vain. I went to -Marienbad and was absolutely cured in three weeks, and never relapsed -till two years ago, when I was ill again and no one has ever discovered -what was the matter with me! Thanks be to God--I believe I am now as -well as I ever was in all my whole life, and I can still waltz with joy -and enjoy champagne when I can get it (friends, kindly note!). - -At Marienbad I met some very celebrated men, and the place being so -small I became great friends with them. If you are restricted to a -Promenade only a few hundred yards long for two hours morning and -evening, while you are drinking your water, you can’t help knowing each -other quite well. How I wish I could remember all the splendid stories -those men told me! - -Campbell-Bannerman, Russell (afterwards Chief Justice), Hawkins -(afterwards Lord Brampton), the first Lord Burnham, Labouchere (of -_Truth_), Yates (of the _World_), Lord Shand (a Scottish Judge), -General Gallifet (famous in the Franco-German War), Rumbold (Ambassador -at Vienna), those were some of the original members. Also there -were two Bevans (both delightful)--to distinguish them apart, they -called the “Barclay Perkins” Bevan “poor” Bevan, as he was supposed -to have only two millions sterling, while the other one was supposed -to have half a dozen! (That was the story.) I almost think I knew -Campbell-Bannerman the best. He was very delightful to talk to. I have -no Politics. But in after years I did so admire his giving Freedom -to the Boers. Had he lived, he would have done the same to Ireland -without any doubt whatever. Fancy now 60,000 British soldiers quelling -veiled Insurrection and a Military Dictator as Lord Lieutenant and -Ireland never so prosperous! I have never been more moved than in -listening to John Redmond’s brother, just back from the War in his -Soldier’s uniform, making the most eloquent and touching appeal for -the Freedom of Ireland! _It came to nothing._ I expect Lord Loreburn -(who was Campbell-Bannerman’s bosom friend) will agree with me that had -Campbell-Bannerman only known what a literally overwhelming majority he -was going to obtain at the forthcoming Election, he would have formed -a very different Government from what he did, and I don’t believe we -should have had the War. King Edward liked him very much. They had a -bond in their love of all things French. I don’t believe any Prime -Minister was ever so loved by his followers as was Campbell-Bannerman. - -Sir Charles Russell, afterwards Chief Justice, was equally delightful. -We were so amused one day (when he first came to Marienbad) by the Head -Waiter whispering to us that he was a cardsharper! The Head Waiter told -us he had seen him take a pack of cards out of his pocket, look at -them carefully, and then put them back! Which reminds me of a lovely -incident in my own career. I had asked the Roman Catholic Archbishop to -dinner; he was a great Saint--we played cards after dinner. We sat down -to play--(one of my guests was a wonderful conjurer). “Hullo!” I said, -“Where are the cards gone to?” The conjurer said, “It doesn’t matter: -the Archbishop will let us have the pack of cards he always carries -about in his pocket”! The Holy Man furtively put his hand in his pocket -(thinking my friend was only joking!) and dash it! there they were! I -never saw such a look in a man’s face! (He thought Satan was crawling -about somewhere.) - -Lord Burnham was ever my great Friend, he was also a splendid man. -I should like to publish his letters. I have spoken of Labouchere -elsewhere. As Yates, of the _World_, Labouchere, and Lord Burnham -(those three) walked up and down the Promenade together (Lord -Burnham being stout), Russell called them “The World, the Flesh, and -the Devil.” I don’t know if it was original wit, but it was to me. - -[Illustration: TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF KING EDWARD VII. AND SIR JOHN FISHER -ON BOARD H.M.S. “DREADNOUGHT” ON HER FIRST CRUISE.] - -Old Gallifet also was splendid company; he had a silver plate over part -of his stomach and wounds all over him. I heard weird stories of how he -shot down the Communists. - -Sir Henry Hawkins I dined with at some Legal Assemblage, and as we -walked up the Hall arm in arm all the Law Students struck up a lovely -song I’d never heard before: “Mrs. ’enry ’awkins,” which he greatly -enjoyed. On one occasion he told me that when he was still a Barrister, -he came late into Court and asked what was the name of the Barrister -associated with him in the Case? The Usher or someone told him it was -Mr. Swan and he had just gone out of the Court. (I suppose he ought to -have waited for Sir Henry.) Anyhow Sir Henry observed that he didn’t -like him “taking liberties with his Leda.” I expect the Usher, not -being up in Lemprière’s Dictionary, didn’t see the joke! - -Dear Shand, who was very small of stature, was known as the “Epitome -of all that was good in Man.” He reeked with good stories and never -told them twice. Queen Victoria fell in love with him at first sight -(notwithstanding that she preferred big men) and had him made a Lord. -She asked after his wife as “Lady Shand”; and, being a Scottish Law -Lord, he replied that “Mrs. Shand was quite well.” There are all sorts -of ways of becoming a Lord. - -Rumbold knocked the man down who asked him for his ticket! He wasn’t -going to have an Ambassador treated like that (as if he had travelled -without a ticket!) - -As the Czechs hate the Germans, I look forward to going back to my -beloved Marienbad once more every year. The celebrated Queen of Bohemia -was the daughter of an English King; her name was Elizabeth. The -English Ambassador to the Doge of Venice, Sir Henry Wootton, wrote -some imperishable lines in her praise and accordingly I worshipped at -Wootton’s grave in Venice. The lines in his Poem that I love are:-- - - “You Common People of the Skies, - What are You, when the Moon shall rise?” - -In dictating the Chapter on “Some Personalities,” that appears in -my “Memories,” I certainly should not have overlooked my very good -friend Masterton-Smith (Sir J. E. Masterton-Smith, K.C.B.). I can only -say here (as he knows quite well) that never was he more appreciated -by anyone in his life than by me. Numberless times he was simply -invaluable, and had his advice been always taken, events would have -been so different in May 1915! - -I have related in “Memories” how malignancy went to the extent not -only of declaring that I had sold my country to the Germans (so -beautifully denied by Sir Julian Corbett), but also that I had formed -“Syndicates” and “Rings” for my own financial advantage, using my -official knowledge and power to further my nefarious schemes for making -myself quickly rich! I have denied this by the Income Tax Returns--and -I have also explained I am still poor--very poor--because one-third of -my pension goes in income tax and the remaining two-thirds is really -only one-third because of depreciation of the pound sterling and -appreciation of food prices! - -But let that pass. However, I’ve been told I ought to mention I had -another very brilliant opportunity of becoming a millionaire in A.D. -1910, but declined. And also it has been requested of me to state the -fact that never in all my life have I belonged to any company of any -sort beyond possessing shares, or had any place of profit outside the -Navy. That is sufficiently definite, I think, to d----n my enemies and -satisfy my friends. - -My finances have always been at a low ebb (even when a -Commander-in-Chief), as I went on the principle of “whatever you do, -do it with all your might,” and there is nothing less conducive to -“the fighting efficiency of a Fleet and its instant readiness for -war” than a Stingy Admiral! The applications for subscriptions which -were rained upon me I countered with this inestimable memorandum in -reply, invented by my sympathetic Secretary:--“The Admiral deeply -regrets being unable to comply with your request, and he deplores the -reason--but his Expenditure is in excess of his Receipts.” I always -got sympathy in return, more especially as the Local Applicants were -largely responsible for the excess of expenditure. - -At an early period of my career I certainly did manage on very little, -and it is wonderful what a lot you can get for your money if you think -it over. I got breakfast for tenpence, lunch for a shilling and dinner -for eighteen pence and barley water for nothing and a bed for three -and sixpence (but my bedroom had not a Southern aspect). The man I -hired a bedroom from was like a Father to me, and I have never had such -a polish on my shoes. (I remember saying to a German Boots, pointing -to my badly-cleaned shoes, “Spiegel!”--looking-glass; he took away -the shoes and brought them back shining like a dollar. Hardly anyone -will see the joke!) But what I am most proud of is that, financial -necessity once forcing me to go to Marienbad quite alone, I did a three -weeks’ cure there, including the railway fare and every expense, for -twenty-five pounds. I don’t believe any Economist has ever beaten this. -I preserve to this day the details of every day’s expenditure, which -I kept in a little pocket-book, and read it all over only a couple of -days ago, without any wish for past days. - -I recall with delight first meeting my beloved old friend, Sir Henry -Lucy; he had with him Sir F. C. Gould, who never did a better service -to his country than when he portrayed me as an able seaman asking the -Conscriptionists (in the person of Lord Roberts) whether there was no -British Navy. The cartoon was reproduced in my “Memories” (p. 48). In -my speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in 1907 (see Chapter VI of this -volume) I had spoken of Sir Henry Lucy as “gulled by some Midshipman -Easy of the Channel Fleet” (Sir Henry had been for a cruise in the -Fleet), who stuffed him up that the German Army embarking in the German -Fleet was going to invade England! And in the flippant manner that -seems so to annoy people, I observed that Sir Henry might as well -talk of embarking St. Paul’s Cathedral on board a penny steamer as of -embarking the German Army in the German Fleet! He and Gould came up to -me at a _séance_ on board the “Dreadnought,” and had a cup of tea as if -I had been a lamb! - -On the occasion of that same speech, a Bishop looked very sternly at -me, because in my speech, to show how if you keep on talking about -war and always looking at it and thinking of it you bring it on, I -instanced Eve, who kept on looking at the apple and at last she plucked -it; and in the innocence of my heart I observed that had she not done -so we should not have been now bothered with clothes. When I said this -in my speech I was following the advice of one of the Sheriffs of the -City of London, sitting next me at dinner, who told me to fix my eyes, -while I was speaking, on the corner of the Ladies’ Gallery, as then -everyone in the Guildhall could hear what I said. And such a lovely -girl was in that corner, I never took my eyes off her, all the time, -and that brought Eve into my mind! - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS - - -I have just been listening to another very eloquent sermon from Dr. -Hugh Black, whom I mention elsewhere in this book (see Chapter V). -Nearly all these Presbyterians are eloquent, because they don’t write -their sermons. - -The one slip our eloquent friend made in his sermon was in saying that -the _A.D._ 1611 edition of the Bible (the Authorised Version) was a -better version of the Bible than the Great Bible of _A.D._ 1539, which -according to the front page is stated to be as follows:-- - - “The byble in English that is to say the content of all - the Holy Scripture both of the old and new testament truly - translated after the verity of the Hebrew and Greek texts by - the diligent study of diverse excellent learned men expert in - the aforesaid tongues. - - “Printed by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. Cum - privilegio ad imprimendum solum. - - 1539.” - -It is true, as the preacher said, that the 1611 edition, the Authorised -Version, is more the literal translation of the two, but those -“diverse excellent learned men” translated according to the spirit and -not the letter of the original; and our dear brother (the preacher) -this morning in his address had to acknowledge that in the text he -had chosen from the 27th Psalm and the last verse thereof, the pith -and marrow which he rightly seized on--being the words “Wait on the -Lord”--were more beautifully rendered in the great Bible from which -(the Lord be thanked!) the English Prayer Book takes its Psalms, and -which renders the original Hebrew not in the literal words, “Wait on -the Lord,” but “_Tarry thou the Lord’s leisure_,” and goes on also -in far better words than the Authorised Version with the rest of the -verse: “Be strong and He shall comfort thine heart.” - -When we remonstrated with the Rev. Hugh Black after his sermon, he -again gainsaid, and increased his heinousness by telling us that the -word “Comfort,” which doesn’t appear in the 1611 version, was in its -ancient signification a synonym for “Fortitude”; and the delightful -outcome of it is that that is really the one and only proper prayer--to -ask for Fortitude or _Endurance_. You have no right to pray for rain -for your turnips, when it will ruin somebody else’s wheat. You have no -right to ask the Almighty--in fact, He can’t do it--to make two and two -into five. The only prayer to pray is for Endurance, or Fortitude. The -most saintly man I know, daily ended his prayers with the words of that -wonderful hymn: - - “Renew my will from day to day, - Blend it with thine, and take away - All that now makes it hard to say, - Thy will be done.” - -It must not be assumed that I am a Saint in any way in making these -remarks, but only a finger-post pointing the way. The finger-post -doesn’t go to Heaven itself, yet it shows the way. All I want to -do is to stick up for those holy men who were not hide-bound with -a dictionary, and gave us the spirit of the Holy Word and not the -Dictionary meaning. - -Here I feel constrained to mention a far more beautiful illustration of -the value of those pious men of old. - -In Brother Black’s 1611 version, the most famous of the Saviour’s -words: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I -will give you rest,” is, in the 1539 version, “I will _refresh_ you!” -There is no _rest_ this side of Heaven. Job (iii, 17) explains Heaven -as “Where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary be at -rest.” The fact is--the central point is reached by the Saviour when He -exemplifies the Day of Perfection by saying: “In that day ye shall ask -me nothing.” - -I have been told by a great scientist that for the tide to move a -pebble on the beach a millionth of an inch further would necessitate an -alteration in the whole Creation. And then we go and pray for rain, or -to beat our enemies! - -Again, I say--The only thing to pray for is _Endurance_. - -Some people in sore straits try to strike bargains with God, if only He -will keep them safe or relieve them in the present necessity. It’s a -good story of the soldier who, with all the shells exploding round him -was heard to pray: “O Lord, if You’ll only get me out of this d--d mess -I will be good, I will be good!” - -I am reminded of what I call the “Pith and Marrow” which the pious -men put at the head of every chapter of the Bible, and which, alas! -has been expunged in the literary exactitudes of the Revised Version. -Regard Chapter xxvi, for instance, of Proverbs--how it is all summed up -by those “diverse excellent learned men.” They wrote at the top of the -chapter “Observations about Fools.” Matthew xxii: the Saviour “_Poseth_ -the Pharisees.” Isaiah xxi: “The _set_ time.” Isaiah xxvii (so true -and pithy of the Chapter!): “Chastisements differ from Judgments”; and -in Mark xv: “The Clamour of the Common People”--descriptive of what’s -in the chapter. All these headings, in my opinion, as regards those -ancient translators, are for them a “Crown of Glory and a Diadem of -Beauty”; and I have a feeling that, when they finished their wondrous -studies, it was with them as Solomon said, “The desire accomplished is -sweet to the Soul.” - - -DR. GINSBURG - - _March 27th, 1918._ - - DEAR FRIEND, - - When I was at Bath I read in the local paper a beautiful letter - aptly alluding to the Mount Fiesole of Bath and quoting what - has been termed that mysterious verse of David’s: - - “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills----.” - - Well! the other day a great friend of that wonderful Hebrew - scholar, Dr. Ginsburg--he died long since at Capri--told - me that Ginsburg had said to him that all the Revisers and - Translators had missed a peculiar Hebraism which quite alters - the signification of this opening verse of the 121st Psalm: It - should read: - - “_Shall_ I lift up mine eyes to those hills? DOTH my help come - from thence?” - -And this is the explanation: - -Those hills alluded to were the hills in which were the Groves planted -in honour of the idols towards which Israel had strayed. So in the -second verse the inspired tongue says: - - “No! My help cometh from the Lord! He who hath made Heaven and - Earth! (not these idols).” - -I have had an admiration for Ginsburg ever since he shut up the two -Atheists in the Athenæum Club, Huxley and Herbert Spencer, who were -reviling Holy Writ in Ginsburg’s presence and flouting him. So he asked -the two of them to produce anything anywhere in literature comparable -to the 23rd Psalm as translated by Wyclif, Tyndale, and Coverdale. He -gave them a week to examine, and at the end of it they confessed that -they could not. - -One of them (I could not find out which it was) wrote: - -“I won’t argue about nor admit the Inspiration claimed, but I say -this--that those saintly men whom Cromwell formed as the company to -produce the Great Bible of 1539 _were inspired_, for never has the -spirit of the original Hebrew been more beautifully transformed from -the original harshness into such spiritual wealth.” - -Those are not the exact words, I have not got them by me, but that was -the sense. - -The English language in A.D. 1539 was at its very maximum. Hence the -beauty of the Psalms which come from the Great Bible as produced by -that holy company of pious men, who one writer says: “Did not wish -their names to be ever known.” I send you the title page. - - Yours, etc., - (Signed) FISHER. - 27/3/18. - -I enclosed with this letter the front page of the first edition of the -Great Bible, A.D. 1539, often known as Cranmer’s Bible, but Archbishop -Cranmer had nothing whatever to do with it except writing a preface to -it; it was solely due to Cromwell, Secretary of State to Henry VIII., -who cut off Cromwell’s head in July, 1540. Cranmer wrote a preface for -the edition after April, 1540. Cranmer was burnt at the stake in Mary’s -reign. Tyndale was strangled and burnt, Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, -died of hunger. Coverdale headed the company that produced the Great -Bible, and Tyndale’s translation was taken as the basis. (So those who -had to do with the Bible had a rough time of it!) - -John Wyclif, in A.D. 1380, began the translation of the Bible into -English. This was before the age of printing, so it was in manuscript. -Before he died, in A.D. 1384, he had the joy of seeing the Bible in the -hands of his countrymen in their own tongue. - -Wyclif’s translation was quaint and homely, and so idiomatic as to -have become out of date when, more than one hundred years afterwards, -John Tyndale, walking over the fields in Wiltshire, determined so -to translate the Bible into English “that a boy that driveth the -plough should know more of the Scriptures than the Pope,” and Tyndale -gloriously succeeded! But for doing so, the Papists, under orders from -the Pope of Rome, half strangled him and then burnt him at the stake. -Like St. Paul, he was shipwrecked! (Just as he had finished the Book of -Jonah, which is curious, but there was no whale handy, and so he was -cast ashore in Holland, nearly dead!) - -Our present Bible, of A.D. 1611, is almost word for word the Bible -of Tyndale, of round A.D. 1530, but in A.D. 1534, Miles Coverdale, -Bishop of Exeter, was authorised by Archbishop Cranmer and Thomas -Cromwell (who was Secretary of State to Henry VIII.) to publish his -fresh translation, and he certainly beautified in many places Tyndale’s -original! - -In 1539, “Diverse excellent learned men expert in the ‘foresaid -tongues’” (Hebrew and Greek), under Cromwell’s orders made a true -translation of the whole Bible, which was issued in 1539–40 in four -editions, and remained supreme till A.D. 1568, when the Bishops tried -to improve it, and made a heavenly mess of it! And then the present -Authorised Version, issued in A.D. 1611, became the Bible of the Land, -and still holds its own against the recent pedantic Revised Version of -A.D. 1884. No one likes it. It is literal, but it is not spiritual! - -In the opinion of Great and Holy men, Cranmer’s Bible (as it is -called), or “the Great Bible”--the Bible of 1539 to 1568--holds the -field for beauty of its English and its emotional rendering of the Holy -Spirit! - -Alas! we don’t know their names; we only know of them as “Diverse -excellent learned men!” It is said they did not wish to go down to Fame! - -“It is the greatest achievement in letters! The Beauty of the -translation of these unknown men excels (far excels) the real and the -so-called originals! All nations and tongues of Christendom have come -to admit reluctantly that no other version of the Book in the English -or any other tongue offers so noble a setting for the Divine Message. -Read the Prayer Book Psalms! They are from this noble Version--English -at its zenith! The English of the Great Bible is even more stately, -sublime, and pure than the English of Shakespeare and Elizabeth.” - - -ACTION - -“Ye men of Galilee! Why stand ye gazing up into Heaven?” (Acts, Chapter -i., verse 11.) - -The moral of this one great central episode of the whole Christian -faith (which, if a man don’t believe with his utmost heart he is as a -beast that perisheth, so Saint Paul teaches in I. Corinthians, Chapter -xv.), the moral of it is that however intense at any moment of our -lives may be the immediate tension that is straining our mental fibre -to the limit, yet we are to “get on!” and not stand stock still “gazing -up into Heaven!” Inaction must be no part of our life, and we must -“get on” with our journey as the Apostles did--“to our own City of -Jerusalem!” - -It is curious that Thursday (Ascension Day) was not made the Christian -Sabbath. No scientific agnostic could possibly explain the Ascension -by any such theories as those that try to get over the fact of the -Resurrection by cataleptic happenings or an inconceivable trance! The -agnostic can’t explain away that He was seen by the Apostles to be -carried up into Heaven when in the act of lifting up His hands upon -them to bless them “and a cloud received Him out of their sight!” - -_Vide_ the Collect for the Sunday after Ascension Day! - - -RESENTMENT - -The prophet Zechariah says in Chapter xiv., verse 7: - - “At evening time - It shall be light!” - -And I conclude that in the last stage of life, as pointed out so very -decisively by Dr. Weir Mitchell (that great American), “the brain -becomes its best,” and so we rearrange our hearts and minds to the -great advantage of our own Heaven and the avoidance of Hell to others! -“Resentment” I find to fade away, and it merges into the feeling of -Commiseration! (“Poor idiots!” one says instead of “D--n ’em!”) But -I can’t arrive as yet at St. Paul, who deliberately writes that he’s -quite ready to go to Hell so as to let his enemy go to Heaven! You’ve -got really to be a real Christian to say that! I’ve not the least -doubt, however, that John Wesley, Bishop Jeremy Taylor and Robertson -of Brighton felt it surely! Isn’t it odd that those three great saints -(fit to be numbered “with these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job,” -Ezekiel, Chapter xiv., verse 14) each of them should have a “nagging” -wife! - -Their Home was Hell! - -And I’ve searched in vain for any one of the three saying a word to the -detriment of the other sex! They might all have been Suffragettes! (St. -Paul does indeed say that he preferred being single! But Peter was -married!) - -But this “Resentment” section hinges entirely on “Charity” as defined -and exemplified by Mr. Robertson, of Brighton, in one of the best of -his wonderful Trinity Chapel Sermons. - - -DEAN INGE - -I heard the Dean of St. Paul’s (Dr. Inge) preach in Westminster Abbey -on the 17th Chapter of St. Matthew, verse 19: “Then came the disciples -to Jesus apart, and said, ‘Why could not we cast him out?’” - -The sermon was really splendiferous! - -The Saviour had just cast out a devil that had been too much for -the disciples, and He told them their inability to do so was due to -their want of Faith, and added: “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but -by prayer.” The Dean explained to us that some ascetic annotator 400 -years afterwards had shoved in at the end of these two additional -words--“and fasting.” That, of course, was meant by the Dean as “one -in the eye” for those who fast like the Pharisees and for a pretence -make long prayers! Then the Dean was just too lovely as to “Prayer!” -He said he was so sick of people praying for victory in the great War! -And speaking generally he was utterly sick of people praying for what -they wanted! (as if _that_ was Prayer!) No! the Dean divinely said, -“Prayer was the exaltation of the Spirit of a Man to dwell with God and -say in the Saviour’s words, ‘Not my will but Thine be done.’” “Get -right thus with God,” said the Dean, “and then go and make Guns and -Munitions with the utmost fury. That (said the Dean) was the way to get -Victory, and not by silly vain petitions as if you were asking your -Mamma for a bit of barley sugar.” (I don’t mean to say the Dean used -these exact words!) Then he said an interesting thing that “this event -of the disciples ignominiously failing to cast out the devil” happened -to these chief of His apostles just after their coming down from the -Mount of Transfiguration, where they had been immensely uplifted by the -Heavenly Vision of the Saviour talking with Moses and Elijah. The Dean -said “that it was really a curious fact of large experience that when -you were thus lifted up in a Heavenly Spirit it was a sure precursor -of a fierce temptation by the Devil!” These highly-favoured disciples, -after such a communion with God, thought that they themselves, by -themselves, could do anything! Pride had a fall! They could not cast -out that devil! They trusted in themselves and did not give God the -praise! And so it was that Moses didn’t go over Jordan, for he struck -the rock and said, “How now, ye rebels!” (I’ll show you who I am!) - -The Dean also observed that it was the Drains that had to be put right -when there was an Epidemic of Typhoid Fever! “Prayer” wasn’t the -Antidote! - -The holy man Saint Francis summed up all religion and the Christian -life in his famous line: - -“How we are in the sight of God!--That is the only thing that matters!” - -[Illustration: - -PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN AND SENT TO SIR JOHN FISHER BY THE EMPRESS MARIE OF -RUSSIA, OF A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. “STANDARD,” 1909. - - 1. Lord Hamilton of Dalzell. - 2. The Chevalier de Martino. - 3. Sir Arthur Nicholson. - 4. M. Stolypin, Russian Prime Minister. - 5. The Czarina. - 6. M. Isvolsky, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. - 7. Sir John Fisher. - 8. Sir Charles Hardinge. - 9. Baron Fredericks. - 10. The Grand Duchess Olga. - 11. The Czar. - 12. The Princess Victoria. - 13. The Grand Duke Michael. - 14. Count Benckendorff, Russian Ambassador. -] - - -FORGIVENESS - -It fortuned this morning that I read Joseph’s interview with his -Brethren just after the death of their Father Jacob. They, having done -their best to murder Joseph quite naturally thought that he would now -be even with them, so they told a lie. They said that Jacob their -Father had very kindly left word with them that he hoped Joseph would -be very nice with his brethren after he died. Jacob said no such thing. -Jacob knew his Joseph. But it gave Joseph a magnificent opportunity -for reading one of Mr. Robertson’s, of Brighton, Sermons--he said to -them, “Am I in the place of God?” Meaning thereby that no bread and -water that he might put them on, and no torturing thumbscrews, would -in any way approach the unquenchable fire and the undying worm that -the Almighty so righteously reserves for the blackguards of this life. -Which reminds me of the best Sermon I ever heard by the present Dean -of Salisbury, Dr. Page-Roberts. He said: “There is no Bankruptcy Act -in Heaven. No 10s. in the £1 there. Every moral, debt has got to be -paid in full,” and consequently Page-Roberts, though an extremely -broad-minded man, was the same as the extreme Calvinist of the -unspeakable Hell and the Roman Catholic’s Purgatory. How curious it is -how extremes do meet! - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -EPISODES - - -I.--MR. GLADSTONE’S FINAL RESIGNATION. - -I was Controller of the Navy when Lord Spencer was First Lord of the -Admiralty and Sir Frederck Richards was First Sea Lord. Mr. Gladstone, -then Prime Minister, was at the end of his career. I have never read -Morley’s “Life of Gladstone,” but I understand that the incident I -am about to relate is stated to have been the cause of Mr. Gladstone -resigning--and for the last time. I was the particular Superintending -Lord at the Board of Admiralty, who, as Controller of the Navy, was -specially responsible for the state and condition of the Navy; and -it was my province, when new vessels were required, to replace those -getting obsolete or worn out. Sir Frederick Richards and myself were -on the very greatest terms of intimacy. He had a stubborn will, an -unerring judgment, and an astounding disregard of all arguments. When -anyone, seeking a compromise with him, offered him an alternative, he -always took the alternative as well as the original proposal, and asked -for both. Once bit, twice shy; no one ever offered him an alternative a -second time. - -However, he had one great incapacity. No one could write a more -admirable and concise minute; but he was as dumb as Moses. So I became -his Aaron. The moment arrived when that magnificent old patriot, -Lord Spencer, had to choose between fidelity to his life-long friend -and leader, Mr. Gladstone, and his faithfulness to his country. Sir -Frederick Richards, the First Sea Lord, had convinced him that a -certain programme of shipbuilding was vitally and urgently necessary. -Mr. Gladstone would not have it. Sir Frederick Richards and myself, in -quite a nice way, not quite point-blank, intimated that the Sea Lords -would resign. (My bread and cheese was at stake, but I did it!) Lord -Spencer threw in his lot with us, and conveyed the gentle likelihood -to Mr. Gladstone; whereupon Sir William Harcourt and Sir Henry -Campbell-Bannerman were alternately turned on to the three of us (Lord -Spencer, Sir F. Richards and myself) sitting round a table in Lord -Spencer’s private room. I loved Sir William Harcourt; he was what might -be called “a genial ruffian,” as opposed to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, -who, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, was a perfect beast, -without a single redeeming feature that I ever found out. Sir William -Harcourt always started the conversazione by insulting Lord Spencer -(quite in a friendly way); then he would say to Sir Frederick Richards, -“I always thought that one Englishman was equal to three Frenchmen, and -according to this table of ships required, which has been presented to -the Prime Minister, it takes three Englishmen to manage one Frenchman.” -Old Richards would grow livid with anger; he wanted to say, “It’s a -damned lie!” but he couldn’t get the proper words out! - -He had an ungovernable temper. I heard him once say to one of the -principal Officers in his ship: “Here; don’t you look sulky at me, I -won’t have it!” There was a famous one-legged cabman at Portsmouth -whom Sir Frederick Richards hired at Portsmouth railway station by -chance to drive him to the Dockyard. He didn’t recognise the man, -but he was an old ship-mate who had been with him when Sir Frederick -Richards commanded a brig on the coast of Africa, suppressing the Slave -Trade--he led them all a dog’s life. The fare was a shilling, and ample -at that; and as old Richards got out at the Admiral’s door he gave -the cabman five shillings, but the cabby refused it and said to old -Richards: “You _drove_ me for nothing on the Coast of Africa, I will -drive you for nothing now,” and he rattled off, leaving old Richards -speechless with anger. He used to look at Sir William Harcourt in -exactly the same way. I thought he would have apoplexy sometimes. - -Dear Lord Spencer was pretty nearly as bad in his want of lucid -exposition; so I usually did Aaron all through with Sir William -Harcourt, and one of the consequences was that we formed a lasting -friendship. - -When I was made a Lord, Stead came to my house that very morning and -said he had just had a message from Sir William Harcourt (who had then -been dead for some years), saying how glad Sir William was; and the -curious thing was that five minutes afterwards I got a letter from his -son, now Lord Harcourt, congratulating me on my Peerage, which had only -been made known an hour before. I think Stead said Sir William was in -Heaven. I don’t think he ever quite knew where the departed were! - -Campbell-Bannerman was a more awkward customer. - -But it was all no use. We got the ships and Mr. Gladstone went. - - -II.--THE GREAT LORD SALISBURY’S BROTHER-IN-LAW. - -It really is very sad that those three almost bulky volumes of my -letters to Lord Esher--which he has so wonderfully kept--could not all -have been published just as they are. This is one of the reasons for -my extreme reluctance, which still exists, for these “Memories” and -“Records” of mine being published in my lifetime. When I was dead there -could be no libel action! The only alternative is to have a new sort of -“Pilgrim’s Progress” published--the whole three volumes--and substitute -Bunyan names. But that would be almost as bad as putting their real -names in--no one could mistake them! - -I think I have mentioned elsewhere that Lord Ripon, when First Lord, -whom I had never met, had a design to make me a Lord of the Admiralty, -but his colleagues would not have it and called me “Gambetta.” Lord -Ripon said he had sent for me because someone had maligned me to him -as “a Radical enthusiast.” Well, the upshot was that in 1886 I became -Director of Ordnance of the Navy; and after a time I came to the -definite conclusion that the Ordnance of the Fleet was in a very bad -way, and the only remedy was to take the whole business from the War -Office, who controlled the Sea Ordnance and the munitions of sea war. A -very funny state of affairs! - -Lord George Hamilton was then First Lord and the Great Lord Salisbury -was Prime Minister. Lord Salisbury’s brother-in-law was the gentleman -at the War Office who was solely responsible for the Navy deficiencies, -bar the politicians. When they cut down the total of the Army -Estimates, he took it off the Sea Ordnance. He had to, if he wanted to -be on speaking terms with his own cloth. I don’t blame him; I expect I -should have done the same, more particularly as I believe in a Citizen -Army--or, as I have called it elsewhere, a Lord-Lieutenant’s Army. (The -clothes were a bit different; but Lord Kitchener’s Army was uncommonly -like it.) Lord George Hamilton, having patiently heard me, as he always -did, went to Lord Salisbury. Lord George backed me through thick and -thin. The result was a Committee--the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, -Chairman; W. H. Smith, Secretary for War; Lord George Hamilton, First -Lord of the Admiralty; the Director of Ordnance at the War Office, -and myself. It was really a very remarkably unpleasant time. I had an -awful bad cold--much worse than General Alderson, the Prime Minister’s -brother-in-law--and Lord Salisbury never asked after it, while he -slobbered over Alderson. I just mention that as a straw indicating -which way the wind blew. The result, after immense flagellations -administered to the Director of the Sea Ordnance, was that the whole -business of the munitions of war for the Navy was turned over to -the Admiralty, “lock, stock and gun barrel, bob and sinker,” and by -Herculean efforts and the cordial co-operation of Engelbach, C.B., -who had fought against me like a tiger, and afterwards helped like an -Angel, and of Sir Ralph Knox, the Accountant-General of the Army, a big -deficit, in fact a criminal deficit, of munitions for the Fleet was -turned over rapidly into a million sterling of surplus. - -They are nearly all dead and gone now, who worked this enormous -transfer, and I hope they are all in Heaven. - -This story has a lovely sequel; and I forgave Lord Salisbury afterwards -for not asking after my cold when, in 1899, many years after, the Hague -Peace Conference came along and he submitted my name to Queen Victoria -as the Naval Delegate, with the remark that, as I had fought so well -against his brother-in-law, there was no doubt I should fight at the -Peace Conference. So I did, though it was not for Peace; and M. de -Staal, who was a great friend of mine, and who was the President of the -Conference, told me that my remarks about boiling the crews of hostile -submarines in oil when caught, and so forth, were really unfit for -publication. But W. T. Stead tells that story infinitely better than I -can. It is in the “Review of Reviews” for February, 1910. - -But there is another providential sequel to the events with which I -began this statement. I made great friends at the Peace Conference with -General Gross von Schwarzhoff and Admiral von Siegel, the Military and -Naval German Delegates, and I then (in 1899) imbibed those ideas as to -the North Sea being our battle ground, which led to the great things -between 1902 and 1910. - - -III.--SHIP-BUILDING AND DOCKYARD WORKERS. - -I have been asked to explain how I got rid of 6,000 redundant Dockyard -workmen, when Mr. Childers nearly wrecked his Government by turning -out but a few hundred. Well, this was how it was done. We brought home -some 160 ships from abroad that could neither fight nor run away; -enough men were thus provided for the fighting portion of the crews -for all the new ships then lying in the Dockyards, which were not -only deteriorating in their hulls and equipment for want of care, but -were inefficient for war because officers and men must have practice -in the ship they fight as much as the Bisley shot with his rifle, the -jockey with his race-horse and the chef with his sauces. It is practice -that makes perfect. The original plan for mobilising the Navy for war -was that on the outbreak of war you disorganised the ships already -fully manned and efficient by taking a portion of the trained crew, -thus impairing the efficiency of that ship, and putting them into the -un-manned ships and filling up both the old and the new--the former -efficient ships and those in the dockyards--with men from the Reserve. -So the whole Navy got disorganised. And that was what they called -“Preparing for War!” By what Mr. Balfour called a courageous stroke of -the pen, in his speech at Manchester, when he was Prime Minister, every -vessel in the Fleet by the new system had its fighting crew complete. - -Those who were to fill up the hiatus were the hewers of wood and the -drawers of water. The brains were there; only the beef had to come, and -the beef might have been taken from the Army. - -When are we going to have the great Army and Navy Co-operative Society, -which I set forth to King Edward in 1903--that the Army should be a -Reserve for the Navy? When shall we be an amphibious nation? This last -war has made us into a conscript Nation. - -Well, to revert to the subject of how we got rid of the 6,000 redundant -dockyard workmen. When that mass of Officers and men set free by the -scrapping of the 160 ships that couldn’t fight nor run away came back -to Chatham, Portsmouth, Devonport, Pembroke, and Queenstown, then in -those dockyard towns the tradesmen had the time of their lives, for the -money that had flowed into the pockets of the Chinese, the Chileans, -the Peruvians, the Boers, the Brazilians, made the shopkeepers of the -dockyard towns into a mass of Liptons, so that when the 6,000 Dockyard -workers tried, as they had done in the time of yore (in the time of -Childers), to get the dockyard tradespeople to agitate and turn out -their Members of Parliament, the tradespeople simply replied, “You -be damned!” and I arranged to find congenial occupation for these -redundant dockyard workmen in private yards where they were much needed. - -When I became Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, I took -another drastic step in concentrating all the workmen then leisurely -building several different ships, and put them all like a hive of bees -on to one ship and extended piece-work to the utmost limit that was -conceivable. The result was that a battleship which would have taken -three years to build was built in one year; for the work of building a -ship is so interlaced, when they are working by piece-work especially, -that if one man does not work his fellow workmen cannot earn so much, -so this piece-work helps the overseers because the men oversee each -other. - -But there is another great principle which this hides. The one great -secret of the fighting value of a battleship is to get her to sea -quickly:-- - - “Build few, and build fast, - Each one better than the last.” - -You will come across some idiots whose minds are so deliciously -symmetrical that they would prefer ten tortoises to one greyhound to -catch a hare, and it was one of the principal articles of the ancient -creed that you built ships in batches. They strained at the gnat of -uniformity and so swallowed the camel of inferiority. No progress--they -were a batch. - - -IV.--“JOLLY AND HUSTLE.” - -I have just been asked by an alluring, though somewhat elusive -friend, to describe to you quite an excellent illustration of those -famous words in “Ecclesiastes” “Cast thy bread upon the waters for -thou shalt find it after many days.” That’s the text this alluring -friend suggested to me to exemplify. For myself, I prefer the more -heavenly text where the Scripture says: “Be not forgetful to entertain -strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” It was -quite an angel that I had to do with, and he ate my bread as follows:-- - -One day, when I was Admiral in North America, I received a telegram: -“The President of the Grand Trunk Railway with forty distinguished -American friends was arriving in about an hour’s time on some business -connected with railway affairs, and could they be permitted to see the -battleship ‘Renown.’” The “Renown” was my flagship. I sent a reply to -the next station their special train was stopping at, asking them to -lunch on board on their arrival at 1 p.m. I sent for Monsieur Augé, my -wonderful chef, who on the produce of his service with me afterwards -set up a restaurant in Paris (he really was excellent--but so -extravagant!) and told him: “Lunch for forty, in an hour’s time.” All -he said was “Oui, Monsieur,” and he did it well! I myself being really -amazed. - -The Company greatly enjoyed themselves. I had some wonderful champagne -obtained from Admiral McCrea--of immortal memory as regards that -requisite--which effectively seconded M. Augé’s magnificent lunch. - -Years after--it was in March, 1902--I was in a serious dilemma as to -the completion of the necessary buildings at Osborne for the new scheme -of entry of Officers to be inaugurated by the King in person, who was -to open the new establishment on the fourth day of August following. -Every effort had failed to get a satisfactory contract, when after a -prolonged but fruitless discussion, I was sitting thinking what the -devil I should do, when an Officer came in to see me on some business -and mentioned casually that he had just come from lunching at the -Carlton and had happened to overhear a man at an adjacent table say -that he would give anything to see Sir John Fisher, as he had given -him--with many others--the very best lunch he had ever had in his life. -I sent the Officer back to the Carlton to bring him. On his arrival -in my room I didn’t remember him, but he at once thanked me--not for -seeing the “Renown” and all the other things--but only for the lunch. -He said he belonged to St. Louis and was over in England on business. -He had completed a big hotel in three months, which no one else would -contract to build under three years. - -Then I thought of that angel whom I had entertained unawares; certainly -the bread that was cast came back all right. I explained my difficulty -to him--I had all the particulars. He said he had his American staff -over here, who had been working at the Hotel, and he would attend with -the contract and the drawings in forty-eight hours. And he did. The -contract was signed, and King Edward opened the buildings on August 4th. - -An expert of our own who participated in the final proceedings asked -the American gentleman’s foreman how he did it, and especially how he -had managed that hotel in the three months. I overheard the American’s -answer: “Well,” he said, “this is how our boss does it; when he is -a-laying of the foundations he is a-thinking of the roof.” “What is his -name?” said the English expert. “Well,” replied the American, “his -name is Stewart, but we always call him ‘JOLLY & HUSTLE.’” “Oh!” said -the English expert, “Why that name?” “Well,” he says, “I will tell -you. There’s not one of his workmen, not even the lower grades, gets -less than fifteen shillings a day, and as much as he likes to eat and -drink--free of cost. Well, that’s _jolly_. But we has to work sixteen -hours a day--that’s _hustle_.” - -So when the defences of the Humber came into my mind and no contractor -could be got for so gigantic a business, I telegraphed for “Jolly & -Hustle,” and when he came over and said he would do it and that he -was going to bring everything, from a pin up to a pile-driver, from -America, it made the contractors at home reconsider the position--and -they did the work. - - -V.--“BUYING UP OPPORTUNITIES.” - -The words I take to head this section are as applicable to the affairs -of common life as they are to religion, with reference to which they -were originally spoken. - -What these words signify is that Faith governs all things. Victories on -Earth have as their foundation the same saving virtue of Faith. - -One great exercise of Faith is “Redeeming the Time,” as Paul says. -(I’m told the literal meaning of the original Greek is “buying up -opportunities.”) Most people from want of Faith won’t try again. Lord -Kelvin often used to tell me of his continuous desire of “redeeming -the time.” Even in dressing himself he sought every opportunity of -saving time (so he told me) in thinking of the next operation. However -his busy brain sometimes got away from the business in hand, as he -once put his necktie in his pocket and his handkerchief round his -neck. (Another wonderfully clever friend of mine, who used to think -in the Differential Calculus, I once met immaculately dressed, but he -had his trousers over his arm and not on.) And yet I am told he was -an extraordinarily acute business man. Every sailor owes him undying -gratitude for his “buying up opportunities” in the way he utilised -a broken thigh, which compelled him to go in a yacht, to invent -his marvellous compass and sounding machine. At the Bombardment of -Alexandria the firing of the eighty ton guns of the “Inflexible” with -maximum charges, which blew my cap off my head and nearly deafened -me, had no effect on his compasses, and enabled us with supreme -advantage to keep the ship steaming about rapidly and so get less -often hit whilst at the same time steering the ship with accuracy -amongst the shoals. So it was with the ancient sounding machine: one -had to stop the ship to sound, and it was a laborious operation and -inaccurate. Lord Kelvin devised a glass tube which by the height of the -discoloration gave you the exact depth, no matter how fast the ship was -going; and the beauty of it was you kept the tubes as a register. - -It was an immense difficulty getting the Admiralty to adopt Lord -Kelvin’s compass. I was reprimanded for having them on board. I always -asked at a Court-Martial, no matter what the prisoner was being tried -for, whether they had Lord Kelvin’s compass on board. It was only -ridicule that got rid of the old Admiralty compass. At the inquiry the -Judge asked me whether the Admiralty compass was sensitive (I was a -witness for Lord Kelvin). I replied, “No, you had to kick it to get -a move on.” But what most scandalised the dear old Fossil who then -presided over the Admiralty compass department was that I wanted to do -away with the points of the compass and mark it into the three hundred -and sixty degrees of the circle (you might as well have asked them to -do away with salt beef and rum!). There could then never be any mistake -as to the course the ship should steer. However, a landsman won’t -understand the beauty of this simplicity, and the “Old Salts” said at -that time “There he is again--the d--d Revolutionary!” - -But to revert to “buying up opportunities”: I know no more signal -instance of the goodness of Paul’s advice both to the Ephesians -and Colossians in things temporal as in things spiritual than -as exemplified by the Gunnery Lieutenant of the “Inflexible” in -discovering a fracture in one of her eighty-ton guns. He was always -thinking ahead in everything--“Buying up Opportunities.” - -After the Bombardment of Alexandria we two were walking along the -shore; he stopped and said, “Hullo! that’s a bit of one of our shell, -and it burst in the bore of the gun.” As there were no end of pieces -of burst shell about, which had exploded in striking the fort, I said, -“How do you know it is?” He pointed to the marks of the rifling on -the shell, which showed that it had burst in the bore and had been -pressed into the grooves of the rifling, instead of being rotated by -the copper band on its passage through the bore. Then he put his hand -in his pocket, took out his clinometer, laid it on the marks of the -rifling on the bit of burst shell; and the rifling of our eighty-ton -guns having an increasing spiral, he calculated the exact spot in the -gun where the shell had burst. And when he got on board he had himself -shoved up the bore of the gun holding a piece of hot gutta percha, -like that with which the dentist takes the impression of your mouth -for a set of false teeth, and brought me out the impression of where -the gun had been cracked by the explosion of the shell. Younghusband -was his name--perhaps the most gifted man I ever met, but, as unusual -with genius, he was not indolent and was always practising himself in -seizing opportunities. When the constituted authorities came to inspect -the gun, though Younghusband put the broken bit of shell before them, -they took a long time to find that crack. One night at Portsmouth -someone told Younghusband, who was having his third glass of port after -dinner, that he was too fat to walk. For a considerable bet he got up -there and then and walked seventy-two miles to London. Younghusband -never went to any school in his life; he never left home; he never had -a governess or a tutor. He was taught by his mother. - - -VI.--HOW THE GREAT WAR WAS CARRIED ON. - -Six weeks after I left the Admiralty on May 22nd, 1915--that deplorable -day, the particulars of which I am not at present at liberty to -mention--I received most cordial letters from both Mr. Asquith and Mr. -Balfour welcoming me to fill a Post of great magnitude. - -[Illustration: A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. “STANDARD,” 1909. - -The Czar, The Grand Duchess Olga, and Sir John Fisher.] - -I am impelled to digress here for a few moments to tell a very -excellent story of Dean Hole (famous for the cultivation of roses). -He said to his Curate one day, “I am sick of hearing the name of that -poor man whom we pray for every Sunday; just say ‘the prayers of the -Congregation are requested for a member of the Congregation who is -grievously ill.’” Next Sunday the Curate said at the usual place in -Divine Service, “The prayers of the Congregation are requested for a -gentleman whose name I’m not at liberty to mention!” That’s my case in -regard to what happened between Saturday, May 15th, and Saturday, May -22nd, during which time I received communications which I hold in my -hand at this moment, and which some day when made public will be just -astonishing! I am advised that the Law does not permit even an outline -of them to be given. - -I was invited by Mr. Balfour to preside over an Assemblage of the -most Eminent Men of Science for War purposes; the chief point was the -German Submarine Menace. Also we had to consider Inventions, as well as -Scientific Research. - -My three Super-Eminent Colleagues of the Central Committee of this -great Scientific Organisation were very famous men:-- - -(1) Sir J. J. Thomson, O.M., President of the Royal Society and now -Master of Trinity. I am told (and I believe it) a man unparalleled in -Science. - -(2) The Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B., the Inventor of the Turbine, -which has changed the whole art of Marine Engineering, and enabled -us to sink Admiral von Spee. We couldn’t have sunk von Spee without -Parsons’s Turbine, as those two great Fast Battle-Cruisers “Invincible” -and “Inflexible” could not have steamed otherwise 14,000 miles without -a hitch (there and back). They only arrived at the Falkland Islands a -few hours before Admiral von Spee. - -(3) Sir George Beilby, F.R.S., one of the greatest of Chemists, who, -if we don’t take care, will give us a smokeless England, by getting -rid of coal in its present beastly form, and turning it into oil and -fertilisers, dyes, etc., etc. The Refuse he sells to the Poor fifty per -cent. cheaper than coal and without smoke or ashes. - -The Advisory Panel of other Distinguished Men was as famous as these -Magi. There were also many Eminent Associates. - -I felt extreme diffidence in occupying the Chair; however, I put it to -them all in the famous couplet of the French author who, in annexing -the thoughts of other people, took this couplet as the text of his -book:-- - - “I have cull’d a garland of flowers, - Mine only is the string that binds them.” - -I said to them all at our first Assemblage: “Gentlemen, You are the -Flowers, I am the String!” - -You would have thought that such a Galaxy of Talent would have been -revered, welcomed, and obeyed--on the contrary, it was derided, -spurned, and ignored. - -The permanent “Expert Limpets” did for us! All the three First Lords at -the Admiralty whom we dealt with in succession were most cordial and -most appreciative, but all three were equally powerless. Just a couple -or so of instances will suffice to illustrate the reason why we at last -said to Sir Eric Geddes:-- - - “Ave Geddes Imperator! - “Morituri te Salutant.” - - (1) The chief object of this magnificent Scientific - Organisation being to counter the German Submarine Menace, we - naturally asked for a Submarine to experiment with. The answer - was “one could not be spared.” - - (2) We asked to be furnished with all the details of the - destruction of German Submarines that had already taken place, - which of course lay at the root of further investigation. This - was denied us! - - (3) A “Submarine Detector” was developed under the auspices - of the Central Committee by May, 1916. A year was allowed to - elapse before it was taken up; and even then its progress was - cancelled because nothing more than a laboratory experiment - with a competing invention came to the notice of the “Limpets.” - - (4) The Scientific Members of our Association had conceived - and practically demonstrated a most astoundingly simple method - of discovering the passage of German Submarines. It was termed - “The Loop Detection” scheme. It was turned down--And then two - years afterwards was violently taken up, with astoundingly - successful results. - -I think I have said enough. And really, after all, what is the good of -raking up the past? - -I have had two pieces of advice given me referring to the trials I had -experienced. One was:-- - - “When sinners entice thee, consent thou not!-- - But take the name and address for future reference.” - -And the other was:--“Fear less--hope more; eat less--chew more; -whine less--breathe more (deep breathing); talk less--say more; hate -less--love more, and all good things are yours.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -DEMOCRACY - -“_Government of the people--by the people--for the people._” - - (_President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, 1863._) - - -Some time ago the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University presided at a -lecture on Democracy given at Cambridge by the Professor of History at -Chicago (A. C. McLaughlin). I gather that he implied that Democracy is -helpless in the game of secret diplomacy and secret treaties. Democracy -now all depends upon the purpose and desire of the English-speaking -people. - -It’s an opportune moment to repeat John Bright’s very famous speech on -a great federation of the nations that speak the Anglo-Saxon tongue. - -The speech was given me when crossing the Atlantic by a splendid -citizen of the United States, where I had just been receiving boundless -hospitality and a wonderful welcome, and had realised the truth about a -prophet when not in his own country, and had been asked to “stump the -Middle West” to advocate the cause of friendship amongst all those who -speak our incomparable tongue, and to establish a Great Commonwealth of -Free Nations. There can be no secret treaties and no secret diplomacy -when the Government is of the People, by the People, for the People. - -This is John Bright’s speech: - - “Now what can one say of the future of our race and of our - kinsmen? Is that merely a dream? By no means.... Look where we - are now?... - - “In this country, in Canada, and in the United States there - are, or soon will be, one hundred and fifty millions of - population, nearly all of whom owe their birth and origin to - the comparatively small country in which we live. It is a fact - that is not paralleled in any past history, and what may come - in the future to compare with it or excel it, it is not for - us to speak of, or even with any show of reason to imagine; - but we have in all these millions the same language, the same - literature, mainly the same laws and the institutions of - freedom. May we not hope for the highest and noblest federation - to be established among us? That is a question to which I would - ask your special and sympathetic attention. The noblest kind - of federation among us, under different Governments it may be, - but united by race, by sympathy, by freedom of industry, by - communion of interests and by a perpetual peace, we may help to - lead the world to that better time which we long for and which - we believe in, though it may not be permitted to our mortal - eyes to behold it.” - -That was said by John Bright. - -The time has now come for this great federation which he desired--for -this great Commonwealth of Free Nations. - -There is only one type of treaty which is effective--“Community of -Interests.” - -All other treaties are “Scraps of Paper.” - -It is maintained by eminent men that the late appalling and disastrous -war, in which so many millions of human beings have been massacred or -maimed, would never have occurred _had there been a real Democracy in -power in England_. They say, as a small instance, that the great Mutiny -at the Nore and other mutinies were brought about by trampling on -Democracy. - -This is what pure and unadulterated Democracy is, and we have not got -it in England:-- - - “EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL.” - -For instance, no parent with less than nearly a £1000 a year can now -send his boy into the Navy as an Officer! - -Nature is no respecter of birth or money power when she lavishes her -mental and physical gifts. - - _We fight God when our Social System dooms the brilliant clever - child of the poor man to the same level as his father._ - -Therefore, we must have such State provision and such State education -as will enable the very poorest in the land to let their eligible -children rise to Admirals, Generals, Ambassadors, and Statesmen. - -Can it be conceived that a real Democracy would have permitted secret -treaties such as have been divulged to us, or have scouted the terms of -Peace which were allowed only to be seen by Kings and Prime Ministers; -or would a real Democracy have flouted the Russian Revolution in its -first agonizing throes when gasping for help and recognition? - -In a real Democracy, would true Labour leaders have waited on the -doormat? - -Would a real Democracy wave the red rag of “Empire” in front of these -noble self-governing peoples all speaking our tongue in their own free -Parliaments, and all of them praying for the hastening of the time when -“England, the Mother of Free Parliaments, shall herself be free”? - -But the Glorious Epoch is now fast approaching! - -A Prime Minister once complimented me on a casual saying of mine at his -luncheon table. I was accounting for part of my success against - - “Many giants great and tall,” - -and I ventured to state that:-- - - “The secret of successful administration was the intelligent - anticipation of agitation.” - -_Anticipate the Revolution._ Do the thing yourself in your way before -the agitators get in before you and do it in their way. Get rid of -the present obsolete Forms and Antique Ceremonies which grate on the -masses, and of Figureheads who are laughing-stocks, and of sinecures -which are exasperating--and so anticipate another Cromwell, who is -certainly now coming fast along to “Remove another Bauble!” - -I forget what they did to the man who tried to import poisonous snakes -into New Zealand (finding that happy island unblessed with this -commodity). It was something quite drastic they did to _him_! They -killed the snakes. - -The Canadian House of Commons adopted by a majority of 33 a motion by -Sir Robert Borden, on behalf of the Canadian Government, asking that -no more hereditary titles should be bestowed in Canada, and declaring -that the Canadian Government should make all recommendations for -honours of any kind. This motion was a compromise designed to damp down -the popular outcry against titles which has arisen in Canada. In one -debate Sir Wilfrid Laurier offered to throw his own title on a common -bonfire. He urged that all titles in Canada should be abolished. - -Why should Great Britain lag behind Canada and the United States? -Hereditary titles are ludicrously out of date in any modern democracy, -and the sooner we sweep away all the gimcracks and gewgaws of snobbery -the better. The fount of so-called honour has become a deluge, and the -newspapers are hard put to it to find room for even the spray of the -deluge. - -The war has not begotten simplicity and austerity in this respect. On -the contrary, it has made what used to be a comedy a screaming farce. -There was a time when the Birthday Honours List could be printed on -one day, but it is now a serial novel. The first chapter of the latest -Birthday list was long, but the _Times_ warned us that it was only “the -first of a series which already threatens to outlast the week--quite -apart from the gigantic Order of the British Empire.” - -Chicago’s great Professor of History, Mr. McLaughlin, made the -statement at the Kingsway Hall, in his address to British teachers, -that now the United States have over 100 millions of people, and fifty -years from now they may well have 200 millions--a great Atlantic and -Pacific Power. The Professor added that this great War was “_to -protect Democracy against the greatest menace it has ever had_” (in the -present rule of Kings and Secret Treaties, etc., etc.). Another points -out as a striking example of present old-time conditions (so pernicious -to freedom and efficiency) the positive fact now existing that our -Military Leaders, by a class distinction, were only selected from one -twenty-fifth of the ore which we have at our disposal though we had -brought five million men under arms, as all our generals commanding -armies, army corps, divisions, and in most cases brigades, were drawn -from among the Regular Forces who handled our small pre-War Army of two -hundred thousand men. And the writer adds: - - “If considered purely from the standpoint of the law of - averages, one would expect to find more good brains if one - searched the entire Army than in merely looking for material in - one twenty-fifth of it.” - -General Currie, who so ably commands all the Canadian Forces, was -a Land Agent before the War. Neither Napoleon nor Wellington ever -commanded a regiment. Marlborough never handled an army till he was -fifty-two years of age. Clive was a Bank Clerk. Napoleon’s maxim was -“_La carrière ouverte aux talents_.” Are we ever going to adopt it? - - -PEACE - -This truth is (_and ever will be_) the fact that the only pact that -ever holds, and the only treaty that ever lasts is: - - “_COMMUNITY OF INTEREST!_” - -and we can only have Community of Interest in the masses of a People -always being on the side of Peace, because it’s the masses who are -massacred, not the Kings and Generals and Politicians (they are -plentifully fed and comfortably housed, and have the best white -bread--_vide_ the American Dentist, Davies, when he stayed with the -German Emperor). - -Well! the only way the masses of the People can act effectively is by -means of Republics. Because then no secret diplomacy ever answers, and -no one man can make war, or no coterie of men. In a Republic we get -“Government of the People, by the People, for the People.” - -It’s a cheap sneer to ask how long the same Government ever exists -in Republican France! Nevertheless, sooner millions of changes of -Government and Peace than a stable Government with War! _A Republic is -always Peace-loving!_ except when righteous fury in a gust of popular -rage sweeps it into war, as lately in America; but it took four years -to move them! The People pushed the President. We are going to have -Bolshevism unless we foster these German Republics, and it will spread -righteously to England. - -These Leagues of Nations and Freedoms of the Seas and all the other -items are all d--d nonsense! When War does come, then “Might is Right.” -“La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure!” and every treaty is -a Scrap of Paper! - - The Essence of War is Violence. - Moderation in War is Imbecility. - You hit first, you hit hard, and keep on hitting. - You have to be Ruthless, Relentless and Remorseless. - It’s perfect rot to talk about “Civilised Warfare!” - You might as well talk about a “Heavenly Hell!” - - -FROM LORD FISHER TO A FRIEND. - - MY DEAR ----, - - I wrote to a distinguished friend to note (but not to - congratulate him) that he had been made “a Companion of - Honour” (what that is I don’t know!), and told him one of the - disadvantages of even a “Limited Monarchy” was the making - of us all into Christmas Trees to hang Decorations upon! He - replied he had declined it, as he did not wish “to be regarded - as a dab of paint to camouflage this new Order instituted for - Labour Leaders!” Haven’t I always told you we are a Nation of - Snobs, and that even the Labour Leaders don’t resent being kept - hanging about on the door mat? - - My dear friend adds: “I feel sure your conception of Democracy - will be realised.” (I had sent him my Paper on Democracy that - you didn’t like!) “_Liberty means a Country where every man or - woman has an equal chance._” - - “The race of Life in a civilised Country is a race carried - out under a system of handicaps, and the people who do the - handicapping are the people of the least brains. - - “The prophecy you send me is wonderful.” - - I think the words of this my friend will interest you, _though - perhaps not convince you_! - - Yours till death, - F. - 9/6/18. - - -THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. - -I have been sitting this morning under a Presbyterian Minister, Dr. -Hugh Black, whose eloquence so moved the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd -George (who kindly gave me a seat in his pew, on the other side of me -being President Wilson, at the Presbyterian Church in Paris on May -25th, 1919), that the moment the service was ended the Prime Minister -went straight to him in the pulpit and told him it was one of the -best sermons he had ever heard. And it probably was. One word Dr. -Black used was very descriptive. He described us all, except those -homeless ones for whom the Saviour pleaded in Dr. Black’s text, as the -“sheltered” classes. I think also our feelings in the congregation -(not that I wish to derogate from the sermon) had been intensely moved -by the magnificent singing on the part of the great congregation -(mostly American Citizens) of the Battle Hymn of the American Republic, -composed by Julia Ward Howe. The tune (“John Brown’s Body”), as Mr. -Sankey said, no doubt has much to do with the glorious emphasis of the -chorus; but certainly the words are magnificent:-- - - BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. - - Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord; - He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; - He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword, - His truth is marching on. - - Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! - Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. - - I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; - They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; - I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps, - His day is marching on. - - Glory, etc. - - I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel; - “As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal” - Let the Hero born of woman crush the serpent with His heel, - Since God is marching on. - - Glory, etc. - - He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; - He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgment seat; - Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! - Our God is marching on. - - Glory, etc. - - In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea; - With the glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; - As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, - While God is marching on. - - Glory, etc. - -It reminded me of the 76th Psalm, sung by those old Covenanters when -they vanquished Claverhouse at Drumclog. We see the Battle Field of -Drumclog from the room where we are now talking. - - “In Judah’s land God is well known, - His name’s in Isr’l great.” - -I began a letter (but diffidence made me stop it) to Sir William Watson -the poet, to ask him if he couldn’t give us some such great Hymn for -the Nation. - -“God Save the King” is worn out. We don’t individualise now. It is as -worn out as knee breeches for Court Functions or Gold Lace Coats for -Sea Officers. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -PUBLIC SPEECHES - - -I have made four accurately reported public speeches, the fifth one -(at Mr. Josephus Daniels’s reception by the American Luncheon Club) is -too inadequate to include here. For none of these four speeches had -I any notes, except for the one of a hundred words and one of fifty -words, both delivered in the House of Lords. The other two were simply -and solely my exuberant verbosity, and they must be read with that -remark in mind. I was saturated with the subject; and when the _Times_ -reporter came and asked me for my speech before I’d made it, I told him -with truth that I really didn’t know what I was going to say. I might -have been like Thackeray (What a classic case his was!). He was the -Guest of Honour. He got up, was vociferously cheered, and was dumb. -After a death-like silence he said these words, and sat down:--“If I -could only remember what I thought of to say to you when I was coming -here in the cab, you really would have had a delightful speech!” - -[Illustration: A GROUP ON BOARD H.M.S. “STANDARD,” 1909. - - 1. The Empress Marie of Russia. - 2. The Czarina. - 3. Sir John Fisher. - 4. The Grand Duchess Olga. - 5. The Czar. -] - - -I.--THE ROYAL ACADEMY BANQUET, 1903. - -The Navy always readily appreciates the kind words in which this -toast is proposed, and also the kind manner in which it is always -received. I beg to thank you especially, Mr. President, for your -kind reference to Captain Percy Scott, which was so well deserved. -He was indeed a handy man. (Cheers.) Personally I have not the same -pleasurable feelings on this occasion as I enjoyed last year, when -I had no speech to make. I remember quite well remarking to my -neighbour: “How good the whitebait is, how excellent the champagne, -and how jolly not to have to make a speech.” He glared at me and -said: “I have got to make a speech, and the whitebait to me is _bête -noire_, and the champagne is real pain.” (Laughter.) He was so ready -with his answer that I thought to myself: “You’ll get through it all -right,” and sure enough he did, for he spoke thirty minutes by the -clock without a check. (Laughter.) I am only going to give you three -minutes (cries of “No.”) Yes. I always think on these occasions of -the first time I went to sea on board my first ship, an old sailing -two-decker, and I saw inscribed in great big gold letters the one word -“Silence.” (Laughter.) Underneath was another good motto: “Deeds, not -words.” (Cheers.) I have put that into every ship I have commanded -since. (Cheers.) This leads me to another motto which is better -still, and brings me to the point of what I have to say in reply to -the toast that has been proposed. When I was Commander-in-Chief in -the Mediterranean I went to inspect a small Destroyer, only 260 tons, -but with such pride and swagger that she might have been 16,000 tons. -(Laughter.) The young Lieutenant in command took me round. She was -in beautiful order, and I came aft to the wheel and saw there the -inscription: “Ut Veniant Omnes.” “Hallo,” I said, “what the deuce is -that?” (Laughter.) Saluting me, he said: “Let ’em all come, Sir.” -(Great laughter and cheers.) Well, that was not boasting; that was -the sense of conscious efficiency--(cheers)--the sense that permeates -the whole Fleet--(cheers)--and I used to think, as the Admiral, it -will be irresistible provided the Admiral is up to the mark. The Lord -Chief Justice, sitting near me now, has kindly promised to pull me -down if I say too much! (Laughter.) But what I wish to remark to you -is this--and it is a good thing for everybody to know it--there has -been a tremendous change in Navy matters since the old time. In regard -to Naval warfare history is a record of exploded ideas. (Laughter and -cheers.) In the old days they were sailors’ battles; now they are -Admirals’ battles. I should like to recall to you the greatest battle -at sea ever fought. What was the central episode of that? Nelson -receiving his death-wound! What was he doing? Walking up and down -on the quarter-deck arm-in-arm with his Captain. It is dramatically -described to us by an onlooker. His Secretary is shot down; Nelson -turns round and says: “Poor Scott! Take him down to the cockpit,” and -then he goes on again walking up and down, having a yarn with his -Captain. What does that mean? It means that in the old days the Admiral -took his fleet into action; each ship got alongside the enemy; and, -as Nelson finely said, “they got into their proper place.” (Cheers.) -And then the Admiral had not much more to do. The ships were touching -one another nearly, the Bos’un went with some rope and lashed them -together so as to make them quite comfortable--(laughter)--and the -sailors loaded and fired away till it was time to board. But what is -the case now? It is conceivable that within twenty minutes of sighting -the enemy on the horizon the action will have begun, and on the -disposition of his Fleet by the Admiral--on his tactics--the battle -will depend, for all the gunnery in the world is no good if the guns -are masked by our own ships or cannot bear on the enemy! In that way -I wish to tell you how much depends on the Admirals now and on their -education. Therefore, joined with this spirit, of which the remark of -the young Lieutenant I mentioned to you is an indication, permeating -the whole Service, we require a fearless, vigorous, and progressive -administration, open to any reform--(loud cheers)--never resting on its -oars--for to stop is to go back--and forecasting every eventuality. I -will just take two instances at hazard. - - _Look at the Submarine Boat and Wireless Telegraphy. - - When they are perfected we do not know what a Revolution will - come about._ - - In their inception they were the weapons of the weak. - - Now they loom large as the weapons of the strong. - - _Will any Fleet be able to be in narrow waters?_ - -Is there the slightest fear of invasion with them, even for the most -extreme pessimist? I might mention other subjects; but the great fact -which I come to is that we are realizing--the Navy and the Admiralty -are realizing--_that on the British Navy rests the British Empire_. -(Loud cheers.) Nothing else is of any use without it, not even -the Army. (Here the gallant Admiral, amid laughter, turned to Mr. -Brodrick, the Secretary for War, who sat near him.) We are different -from Continental nations. No soldier of ours can go anywhere unless a -sailor carries him there on his back. (Laughter.) I am not disparaging -the Army. I am looking forward to their coming to sea with us again as -they did in the old days. Why, Nelson had three regiments of infantry -with him at the battle of Cape St. Vincent, and a Sergeant of the -69th Regiment led the boarders, and, Nelson having only one arm, it -was the Sergeant who helped him up. (Cheers.) The Secretary for War -particularly asked me to allude to the Army or else I would not have -done it. (Loud laughter.) In conclusion, I assure you that the Navy -and the Admiralty recognise their responsibility. I think I may say -that we now have a Board of Admiralty that is united, progressive, and -determined--(cheers)--and you may sleep quietly in your beds--(loud -cheers). - - -II.--THE LORD MAYOR’S BANQUET, 1907. - -As to the strength, the efficiency, and the sufficiency of the -Navy, I am able to give you indisputable proofs. Recently, in the -equinoctial season in the North Sea we have had twenty-six of the -finest battleships in the world and twenty-five of the finest cruisers, -some of them equal to foreign battleships, and over fifty other -vessels, under eleven Admirals, and all working under a distinguished -Commander-in-Chief, under very trying circumstances and in a very -stormy time, and I look in vain to see any equal to that large Fleet -anywhere. (Cheers.) That is only a fraction of our power. (Cheers.) -And that large Fleet is _nulli secundus_, as they say, whether it is -ships or officers or men. (Cheers.) Now, I turn to the other point, -the gunnery of the Fleet. The gunnery efficiency of the Fleet has -surpassed all records--it is unparalleled--and I am lost in wonder -and admiration at the splendid unity of spirit and determination that -must have been shown by everybody from top to bottom to obtain these -results. (Cheers.) I am sure that your praise and your appreciation -will go forth to them, because, remember, the best ships, the biggest -Navy--my friend over there talked about the two-Power standard--a -million-Power standard (laughter) is no use unless you can hit. -(Cheers.) You must hit first, you must hit hard, and you must keep -on hitting. (Cheers.) If these are the fruits, I don’t think there -is much wrong with the government of the Navy. (Cheers.) Figs don’t -grow on thistles. (Laughter and cheers.) But a gentleman of fine -feeling has lately said that the recent Admiralty administration has -been attended with the devil’s own luck. (Laughter.) That interesting -personality (laughter)--his luck is due to one thing, and one thing -only--hesitates at nothing to gain his object. That is what the Board -of Admiralty have done, and our object has been the fighting efficiency -of the Fleet and its instant readiness for war; and we have got it. -(Cheers.) And I say it because no one can have a fuller knowledge than -myself about it, and I speak with the fullest sense of responsibility. -(Cheers.) So I turn to all of you, and I turn to my countrymen and -I say--Sleep quiet in your beds (laughter and cheers), and do not be -disturbed by these bogeys--invasion and otherwise--which are being -periodically resuscitated by all sorts of leagues. (Laughter.) I do -not know what league is working this one. It is quite curious what -reputable people lend themselves to these scares. This afternoon I read -the effusions of a red-hot and most charmingly interesting magazine -editor. He had evidently been victimised by a _Punch_ correspondent, -and that _Punch_ correspondent had been gulled by some Midshipman Easy -of the Channel Fleet. He had been there. And this is what the magazine -editor prints in italics in this month’s magazine--that an army of -100,000 German soldiers had been practising embarking in the German -Fleet. The absolute truth is that one solitary regiment was embarked -for manœuvres. That is the truth. To embark 100,000 soldiers you want -hundreds and thousands of tons of transport. You might just as well -talk of practising embarking St. Paul’s Cathedral in a penny steamer. -(Laughter.) I have no doubt that equally silly stories are current in -Germany. I have no doubt that there is terror there that the English -Fleet will swoop down all of a sudden and gobble up the German Fleet. -(Laughter.) These stories are not only silly--they are mischievous, -very mischievous. (Hear, hear.) If Eve had not kept on looking at that -apple (laughter)--and it was pleasant to the eyes--she would not have -picked it, and we should not have been now bothered with clothes. -(Loud laughter.) I was very nearly forgetting something else that -the _Punch_ correspondent said. I put it in my pocket as I came away -to read it out to you. He had been a week in the Channel Fleet and he -had discussed everything, from the admiral down to the bluejacket. -He does not say anything about that Midshipman Easy. “In one matter -I found unanimity of admission. It was that in respect to the number -of fighting ships, their armament, and general capacity the British -Navy was never in so satisfactory a condition as it floats to-day.” -(Cheers.) So we let him off that yarn about the 100,000 German troops. -(Laughter.) - - -III.--THE HOUSE OF LORDS, NOVEMBER 16, 1915. - -Lord Fisher, rising from the cross-benches immediately before public -business was called, said:--“I ask leave of your lordships to make a -statement. Certain references were made to me in a speech delivered -yesterday by Mr. Churchill. I have been 61 years in the service of -my country, and I leave my record in the hands of my countrymen. The -Prime Minister said yesterday that Mr. Churchill had said one or two -things which he had better not have said, and that he necessarily -and naturally left unsaid some things which will have to be said. I -am content to wait. It is unfitting to make personal explanations -affecting national interests when my country is in the midst of a great -war.” - -Lord Fisher, having delivered his brief statement, immediately left the -House. - - -IV.--THE HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 21, 1917. - -Lord Fisher addressed the House of Lords. - -Immediately prayers were over he rose from a seat on one of the -cross-benches. He said:-- - -“With your Lordships’ permission, I desire to make a personal -statement. When our country is in great jeopardy, as she now is, it is -not the time to tarnish great reputations, to asperse the dead, and to -discover our supposed weaknesses to the enemy; so I shall not discuss -the Dardanelles Reports--I shall await the end of the war, when all the -truth can be made known.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING - - -Sir William Allan, M.P., with the torso of a Hercules and the voice -of a bull and the affectionate heart of Mary Magdalene, did not know -Latin, and he asked me what my motto meant: - - “Fiat justitia--ruat cœlum.” - -I had sent it to him when he was malignantly attacking me because, as -Controller of the Navy, I had introduced the water-tube boiler. Sir -William Allan was himself a boiler-maker, and he had to scrap most of -his plant because of this new type of boiler. - -I said the translation was: “Do right, and damn the odds.” - -This motto has stood me in good stead, for by attending to it I fought -a great battle in a righteous cause with Lord Salisbury, when he was -Prime Minister, and conquered. I have related this elsewhere. Years -after, Lord Salisbury, in remembrance of this, recalled me from being -Commander-in-Chief in America to be British delegate at the First -Peace Conference at The Hague in 1899, and from thence I went as -Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. - -While I was in command of the Mediterranean Fleet, from 1899 to -1902, when I became Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty, I arranged to -have lectures for the officers of the Fleet. I extract now from the -notes of my lectures some points which may be of general interest, as -illustrating the new strategy and tactics necessitated by the change -from wind to steam. - -After setting forth a few of the problems which would have to be -solved in sea-fighting under the new conditions, the lecturer went on -to elaborate the themes from such rough notes as I give here of the -principal ideas. - - All Officers without exception should be unceasingly occupied - in considering the various solutions of these problems, as who - can tell who will be in command after the first five minutes of - a close engagement, whether in an individual ship or in command - of the whole Fleet! Otherwise we may have a stampede like - that of riderless horses! The Captain or Admiral is _hors de - combat_, and the next Officer, and, perhaps, the next, and the - next don’t know what to do when moments mean victory or defeat! - - “The man who hesitates is lost!” and so it will be with the - Fleet if decision is wanting! - - “Time, Twiss, time is everything!” said Nelson (speaking to - General Twiss when he was chasing the French Fleet under - Villeneuve to the West Indies); “a quarter of an hour may mean - the difference between Victory and Defeat!” - - This was in sailing days. Now it will be quarters of a minute, - not quarters of an hour! - - It is said to have been stated by one of the most eminent of - living men, that sudden war becomes daily more probable because - public opinion is becoming greater in power, and that popular - emotion, once fairly aroused, sweeps away the barriers of calm - deliberation, and is deaf to the voice of reason. - - Besides cultivating the faculty of Quick Decision and - consequent rapid action, we must cultivate Rashness. - - Napoleon was asked the secret of victory. He replied, - “_L’audace, l’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace!_” - - There is a rashness which in Peace is Folly, but which in War - is Prudence, and there are risks that must be undertaken in War - which are Obligatory, but which in peace would be Criminal! - - As in War, so in the preparation for War, Rashness must have - its place. We must also reflect how apt we are to suppose that - the enemy will fit himself into our plans! - - The first successful blow on either side will probably - determine the final issue in sea-fighting. Sustained physical - energy will be the required great attribute at that time - for those in command as well as those who administer. - Collingwood wrote two years before Trafalgar, when blockading - Rochefort--and Nelson then off Toulon, Pellew off Ferrol, - and Cornwallis off Brest--that “_Admirals needed to be made - of iron!_” The pressure then will test the endurance of the - strongest, and the rank of Admiral confers no immunity from the - operation of the natural law of _Anno Domini_! Nelson was 39 - years old at the Battle of the Nile, and died at 47. What is - our average age of those actively responsible for the control, - mobilisation, and command of our Fleets? As age increases, - audacity leaks out and caution comes in. - - An instant offensive is obligatory. Mahan truly says:-- - - “The assumption of a simple defensive in war is ruin. War, once - declared, must be waged offensively, aggressively. The enemy - must not be fended off, but smitten down. You may then spare - him every exaction, relinquish every gain. But till down he - must be struck incessantly and remorselessly.”[1] - - All will depend on the instant start, the sudden blow! Napoleon - again, “_Frappez vite et frappez fort!_” That was the whole of - his orders. - - The question of armament is all-important! - - If we have the advantage of speed, _which is the first - desideratum in every class of fighting vessel_ (_Battleships - included_), _then, and then only_, we can choose our distance - for fighting. If we can choose our distance for fighting, then - we can choose our armament for fighting! But how in the past - has the armament been chosen? Do we arrange the armament to - meet the proposed mode of fighting? Doesn’t it sometimes look - like so many of each sort, as if you were peopling the Ark, and - wanted representatives of all calibres? - - _Whoever hits soonest and oftenest will win!_ - - “The effectiveness of a fighting weapon,” wrote Mahan, - “consists more in the method of its use and in the practised - skill of the human element that wields it than in the material - perfection of the weapon itself. The sequel of a long period of - peace is a demoralisation of ideals. Those who rise in peace - are men of formality and routine, cautious, inoffensive, safe - up to the limits of their capacity, supremely conscientious, - punctilious about everything but what is essential, yet void - altogether of initiative, impulse and originality. - - “This was the difference between Hawke and Matthews. Hawke - represented the spirit of war, the ardour, the swift - initiative, the readiness of resource, the impatience of - prescription and routine, without which no great things are - done! Matthews, the spirit of peace, the very reverse of all - this!” - - Peace brings with it the reign of old men. - - The sacred fire never burnt in Collingwood. Nelson, with the - instinct of genius, intended the Fleet to anchor, turning - the very dangers of the shoals of Trafalgar into a security. - Collingwood, simply a naval machine, and never having been his - own master all his life, and not being a genius, thought a - shoal was a thing to be avoided, and, consequently, wrecked the - ships unfitted to cope with a gale, and so to weather these - shoals! Collingwood ought to have had the moon given him for - his crest, for all his glory was reflected from Nelson, the sun - of glory! Collingwood was an old woman! - - History is a record of exploded ideas. In what sense? Fighting - conditions are all altered. The wind formerly determined the - course of action; now it is only the mind of man. One man and - the best man is wanted--not a fossil; not a careful man. Fleets - were formerly days coming into action, now only minutes. - - Two Fleets can now be fighting each other in twenty minutes - from first seeing each other’s smoke. - - Formerly sea battles were Sailors’ battles, now they are - Officers’. - - At Trafalgar, Nelson was walking up and down the Quarter-Deck - and having a yarn with his Flag Captain, Hardy, at the very - zenith of the Action! It was the common sailors only who were - then at work. How different now! _The Admiral everything!_ - - Now, the different phases of a Naval War are as capable of as - exact a demonstration as a proposition in Euclid, because steam - has annihilated wind and sea. We are now trained to a higher - standard, and the arts of strategy and tactics have accordingly - been immensely magnified. Make an initial mistake in strategy - or tactics, and then it may be said of them as of women by - Congreve: - - “Hell has no fury like a woman scorn’d.” - - The last place to defend England will be the Shores of England. - - The Frontiers of England are the Coasts of the Enemy. We ought - to be there five minutes before war breaks out. - - Naval Supremacy once destroyed is destroyed for ever. Carthage, - Spain, Holland, the great commercial nations of the past, had - the sea wrested from them, and then they fell. - - A successful Mercantile Marine leads to a successful War Navy. - - It is solely owing to our command of the sea that we have been - able to build up our magnificent Empire. - - Admiral Mahan’s most famous passage is:-- - - “The world has never seen a more impressive demonstration of - the influence of Sea Power upon its history. Those far-distant, - storm-beaten ships of Nelson, upon which the Grand Army never - looked, stood between it and the dominion of the World.” - - - “SECRECY AND SECRETIVENESS.” - - There are three types of Secrecy:-- - - I. The Ostrich. - II. The Red Box. - III. The Real Thing. - - I. The ostrich buries his head in the sand of the desert when - pursued by his enemy, and because he can’t see the enemy - concludes the enemy can’t see him! Such is the secrecy of - the secretive and detestable habit which hides from our own - officers what is known to the world in other Navies. - - II. The secrecy of the Red Box is that of a distinguished - Admiral who, with great pomp, used to have his red despatch box - carried before him (like the umbrella of an African King), as - containing the most secret plans; but one day, the box being - unfortunately capsized and burst open, the only contents that - fell out were copies of “La Vie Parisienne”! - - Such, it is feared, was the secrecy of those wonderful detailed - plans for war we hear of in the past as having been secreted in - secret drawers, to be brought out “when the time comes,” and - when no one has any time to study them, supposing, that is, - they ever existed; and, remember, it is detailed attention to - minutiæ and the consideration of trifles which spells success. - - III. There is the legitimate secrecy and secretiveness of - hiding from your dearest friend the moment and the nature - of your rush at the enemy, and which of all the variety of - _operations you have previously practised with the Fleet_ you - will bring into play! But all your Captains will instantly know - your mind and intentions, for you will hoist the signal or - spark the wireless message, Plan A, or Plan B ..., or Plan Z! - - “After I have made known my intentions,” began Nelson’s - last order; and it expressed the experience of a hundred - battles--that the Second in Command (and in these days it may - well be amplified into the individual officers in command) are - to fulfil the spirit of the peace manœuvre teaching, and assist - by the teaching in carrying out the meaning of brief signals - to the destruction of the enemy’s Fleet. The secret of success - lies in the first part of the sentence: “_After I have made - known my intentions._” - - Confidence is a plant of slow growth. Long and constant - association of ships of a Fleet is essential to success. A - new-comer is often more dangerous than the enemy. - - An Army may be improvised in case of war, but not a Navy. - - Immense importance of constant readiness at all times. A Fleet - always ready to go to sea at an hour’s notice is a splendid - national life preserver! Here comes in the water-tube boiler! - Without previous notice or even an inkling, we have been ready - to start in one hour with water-tube boiler ships. You can’t - exaggerate this! One bucket of water ready on the spot in the - shape of an instantly ready Fleet will stop the conflagration - of war which all the Fire Brigades of the world won’t stop - a little later on! Never forget that from the very nature - of sea fighting an initial Naval disaster is irretrievable, - irreparable, eternal. Naval Colensos have no Paardebergs! - - _Suddenness_ is the secret of success at sea, because - suddenness is practicable, and remember that rashness may be - the height of prudence. How very rash Nelson was at the Nile to - go in after dark to fight the French Fleet with no chart of the - shoals of Aboukir! - - But you must be sure of your Fleet and they must be sure of - you! Every detail previously thought out. Trust no one! (My - friend, Maurice Bourke, used to tell a story of the Yankee - barber, who put up in his shop: “To trust is to bust, and to - bust is hell!” which means “no credit given”). Make the very - best of things as they are. Criminal to wait for something - better. “We strain at the gnat of perfection and swallow the - camel of unreadiness.” - - - “THE GREAT SILENT NAVY.” - - The usual motto is “Silence” or “Deeds, not words,” which - you will see ornamenting some conspicuous place in a - ship.[2] It has been said by landsmen that the most striking - feature to them in a British man-of-war when at sea is the - noiseless, ceaseless, sleepless, yet unobtrusive, energy that - characterises everyone and everything on board! If so, we - sailors don’t notice it, and it is the result of nature! Gales - of wind, sudden fogs, immense speeds, the much multiplied - dangers of collision and wreck from these terrific speeds, as - in Destroyers and even in large ships, all these circumstances - automatically react on all on board and are nature’s education - by environment. There is no place for the unthinking or the - lethargic. He is a positive danger! Every individual in a - man-of-war has his work cut out! “Think and act for yourself” - is to be the motto of the future, not “Let us wait for orders!” - - Such may be said of sea fights! No mountains delay us, and, - as Scripture says, the way of a ship is trackless! The enemy - will suddenly confront us as an Apparition! At every moment - we must be ready! Can this be acquired by grown men? No! it - is the force of habit. You must commence early. Our Nelsons - and Benbows began the sea life when they first put their - breeches on! The brother of the Black Prince (John of Gaunt) - joined the Navy and was in a sea fight when he was 10 years of - age! Far exceeding anything known in history does our future - Trafalgar depend on promptitude and rapid decision, and on - every eventuality having been foreseen by those in command. But - these attributes cannot be acquired late in life, nor by those - who have lived the life of cabbages! So begin early and work - continuously. Then if there is war your opportunity must come! - Like Kitchener, you will then walk over the cabbages! - -[Illustration: A GROUP AT LANGHAM HOUSE. PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AND SENT TO -SIR JOHN FISHER BY THE EMPRESS MARIE OF RUSSIA. - - 1. Mrs. Neeld. - 2. Miss Diana Neeld. - 3. The Princess Victoria. - 4. Lady Fisher. - 5. Queen Alexandra. - 6. Miss Kitty Fullerton. - 7. Sir John Fisher. -] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -JONAH’S GOURD - - “Came up in a night - And perished in a night.” - - JONAH, chap. iv, verse 10. - - -The above words came into my mind late last night when tired out with -destroying masses of papers and letters (mostly malignant abuse or the -emanations of senile dotage), I sat back in my chair and soliloquised -over what had happened to all these pestilent attackers of mine; and -I said to myself in those immortal words in Jonah, “_Doest thou well -to be angry?_” and for a few brief moments I really quite felt like -Stephen praying for his enemies when they stoned him! What has become -of all these stone-throwers and backbiters, I asked myself! Like -Jonah’s Gourd--“A worm has smote them all”--and they have withered into -obscurity. But yet it’s interesting, as this is a Book of Records, -to tear out one sheet or so and reproduce here some replies to the -nefarious nonsense one had to deal with at that time of democratising -the Navy. I reprint verbatim a few pages I wrote in October, 1906. -These particular words that follow here were directed against those -who assailed my principles of (1) The fighting efficiency of the Fleet, -(2) Its instant readiness for war. - - -ADMIRALTY POLICY: REPLIES TO CRITICISMS. - - [In the autumn of 1906 there was considerable criticism of - the Government’s naval policy, particularly in the daily and - weekly Press. Just before the dissolution of Mr. Balfour’s - administration, Lord Cawdor, then First Lord, had issued a - memorandum on “Admiralty Work and Progress,” dated November - 30th, 1905, in which it was stated that “At the present time - strategic requirements necessitate an output of four large - armoured ships annually.” In July, 1906, however, it was - announced in Parliament that only three battleships would - be included in the current programme, the reason for the - abandonment of the fourth ship being that there was a temporary - cessation of warship building on the Continent caused by the - advent of the “Dreadnought” and the “Invincibles.” Coming in - the first year of office of the new Liberal administration, - however, the reduction in the British programme aroused genuine - disquiet among certain people, and by others was utilised - for a political attack on the Government, who were alleged - to be jeopardising the security of the country. In addition, - there was another body of opinion strongly adverse to certain - features in the design of the new “Dreadnoughts.” The following - notes were prepared by Lord Fisher at the time for use by - Lord Tweedmouth and Mr. Edmund Robertson (afterwards Lord - Lochee), who were then First Lord and Parliamentary Secretary - respectively.] - -The most brilliant preacher of our generation has said what a stimulus -it is to have always some friends to save us from that “Woe unto you -when all men shall speak well of you”! When criticism goes, life is -done! You must squeeze the fragrant leaf to get the delicious scent! -Hence, it may be truly said that the Board of Admiralty should just -now heartily shake hands with themselves, because Korah, Dathan, and -Abiram (in the shape of three Retrograde Don Quixotes) are trying to -raise a rebellion, but the earth will now open and swallow them all up -quick as in the days of Moses. They and all their company, with their -small battleships and their slow speeds, and their invasion fright -and foreign shipbuilding houses of cards are each and all capable of -absolute pulverisation! Why people don’t laugh at it all is the wonder! -Here, for instance, is a military correspondent lecturing the Board of -Admiralty on types of ships; and Admirals, whose names were bywords of -inefficiency and ineptitude when they were afloat, and who never--one -single one of them--left anything better than they found it, are being -seriously quoted by serious magazines and serious newspapers as “a most -distinguished Admiral,” etc., etc. “These prophets prophesy falsely and -the people love to have it so,” as Jeremiah says! This is because of -the inherent pessimistic British instinct! - -Perhaps the most laughable and silly emanation of these Rip Van Winkles -is the outcry against large ships and high speeds, and an Admiral has -gone so far as to resort to mathematics and trigonometrical absurdities -to prove that slow speed and 6-inch guns are of primary importance -in a sea fight!!! Archbishop Whately dealt with a similar critic -by a celebrated _jeu d’esprit_ entitled “Historic Doubts relative -to Napoleon Buonaparte.” The Archbishop by a process of fallacious -reasoning demonstrated with all the exactitude of a mathematical -problem the impossibility of the existence of such a person as -Buonaparte! But as someone has well said, if these strange oddities can -convert our enemies (the Germans) to the priceless advantage of slow -ships and small guns they are patriots in disguise, and Providence is -employing them (as it employs worms and other such things) in assisting -to work out the unfailing and invincible supremacy of the British Navy. - -But to say no more--the plain man sees that it is of vital importance -that we should obtain the highest possible speed in order that, in face -of emergencies on the south or east or west of the British Isles, we -may be able to concentrate adequate Naval Force with as little delay -as possible, and that had the British Admiralty held the opinions -expressed by “the Blackwood Balaam” our battleships would still be -steaming at about 10 knots an hour, because he must remember that the -progress which has been made from 10 knots to 22 knots (as attained in -“Dreadnought” at deep, or war load draught) has been gradual, and at -any period during this progression it was quite open to other Balaams -to retard the action of the Admiralty by pointing out that the slight -gain in speed which has been chronicled year by year in battleships was -really not worth the price which was being paid for it! But, Blessed -be God! In this and all other criticisms of Admiralty Policy the -public pulse is totally unaffected, and the reputation of the Admiralty -unlowered. - -For 12 months past not a single battleship has been laid down in -Europe, and this simply and solely owing to the dramatic appearance -of the “Dreadnought,” which upset all the calculations in Foreign -Admiralties and deserved the calculated letter written by Lord Selborne -to the Committee on Designs. The Admiralty has done more than all the -Peace party with all their dinners to arrest the contest for Sea Power! - -In the criticisms we are dealing with, “Party” as usual has come before -“Patriotism,” but the Sea Lords can, each one of them, confidently say, -with the poet’s version of a patriot’s motto, - - “Sworn to no party, of no sect am I, - I can’t be silent and I will not lie,” - -and so the Sea Lords have no desire to avoid any odium the Tory -papers[3] may be pleased to bring upon them. There is undoubted -authority for stating that a skilfully organised “Fleet Street” -conspiracy aided by Naval Malcontents is endeavouring to excite the -British public against the Board of Admiralty, but it has fallen flat. - -There is, however, a very serious danger in the propagation of the -view so ably combated by Sir C. Dilke in his speech at Coleford, Forest -of Dean, on September 27th last, that this country requires a military -force of 640,000 men! - -His comparison of Navy and Army expenditure is illuminating but has -been totally ignored by the Press and the country. The “Fiery Cross” -has been sent round to resuscitate the “Invasion Bogey.” - -There has been for many years past a general feeling in this country -that questions of international relationship and of national defence -should be withdrawn as far as possible from the arena of party -politics. Such divergences of opinion as must exist on these topics -have no obvious connection with the divisions of our internal politics; -and it is surely legitimate to go further than this, and say that the -main problems in these departments can be dealt with in such a way as -to win the assent of every reasonable man, whatever his opinions may be -on Trade Unionism or Elementary Education. - -At any rate successive Boards of Admiralty have for something like 20 -years acted on the assumption--which has hitherto been justified--that -their policy would be accepted by the public as based on a fully -considered estimate of the requirements of national defence, and, if -criticised (as it was bound to be from time to time), criticised on -other than partisan grounds. Between the date of the Naval Defence Act -and 1904 the Navy Estimates were approximately trebled. The increase -was continuous under four successive First Lords, and under both -Liberal and Conservative Governments. In 1904 the maximum of the curve -of expenditure was reached, and the Navy Estimates began to decline, -at first rapidly, under a Conservative Government, then more slowly, -and in part subject to certain provisos, under the present Liberal -Government. And this, it appears, is the moment chosen for the first -considerable outbreak of political rancour in naval affairs since the -modern Navy came into existence! - -It is, however, of such supreme importance to the Navy that the -Admiralty Board should not be suspected of being governed in its -decisions on matters of national defence by partisan considerations -that it may be well to set out again, and very explicitly, what are the -reasons which have led the Board to adopt the policy now impugned. - -Here we have to go back to first principles. It has become too much -the fashion to employ the phrase “a two-Power standard” as a mere -shibboleth. The principle this phrase embodies has been of the utmost -value in the past, and is likely to be so in the future; but if used -unintelligently at the present moment it merely gives the enemy cause -to blaspheme. Great Britain must, it is agreed, maintain at all costs -the command of the sea. Therefore we must be decisively stronger than -any possible enemy. Who then is the possible enemy? Ten years ago, -or even less, we should probably have answered, France and Russia in -alliance. As they were then respectively the second and third naval -Powers, the two-Power standard had an actuality which it has since -lost. The United States and Germany are competing for the second place -which France has already almost yielded. Russia’s fleet has practically -disappeared. Japan’s has sprung to the front rank. Of the four Powers -which are primarily in question, Japan is our ally, France is our -close friend, America is a kindred State with whom we may indeed have -evanescent quarrels, but with whom, it is scarcely too much to say, we -shall never have a parricidal war. The other considerable naval Powers -are Italy and Austria, of whom we are the secular friends, and whose -treaty obligations are in the highest degree unlikely to force them -into a rupture with us which could in no possible way serve their own -interests. - -There remains Germany. Undoubtedly she is a possible enemy.[4] While -there is no specific cause of dispute there is a general commercial -and--on the German side--political rivalry which has unfortunately -but indisputably caused bad blood between the two countries. For the -moment, it would be safe to build against Germany only. But we cannot -build for the moment: the Board of Admiralty are the trustees of -future generations of their countrymen, who may not enjoy the same -comparatively serene sky as ourselves. The ships we lay down this -year may have their influence on the international situation twenty -years hence, when Germany--or whoever our most likely antagonist may -then be--may have the opportunity of the co-operation (even if only -temporary) of another great naval Power. Hence a two-Power standard, -rationally interpreted, is by no means out of date. But it is not -a rational interpretation to say that we must instantly lay down as -many ships as any other two Powers are at this moment laying down. We -must take long views; we must be sure what other Powers are doing; we -must take the average of their efforts, and average our own efforts in -response. - -Now this matter of averaging the shipbuilding, of equalising the -programme over a number of years, deserves further consideration. Some -Powers, notably Germany, attempt to achieve this end by creating long -statutory programmes. The British Admiralty has abandoned the idea -since the Naval Defence Act. For us, in fact, it would be a thoroughly -vicious system. For a Power which is trying to “set the pace,” and -which is glad to avoid annual discussion of the financial aspect of -the question, it, no doubt, has its advantages. But Great Britain does -not build to a naval strength that can be determined _a priori_; she -builds simply and solely to maintain the command of the sea against -other Powers. For this end the Admiralty must have its hands free to -determine from year to year what the shipbuilding requirements are. -But, again, this does not mean that our efforts must be spasmodic, that -because foreign Powers lay down six ships one year and none the next, -therefore we must do the same. For administrative reasons, which should -be obvious, and which in any case this is not the place to dilate upon, -it is very necessary that shipbuilding should approximate year by year, -so far as practicable, to some normal figure, and that increases or -decreases, when they become necessary, should be made gradually. This -double principle, of determining the programme from year to year, and -yet averaging the number of ships built over a number of years, has to -be firmly grasped by anyone who desires to understand the Admiralty -shipbuilding policy. - -With this preamble we are in a position to discuss the actual -situation. And first we have to consider what is the existing relative -strength of Great Britain and the other naval Powers. About this -there is really no difference of opinion--British naval supremacy was -never better assured than at the present moment. Even admitting the -combination of two of the three next naval Powers (France, Germany, -and the United States) to be conceivable, it is certain that any two -of them would hesitate to attack us, and it is more than probable -that if they did they would be defeated, even without the assistance -of our Japanese allies. The alleged alarm as to our naval strength -is therefore admittedly in regard to the future, not in regard to -the present. And here (to digress for a moment) we may remark that -agitations have occurred in earlier years when it was supposed that -some foreign Power or combination of Powers was actually in a position -to sweep us off the Channel, but never before have we been invited to -panic by prophecy. Is there not something slightly absurd in alarm--not -calculation, for that is justifiable enough, but alarm--about our -position in 1920? At any rate, it is clear that it is the future which -we are called on to consider. - -In this connection two facts have to be remembered: first, that we -start in a position of security, and need therefore be in no undue -haste to build more ships; _secondly, that we are on the threshold of -a new era in naval construction_, and can therefore not rest content -with the advantage which we secured in an era which is passing away. -The problem need not be complicated by a somewhat futile attempt to -bring the existing and the new ships of our own and foreign navies to a -common denominator; we must build new ships to meet new ships, always, -however, remembering that until the new ships are in commission we have -got plenty of the old ones to fight with. - -But here it is really impossible to avoid commenting on the gross -insincerity of some recent attacks on the Admiralty. It was no doubt -only to be expected that the four ships of the Cawdor memorandum, -which were explicitly stated to be a maximum, should always be quoted -as a minimum by anyone who wishes to belabour the present Board. -But there is a further point which the convenient shortness of the -journalistic memory has suffered to be overlooked. When the Cawdor -memorandum was issued, it was generally (though wrongly) assumed that -only two of the four ships would be battleships, and two “armoured -cruisers.” _And at that time the public had certainly no idea what the_ -“_Invincible_” Fast Battle Cruiser type was like, with its 6 knots -superiority of speed to everything afloat, and the biggest guns alive. -The “Invincibles” are, as a matter of fact, perfectly fit to be in line -of battle with the battle fleet, and _could more correctly be described -as battleships which, thanks to their speed, can drive anything afloat -off the seas_. But this was not known, and the calculations generally -made in the Press added only two units per annum to our battle fleet. -Yet there was no outcry; that was reserved to a later date, when it was -beginning to be understood that the “Invincibles” could be reckoned -side by side with the “Dreadnought,” and it had been announced that -three new “Dreadnoughts,” instead of two, were to be laid down this -winter. Surely the ways of the party journalist are past finding out. - -In this connection it may be well also to make some observations -on the diminution by the authority of the Board of programmes of -shipbuilding already approved by Parliament. The allegation that -there is anything unconstitutional in the procedure may be left to -the constitutional lawyer to pulverise. Probably all that is usually -meant by the statement is that it is desirable to let Parliament know -of the change in the programme as soon as convenient after it has been -decided, and to this there would usually be no possible objection. -But the idea that, because Parliament has voted a certain sum of -money for the current year’s programme, and certain commitments for -future years (a much more important matter), therefore the Board is -bound to build ships it really does not want, is not only pernicious, -but also ridiculous in the extreme. The only legitimate ground for -complaint, if any, would be that the Board had misled Parliament in -the first instance by overestimating the requirements. The Board are -faced each summer with the necessity of saying what they expect -to have to lay down 18 months later. This, of course, is prophecy. -Generally it is found to be pretty accurate, but the advent of the -new era in shipbuilding (which is principally due to the lessons of -the only big naval war of modern times) has made prophecy more than -usually difficult. Moreover, if the matter is at all in doubt, the -prophet has special inducements to select the higher rather than the -lower figure. Increase of a programme during a given year will involve -a supplementary estimate with all its accompanying inconveniences. -If on the other hand it is found that the original programme was -unnecessarily extensive, it is a comparatively simple matter to cut it -down. It is best of course to have the right number of new ships in the -Navy Estimates; but it is next best to have a number in excess of that -ultimately required, which can be pruned as requisite. - -Let us repeat: sufficient unto the year is the shipbuilding thereof. -Panic at the present time is stupid. The Board of Admiralty is not to -be frightened by paper programmes. They will cautiously do all that -they judge necessary to secure the existing naval supremacy of this -country: the moment that is threatened they will throw caution to the -winds and outbuild our rivals at all costs. - - -H.M. SHIPS “DREADNOUGHT” AND “INVINCIBLE.” - -The accompanying papers[5] contain arguments in support of the -“Dreadnought” and “Invincible.” - -The features of these novel designs, which have been most adversely -criticised, are:-- - - 1. The uniform Big Gun armament. - 2. The great increase in speed. - -It is admitted that strategically speed is of very great importance. -It enables the fleet or fleets possessing it to concentrate at any -desired spot as quickly as possible, and it must therefore exercise an -important influence on the course of a naval war, rapid concentration -being one of the chief factors of success. - -Many adverse critics of high speed maintain that it is the weapon -of the weaker Fleet, the only advantage conferred being the ability -to refuse an action by running away: two cases may be cited from -the actions of the late war in the East showing the fallacy of this -argument and that the Japanese successes were solely due to a command -of speed. - -In the battle of the 10th August, 1904, after the preliminary -manœuvres, the Russian Admiral turned to the eastward at 2.30 p.m. to -escape to Vladivostok. The Japanese Fleet was then on the starboard -quarter of the Russian and practically out of range. Captain Pakenham, -the British Naval Attaché, who was on board Admiral Togo’s flagship, in -his report, states that the “‘Tzæsarevitch’ (leading the Russian line) -was almost out of sight.” A slightly superior speed in the Russian line -would have ensured their escape, but the excess of speed lay with the -Japanese and they slowly drew up into range and reopened the action; -but it was late in the evening before they drew far enough ahead to -concentrate a heavy fire on the leader of the Russian line and so -break up their formation. When this was accomplished it was nearly -dark and the Russians, though thrown into confusion and beaten, were -not destroyed, for the approaching darkness and the destroyer threat -necessitated the Japanese Battle Fleet hauling off, yet the retreat to -Vladivostok was prevented. - -A higher speed in the Japanese line would have wrought confusion to the -Russians earlier in the day, and probably have allowed a sufficient -period of daylight for their total destruction. - -Again. At the opening of the Battle of the Sea of Japan in May, the -Japanese Fleet, due to skilful handling, held a commanding position, -giving a concentration of fire on the heads of the Russian lines. Had -they not possessed superior speed, the Japanese would rapidly have lost -this advantage, as the Russians turned away to starboard and compelled -the Japanese to move along a circle of larger radius; their greater -speed enabled the Japanese to maintain their advantage and so continue -the concentration of fire on the Russian van until so much damage had -been inflicted that the Russians lost all order and were crushed. - -These, therefore, are two of the most convincing instances that -could now be given, where speed was of overwhelming tactical value -to the victorious side, and such evidence is unanswerable and is a -justification of the speeds adopted in the designs of the new ships. - - -DEFECTS AND REPAIRS - - [Lord Fisher found fruitful scope for his reforming energy in - the Royal dockyards, and was very keen on making them efficient - in working as well as economical in administration. The former - tendency had been for ships to accumulate defects until they - went into dock, when their stay was accordingly prolonged, - and the longer they were in dockyard hands the more work was - provided for the officials and workmen, so that there was a - double incentive to spend money. In the following memorandum, - Lord Fisher insists that this drain upon the limited funds - available for the Navy must stop, and explains how the - Admiralty meant to discriminate between vessels which it was - essential to keep thoroughly efficient and others which were - not worth any, or so much, money for repairs. Elsewhere in this - volume Lord Fisher has shown how he got rid of 6,000 redundant - dockyard workmen.] - -The head has got to wag the tail. The tail sometimes now wags the head. -It is for the Admiralty, and the Admiralty alone, to decide _whether_, -_how_, or _when_ the defects and repairs of the Fleet are to be taken -in hand. - -[Illustration: SIR JOHN FISHER GOING ON BOARD THE ROYAL YACHT.] - -_The sole governing condition is what the Admiralty require for -fighting purposes!_ It is desirable to put an extreme case to -accentuate this:-- - -In the secrets of Admiralty Fighting Policy undesirable to make known -to our enemies there are certain vessels never going to be used for -actual fighting, but they serve an extremely useful purpose for -subsidiary purposes. In such vessels there are defects and repairs of -a particular character that might stand over till Doomsday! whilst -there are other vessels where only defects affecting purely seagoing -and actually direct fighting efficiency should be attended to. All -this entirely depends on our probable enemy and may vary from time -to time, and the sole judge can only be the Admiralty. But what it -is feared now obtains is a blind rushing at all defects and repairs -of all kinds and classes in all vessels. It is perfectly natural -that the Commander-in-Chief and Admirals Superintendent may wish for -the millennium of having all their vessels perfect--but this cannot -be. What does it lead to? Extreme local pressure accentuated by -Parliamentary action to enter more Dockyard workmen. What does this -mean? It means in some recent cases that practically the upkeep of -three cruisers is swallowed up in pay to Dockyard workmen! No--the -Admiralty Policy is sound, consistent and irrefutable, which is _never_ -to exceed the normal number of Dockyard workmen as now fixed by the -recent Committee, and have such a great margin of Naval strength--such -as we now possess--as admits of a leisurely and economical refit of -ships without extravagant overtime or inefficient hustling of work. -Therefore, what it comes to is this:--The Admiralty decide what vessels -they require first and what defects and repairs in those vessels are -most material, and they give orders accordingly. It is _not_ the -responsibility of the local authorities at all to say that this vessel -or that vessel must be completed at once, for, as before-mentioned, it -may be that in the Admiralty scheme of fighting those vessels are not -required at all. - -The Controller has great difficulties to contend with because he has -not the free hand of a private employer who can discharge or enter -men just as he requires. To get rid of a Dockyard workman involves -agitation in every direction--in Parliament, at the Treasury and -locally, and even Bishops throw themselves into the fray, like the -Bishop of Winchester at Portsmouth, instead of looking after his own -disorganised and mutinous Established Church. There is now a plethora -of shipwrights at Chatham, because the Treasury will not allow their -transfer to other yards, and a paucity of boilermakers because unwanted -men occupy their places, and the scandal exists of men being entered at -Devonport with men having no work at Chatham. But, of course, this is -one of the blessings of Parliamentary Government, Treasury Control, and -a Free Press! - -Where the special influence of the Commander-in-Chief is desired by -the Admiralty is to bring before them cases where defects have not -been dealt with in the initial stages by the ship’s artificers and so -allowed to increase as to necessitate Dockyard intervention. Such cases -would be drastically dealt with by the Admiralty if only they could -be informed of them, but there is an amiable desire to avoid severe -punishments, and the dire result is that the zealous and efficient are -on the same footing as the incompetent and the careless who get more -leave and time with their friends because their vessels are longer in -Dockyard hands. - -It is desired to give prominence to the following facts:--It is a -matter of everyday occurrence that vessels come home from Foreign -stations, often immense distances, as from China or Australia, and -are inspected by the Commander-in-Chief on arrival home and reported -thoroughly efficient, and praise is given by the Admiralty accordingly, -and the full-power steam trial is conducted with great care, and the -mere fact of the vessel having steamed home those thousands of miles is -itself a manifest evidence of her propelling machinery being efficient, -and yet instantly after paying off we are asked to believe that such a -vessel instantly drops down to a totally incapable condition of either -seagoing or fighting efficiency, by our being presented with a bill of -thousands upon thousands of pounds. - -The attention of the Commanders-in-Chief of the Home Ports and of -the Admirals Superintendent will be specially drawn to a new series -of instructions which will specifically detail their responsibility -in carrying out the orders of the Admiralty in regard to defects and -repairs. It is admitted that no comprehensive statement has as yet been -issued as to the order and urgency in which both Fleet and Dockyard -labour should be applied. - -This statement is now about to be issued--it is based, and can only be -based, on the knowledge of what vessels are most required for war at -that particular time, and so must emanate direct from the Admiralty, -who alone can decide on this matter. For instance, at this present -moment there are vessels, even in the first line as some might suppose, -which would not be employed until the last resort, whilst there are -others almost believed to be out of the fighting category which under -certain present conditions might be required for the first blow. -This fact came so notably into prominence some months since that it -has led to the adoption of what may be termed the “sliding scale” -of nucleus crews, with the Torpedo craft and Submarines at almost -full complement down to the vessels in “Special Reserve” with only a -“skeleton” crew capable of raising steam periodically and working only -the heavy armament. So no local knowledge could determine from day to -day which are the first vessels required. This is changing from day to -day and it is the duty of the necessarily _very few_ to determine the -daily fighting requirements. The ideal is for only _one_ to know, and -the nearer this is adhered to the more likely are we to surprise our -enemies. - - -THE USE OF THE GUNBOAT. - - [The notes and letters which follow were prepared by - Lord Fisher in the course of his advocacy that the Navy - Estimates and the Service itself should not be saddled with - establishments not directly contributing to the fighting - efficiency of the Fleet and its instant readiness for war. - Such services, he maintained, not only reduced the sum of - money available for the real work of the Navy, but constituted - elements of weakness in the event of hostilities. The first - document concerns the maintenance of small craft on foreign - stations, on which a number of “gunboats” were kept to fulfil - duties for departments other than the Admiralty. Lord Fisher - differentiates between vessels which the Board should rightly - supply, and others which had no naval value but were retained - for duties connected with the Foreign or Colonial Offices--for - which, if necessary, a proper fighting ship could be lent - temporarily and then returned to her squadron. The second - document deals with the Coastguard, which no longer served the - purpose of a reserve for the Navy, and which had come to be - mainly employed on duties connected with revenue, life-saving, - etc., although paid for out of Navy Votes and employing Navy - personnel. Thirdly, the Admiralty letter on Observatories shows - that heavy expense was borne upon naval funds for duties no - longer necessary to the Royal Navy.] - -In the Cawdor memorandum of last year (1905) will be found an -exposition of the Admiralty policy in this matter, and attention may -particularly be drawn to the following passage:-- - -“Gunboats, and all vessels of like class, have been gradually losing -value except for definite purposes under special conditions. As far -as this country is concerned, the very places consecrated as the -sphere of gunboat activity are those remote from the covering aid of -large ships. Strained relations may occur at the shortest notice; the -false security of the period of drifting imperceptibly into actual -hostilities is proverbial, and the nervous dread of taking any action -that might even be construed into mere precautionary measures of -defence, which experience has shown to be one of the peculiar symptoms -of such a period, is apt to deprive these small vessels of their last -remaining chance of security by not allowing them to fall back towards -material support. The broadcast use of gunboats in peace time is a -marked strategic weakness, and larger vessels can generally do the work -equally well, in fact far better, for they really possess the strength -necessary to uphold the prestige of the flag they fly, whereas the -gunboat is merely an abstract symbol of the power of the nation, not a -concrete embodiment of it. - -“It might be thought that the withdrawal of the small non-effective -vessels and the grouping of fleets and squadrons at the strategic -positions for war involved the loss of British prestige, and of the -‘Showing the Flag’ (as it was termed). But the actual fact is that -never before in naval history has there been a more universal display -of sea power than during this year by this country. The Channel Fleet -in the North Sea and Baltic receiving the courtesies of Holland, -Denmark, and Germany; the Atlantic Fleet at Brest; the Mediterranean -Fleet at Algiers; the Fourth Cruiser Squadron, consisting of five -powerful fighting vessels, now in the West Atlantic; a powerful -squadron of six of the finest armoured cruisers in the world visiting -Lisbon, Canada, Newfoundland, and United States; a squadron of -cruisers, under a Commodore, proceeding from Labrador to Cape Horn and -back by the coast of Africa, and two cruisers visiting the Pacific -Coast and the adjacent islands; the movements of the Cape Squadron and -of the Eastern Fleet in China, Australia, and the Indian Ocean: so -imposing and ubiquitous a display of the flag and of naval power has -never before been attained by our own Navy.” - -The statement goes on to explain the special circumstances--use -in shallow inland waters, etc., etc., which alone are held by the -Admiralty to justify the use of gunboats. - -This policy is from time to time impugned by people who have no need -to count the cost of the alternative policy. Doubtless it would be -convenient, as a temporary emergency arises here or there over the -surface of the globe, if at that very spot some British cruiser or -gunboat promptly appeared ready to protect British interests, or to -sink in the attempt. Indeed, for some time this was the ideal at -which the Admiralty aimed. But since the redistribution of the Fleet -the Empire has had to do without the ubiquitous gunboat, and, if the -truth be told, scarcely seems to have missed it. There are one or two -valuable cases in point. For a long time the Foreign Office, or rather -the Ambassador at Constantinople, pressed for the restoration of the -second stationnaire. The Admiralty sternly refused. The only noticeable -result of this dangerous policy so far has been that the French have -followed our example and withdrawn their second vessel. - -An even more remarkable case occurred in Uruguay. A poaching Canadian -sealer had been captured by the Uruguayan authorities, and language -was used as if the disruption of the Empire would follow a refusal on -the part of the Admiralty to liberate her crew by force. For a time -the Admiralty was practically in revolt against H.M. Government, and -then--everything blew over. The dispute was settled by diplomatic -action and the local courts of law. - -The question of the small vessel for police duties will long be with -us. Vice-Consuls and Resident Commissioners will, no doubt, continue -to act on the great principle: When in doubt wire for a gunboat. -The Foreign and Colonial Offices, to whom the dispatch of a gunboat -means no more than persuading a gentleman in Whitehall to send a -telegram saying she is to go, will probably never quite realise why the -gentleman should be so perverse as to refuse. But the matter is really -now a “chose jugée”; the Admiralty battle has been fought and won, -and it only remains for the Admiralty to adhere to its principles and -decline to give way simply for the sake of a quiet life. - - -COAST GUARD - - _June, 1906._ - -The Coast Guard Service was transferred from the control of the -Commissioners of Customs to that of the Admiralty by the Coast Guard -Service Act, 1856, in order to make better provision for-- - - (i) The defence of the coasts of the realm; - - (ii) The more ready manning of His Majesty’s Navy in case of - war or sudden emergency; - - (iii) The protection of the Revenue; - -and there is little doubt that at that time the Coast Guard force was -required for these three purposes. - -Since that date, however, these requirements have been greatly -modified by the great developments that have taken place in steam, in -electricity, and generally in the conduct of Naval warfare, and also as -regards the inducements and facilities for smuggling. - -It is now considered that about 170 War Signal and Wireless Telegraphy -Stations in the United Kingdom are sufficient to give warning of the -approach of an enemy’s ships, and that, as far as the use of the Coast -Guard for Coast Defence is concerned, the remaining 530 Stations and -their personnel are quite unnecessary. - -_As an Active Service force the Coast Guard is far from fulfilling -modern fighting requirements, which are so exacting that a man’s -efficiency depends upon his being_ continuously _associated with highly -technical duties on board ship, and employment in the Coast Guard_ -(_even with the arranged periodical training in the Fleet_) _is found -to be inconsistent with these requirements._ - -Again, as a Reserve, though it fulfils the requirements of such a -force, yet its cost (largely due to the heavy expense of housing the -men and their families) is out of all proportion to that at which the -efficient Royal Fleet Reserve can now be maintained. - -The Coast Guard being treated as an Active Service force in the -Estimates, the numbers are included in the number of men voted for the -Fleet, and help to make up the total of 129,000; but as the 4,000 Coast -Guard men are appropriated for duties away from the chief Naval ports, -they are not available for the ordinary work of the Fleet, and the -peace resources are correspondingly reduced, while the extra charges -for the Coast Guard tend largely to increase the expense of maintaining -the Active Service force. - -If, on the other hand, the Coast Guard be treated as a Reserve only, -the expense is still more disproportionate, as, in comparison with -the small retainers, charges for a week’s annual drill and small -prospective pension, which make up the whole expense entailed in -the maintenance of the Royal Fleet Reserve, there are the Full Pay, -Victualling, Housing, and numerous miscellaneous allowances and charges -of a permanent force maintained in small units under the most expensive -conditions. - -Therefore, the maintenance of the Coast Guard by the Admiralty not -only entails a reduction of the number of highly-trained active -service ratings in the Fleet at sea, but also an unnecessarily large -expenditure on a Reserve. - -As regards the use of the Coast Guard for the protection of the -Revenue, the arrangements made when the Coast Guard was transferred -to the control of the Admiralty might now be considerably modified. -A large proportion of the coast of the United Kingdom is still -patrolled nightly by the Coast Guard as a precaution against smuggling, -but looking to the increase in population and the number of towns -and villages round the coasts, the development of telegraphic -communication, and the great reduction in the inducements to smuggling, -this service seems to be no longer required; and some other adequate -arrangement for the protection of the Revenue might be made by a small -addition to the present Customs Force, assisted by the local Police, in -addition to the watch still kept at those Coast Guard Stations which -would be maintained as Naval Signal Stations. - -Even in the cases in which the existing Coast Guard may be considered -to afford valuable protection to the Revenue, it must be remembered -that in case of War or for Great Manœuvres, the men would be withdrawn -to the Fleet from all stations except the Naval War Signal Stations. - -In any case the employment of highly-trained seamen to perform simple -police duties on shore cannot be justified, and the expense is much -greater than it would be were a civilian force to be employed. - -Certain other duties, principally in connection with life-saving and -wrecks, under the Board of Trade, have also been undertaken by the -Coast Guard; but these, however valuable, do not constitute a _raison -d’être_ for the Coast Guard, and it is quite feasible to make adequate -local arrangements for carrying out these services, should the Coast -Guard be removed. No more striking illustration of the feasibility of -this can be given than the National Lifeboat Organisation, and to that -body, aided perhaps by a Government grant, these services could, no -doubt, be easily, economically, and efficiently transferred. - -Owing to the growing naval armaments of other Nations, and the -consequent necessary increase in the Navy, the Admiralty has found it -necessary carefully to consider the whole question of the expenditure -under the Naval Votes in order to eliminate therefrom any services -which are unnecessary from the point of view of immediate readiness and -efficiency for war. About £1,000,000 of the Naval Votes is diverted -to services which only indirectly concern the Navy, and are not -material to the fighting efficiency of the Service. Of this about half -(£500,000) is annually absorbed by the Coast Guard. - -From a Naval point of view the greater part of this heavy annual -expenditure is wholly unnecessary, and it is also very doubtful, from -what has been before pointed out, whether for Revenue purposes a -force such as the Coast Guard is now required; while if it be still -required in certain localities, it would be more economical to replace -the present expensive Naval detachments by a Civilian service. By -such a transfer the whole of the present expense of training men as a -fighting force would be saved and there would be no deterioration in an -important part of the Naval active personnel such as is now inevitable. - -There can be no comparison between the cost of a Revenue force and -that of a Naval force, the cost of Naval training, which is very -considerable, being dispensed with in the former case. Therefore, -there is no doubt that, from the point of efficiency and economy, the -substitution of civilians for Naval ratings would be a great saving to -the State. - - -OBSERVATORIES. - - _21st August, 1906._ - -In the past Greenwich Observatory has been of great importance to the -Navy, inasmuch as all the data necessary for the navigation of ships -by astronomical observation have been compiled there. The testing of -chronometers has been carried out at Greenwich since their invention in -1762, while the Cape Observatory was instituted in 1820 in order to -supply data concerning Southern stars not visible from Greenwich. - -In recent years, however, the familiarity with Ocean routes that has -been attained; the greatly extended area of coast surveys, and the -admirable system of lights and beacons established throughout the -navigational zones of the world, have in the course of years caused the -work of the Observatories to become of less importance to practical -navigation, and more a matter of scientific research. The photographic -mapping of the heavens, by which stars invisible to the naked eye are -discovered, is not a necessity to navigation, nor to the Naval Service. - -At the present time, therefore, it may be said that the only work -done by the Observatories which is directly useful to the Navy, is -the testing and storing of chronometers; observing the astronomical -changes connected with the heavenly bodies for the purpose of obtaining -data for the correction of the Nautical Almanack; supplying accurate -time for time signals and meridian distance work, and taking magnetic -observations. - -This sphere of usefulness is not of advantage to the Navy alone. -The Mercantile Marine derives equal benefit from the work of the -Observatories. Greenwich time is indispensable to Railway Companies to -enable them to work their complicated systems with accuracy, and it is -equally indispensable to the Postal Authorities for the proper working -of every post and telegraph office in the Kingdom. Although the staff -of the Observatories is very largely occupied upon services of this -public character, neither the Board of Trade, nor Lloyd’s, nor the -various Mercantile Shipping Associations, nor the Railway Companies, -nor the General Post Office, have made any contribution towards their -cost, while, on the other hand, in one case, that of the Post Office, -the Admiralty is charged with a heavy annual payment for postal and -telegraphic communications. The London Water Companies are greatly -assisted by the Greenwich rainfall observations, but they pay nothing -for them, neither do they supply the Admiralty with water gratuitously. - -It is fitting that the British Empire should possess a National -Observatory, but it is not equitable that Naval funds should bear the -whole expense. - -When criticism is directed against the magnitude of the Navy Estimates, -it rarely happens that the critic takes the trouble to ascertain of -what Items the Votes are made up; on the other hand, money voted for -the Royal Observatories is passed by the House without much question, -because it happens to form part of Estimates which are of such great -magnitude. - -The present procedure tends therefore to obscure the actual sum total -of the Navy Estimates, and at the same time it prevents the application -to the Royal Observatories of the same Parliamentary criticism which is -applied to the Civil Service Estimates. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -NAVAL PROBLEMS - - [The three privately printed volumes entitled “Naval - Necessities,” 1904, 1905, and 1906, contain papers written - or collected by Sir John Fisher, as Commander-in-Chief at - Portsmouth and as First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, bearing upon - the Naval Reforms which he then introduced or contemplated. The - following selections from these papers tell their own story.] - - -_Sir John Fisher to Lord Selborne, First Lord of the Admiralty._ - - DEAR LORD SELBORNE, ... - - You remember you glanced through some manuscript in my office - at Portsmouth the day you embarked in “Enchantress,” and I - gathered that you saw much in them that commended itself to - you. Well! having thus more or less got a favourable opinion - from you, I elaborated that manuscript which you had read, and - printed it with my confidential printer; ... then I gave it - secretly to the five best brains in the Navy below the rank of - Admiral to thresh out; and associated two other brains for the - consideration of the types of future fighting vessels; then - I selected out of those seven brains the one with the most - facile pen and ... said to him: “Write a calm and dispassionate - précis for me to give the First Lord.” You may be confident (as - confident as I know you are) that the First Sea Lord won’t ever - sell you! that these seven brains may be absolutely relied - upon for secrecy. I have tested each of them for many years! - - These are the seven brains: Jackson, F.R.S., Jellicoe, C.B., - Bacon, D.S.O., Madden, M.V.O., Wilfred Henderson (who has all - the signs of the Zodiac after his name!), associated with Gard, - M.V.O., Chief Constructor of Portsmouth Dockyard, and who - splendidly kept the Mediterranean Fleet efficient for three - years, and Gracie, the best Marine Engineer in the world! - - This is the “modus operandi” I suggest to you. If these - proposals in their rough outline commend themselves to you and - our colleagues on the Board, then let me have these seven, - assisted by Mr. Boar (who is a mole in the Accountant-General’s - Department--you know of him only by upheavals of facts and - figures!), and secretly these eight will get out a detailed - statement supported by facts and figures for consideration - before we take a step further!... - - Please now just a few words of explanation at the possibly - apparent (but in no ways real) slight put on those at the - Admiralty who might be thought the right persons to conduct - these detailed inquiries instead of the eight brains I’ve - mentioned! - - In the first place, any such heavy extraneous work (such as is - here involved) means an utter dislocation of the current work - of the Admiralty if carried out by the regular Admiralty staff! - and as any such _extraneous_ work must of necessity give place - to any very pressing _current_ work, then the extraneous work - doesn’t get done properly--so both suffer!--But further! these - seven other spirits (not more wicked than any of those at the - Admiralty!) will be absolutely untrammelled by any remarks of - their own in the official records in the Admiralty, and will - not be cognisant (and so not influenced!) by the past written - official minutes of the High and Mighty Ones, and so we shall - get the directness and unfettered candour that we desire! - (Parenthesis:--A most distinguished man at the War Office - used to think he had gained his point and blasted the Admiralty - by collecting extracts 20 years old with opposing decisions! - absolutely regardless that what is right to-day may be wrong - to-morrow! but he traded on what we all dislike--_the charge of - inconsistency!_--Why! the two most inconsistent men who ever - lived, the two greatest men who ever lived and the two most - successful men who ever lived, were Nelson and Napoleon!) - - Nelson most rightly said that no sailor could ever be such a - born ass as to attack forts with ships (_he was absolutely - right_), and then he went straight at them at Copenhagen. - Napoleon said, “_L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace!_” and - then he went and temporised at Warsaw for three solid weeks - (was it a Polish Countess?), and so got ruined at Moscow in - consequence of this delay. - - _Circumstances alter cases!_ That’s the answer to the charge - of inconsistency. So please let us have this excellent and - unparalleled small working Committee to thresh out all these - details (when the general outlines have been considered), but - this very special point will no doubt be borne in mind:--“Until - you have these details how can you say you approve of the - outline?” So what has to be said finally is that if the - facts and figures corroborate what is sketched out, then the - proposals can be considered for adoption, so the ultimate - result is this:--“Let the Committee get on at once.” - - J. A. FISHER. - 19/10/04. - -[Illustration: SIR JOHN FISHER AND SIR COLIN KEPPEL (CAPTAIN OF THE -ROYAL YACHT).] - - -MAIN PRINCIPLES OF SCHEME. - -_Future Types of Fighting Vessels._ - -Four classes only of fighting vessels. - -Uniform armament (except torpedo attack guns) in all classes of -fighting vessels. - -Inviolate watertight bulkheads. - -Subdivision of magazines. - -Protection of magazines. - -Abolish Ram. - -No guns on main deck (so splendid light and airy accommodation for -officers, and crew, with huge square ports and magnificent deck space). - -Reduction of all weights and scantlings. - - -“_Out of Date_” _Fighting Ships_. - -Removal as soon as possible of all “out of date” ships (that is, ships -unfit for fighting). - -To abolish gradually the employment of all _slow_ vessels below 1st -Class Armoured Cruisers. - -To substitute efficient fighting vessels with nucleus crews for all the -stationary obsolete vessels now in commission, and also for all the -training vessels and all the Coastguard Cruisers. - - -_Revision of Stations._ - -South Atlantic, West Indies, and Cape to form a squadron under chief -command of the Admiral of the Cape Station, who will be a Vice-Admiral -in the future with three Rear-Admirals under him.[6] - -The Commander-in-Chief in China to have the chief command and strategic -handling of the squadrons in China, Australia, East Indies, and -Pacific. He can be a full Admiral with two Vice-Admirals and two -Rear-Admirals under him. _The object is to employ Flag Officers as -much as possible at sea._ - -Effective Cruisers to be substituted for the present varying types of -vessels forming all these squadrons. - - -_Personnel._ - -Reduction in entry of Boys, and increase of entry of Non-continuous -Service Men and of “Northampton” lads. - -Introduction of new system of Reserve (long service tempered by short -service!) - - -_Nucleus Crews._ - -Two-yearly commissions to be instituted, and with no material change of -officers and men during the two years. - -All the fighting vessels in Reserve to have an efficient nucleus -crew of approximately two-fifths of the full crew, together with all -important Gunnery ratings as well as the Captain of the ship and the -principal Officers. - -The periodical exercise and inspection of the ships by the responsible -Flag Officer who will take them to the war. - -This Flag Officer will suffer for any want of efficiency and -preparation for war of these vessels. These vessels to be collected -in squadrons at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Chatham, according to the -Station to which they are going as the reinforcements. - - -_Signals._ - -Revision of our methods of Signalling to be based on the class of -Signals that will be used in war. - -To abolish all systems and all Signals that are only of use in peace -time. - -The Signal and Exercise Books of the Fleet to be ruthlessly revised and -cut down with this in view. - -The present establishment of Signalmen on board all vessels to be -reduced to the numbers that _are necessary_ in war (present system of -superabundance of Signalmen embarked in Flagships criminally wrong). - - -_Defence of Naval Ports._ - -Modern conditions necessitate certain floating defences requiring -seamen to manipulate them. Soldiers apparently can’t do it! - -Divided control of defence of Naval Ports impossible between Navy and -Army. - -Admiralty must have sole responsibility that all our Naval Arsenals are -kept open for egress and ingress of our Fleet in war. - -Local defences should, therefore, apparently be under the Naval -Commander-in-Chief. - -But all these arrangements for any such transfer of responsibility -from War Office to Admiralty must be so planned as to obviate all -possibility of Fleet men being used for shore work in war, _and there -must be no risk of lessening the sea experience of the officers and men -of the Fleet_; hence it will be imperative that there should be an -entire transference of the whole of the Garrison Artillery from Army to -Navy, as well as the responsibility for all ordnance. - -All this involves so immense an addition to the responsibilities of the -Admiralty, apart from the one chief function of the Navy of seeking out -and fighting the enemy’s fleets, that we have to hesitate; but we can’t -let matters go on as at present. - - -NOTES BY SIR JOHN FISHER ON NEW PROPOSALS. - - -_Organisation for War._ - - “_If the Trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare - himself to the battle?_” - - (St. Paul, I Corinthians, xiv. 8.) - -The object of the following remarks is to make clear what has now to be -done to organise and prepare for war. What are the two great essentials? - - _I._ _The Sufficiency of Strength and the Fighting Efficiency - of the Fleet._ - - _II._ _Absolute Instant Readiness for War._ - -To get these two essentials an immense deal is involved! It is believed -they can both be got with a great reduction in the Navy Estimates! - -This reduction, combined with an undeniable increase in the fighting -efficiency of the Navy, involves great changes and depends absolutely -on one condition:-- - - _The Scheme herein shadowed forth must be adopted as a whole!_ - -Simply because all portions of it are absolutely essential--and it is -all so interlaced that any tampering will be fatal! - -The country will acclaim it! the income-tax payer will worship it! the -Navy will growl at it! (they always do growl at first!) - - _But we shall be Thirty per cent. more fit to fight and we - shall be ready for instant war!_ - -and in time when we get rid of our redundancies in useless ships and -unnecessary men it will probably be 30 per cent. cheaper! - -The outline of the various proposals will first be given. _No one -single point must be taken as more important than another. Each is part -of a whole_; As St. Paul well observes in the xii. Chapter of the I -Corinthians:-- - - “_The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor - again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much - more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, - are necessary._” - -So is it of this scheme! All its parts are essential for the perfection -we must have if England is to remain the “Mistress of the Seas”! - -The British Nation floats on the British Navy! So we must have no doubt -whatever about its fighting supremacy and its instant readiness for -war! To ensure this and at the same time _to effect the economy which -the finances of the country render imperative_ there must be drastic -changes! To carry these out we must have the three R’s! We must be -Ruthless, Relentless, Remorseless! We must tell interested people whose -interests are going to be ignored that what the Articles of War have -said since the time of Queen Elizabeth is truer than ever! - -“_It is the Navy whereon under the good providence of God, the wealth, -peace, and safety of this country doth chiefly depend!_” - -If the Navy is not supreme, no Army however large is of the slightest -use. It’s not _invasion_ we have to fear if our Navy is beaten, - - _It’s Starvation!_ - -What’s the good of an army if it has got an empty belly? In Mr. John -Morley’s famous and splendid words at Manchester on November 8th, 1893: -“_Everybody knows, Liberals as well as Tories, that it is indispensable -that we should have not only a powerful Navy, but I may say, an -all-powerful Navy._” And when we have that--then History may repeat -itself, and Mahan’s glorious words _will be applicable in some other -great national crisis!_ the finest words and the truest words in the -English language! - -“_Nelson’s far-distant, storm-beaten ships, upon which the Grand -Army never looked, stood between it and the dominion of the -world._”--(Mahan, Vol. II, page 118.) - -And the Navy must always so stand! Supreme--unbeaten! So we must -have no tinkering! No pandering to sentiment! No regard for -susceptibilities! No pity for anyone! We must be Ruthless, Relentless, -and Remorseless! And we must therefore have The Scheme! The Whole -Scheme!! And Nothing But The Scheme!!! - -Just let us take one instance as an illustration of a mighty reform -(lots more will follow later, but the sledge hammer comes in handy -here!). During the 12 months ending June 30th, 1904 (this last month!) -the ships of the Home Fleet, the Channel Fleet, and the Cruiser -Squadron were in Portsmouth Dockyard for over 30 per cent. of the year! -Disorganised and unfit for sea! See what this means! A battleship costs -over £100,000 a year for its up-keep, irrespective of repairs, but it’s -not the money waste! _it’s the efficiency waste!_ - -_Every day those Fleets and Squadrons are not together, they are -deteriorating!_ - -It is only human nature that when in Portsmouth Dockyard, from the -Admiral downwards, all are hankering after their homes! and somehow -or other they get there! the fictions are endless and ingenious, and -extend from “the cradle to the grave!” From an unexpected confinement -to the serious illness of an aged relative! (nearly always a -grandmother! and the baby is always the first one!) - -What is the remedy? - -It’s Nelsonic--and so simple! - -Nelson could not leave Toulon with all his Fleet for nearly four months -out of the year! No! he stayed there for two years without putting -his foot on shore! What he did was to send one or two ships away at a -time to get provisions and water, and to effect any needed repairs. -Let us do the same! We want a fixed base for each Fleet (and so fixed -for war reasons). Thus, for example, the Channel Fleet at Gibraltar, -the Home Fleet at Bantry, or the Forth, and so on. But this is going -into unnecessary detail, and anticipating other parts of the scheme -which must be adopted to make this work! Thus it will be seen later on, -that to enable this great economy in money to be effected (_putting -aside increase of fighting efficiency!_), we must have two years’ -commissions! But we can’t have two years’ commissions unless we have -fewer ships in commission! But we can’t have fewer ships in commission -unless we have a redistribution of our Fleet! But we can’t have a -redistribution of our Fleet until we rearrange our strategy! and this -strategy, strange to say, depends on our reserves, and our reserves -depend on a fresh allocation of our personnel, and on a fresh system of -service. _We must have the new scheme of Long Service tempered by Short -Service!_ And this again largely hangs on the types of fighting ships -we are going to have! _But what is the type of ship?_ Not one that goes -to the bottom in two minutes from the effect of one torpedo, and drowns -nearly a thousand men, and takes three years to replace, and costs over -a million sterling! _How many types do we want!_ This is quite easy to -answer if we make up our minds _how we are going to fight_! Who has -made up his mind? _How many of our Admirals have got minds?_ - -It will be obvious then that the whole of this business is a regular -case of “the house that Jack built,” for one thing follows on another, -_they are all interlaced and interdependent_! That’s why it was said to -begin with:-- - -_The Scheme! The Whole Scheme!! And Nothing but the Scheme!!!_ - -One essential feature which has been overlooked must be mentioned -before going further _because imperatively necessary to ensure instant -readiness for war_, but it hangs on all the other points previously -mentioned and which are going to be examined in detail. - -The reduction in the number of ships in commission _which is as -necessary for fighting efficiency_ (_when the whole Navy is mobilised -for war_) _as it is conducive to an immense economy must be accompanied -by and associated with two vital requisites_: - -I. Every fighting ship in reserve must have a nucleus crew. - -II. The reinforcements for the fighting fleets and squadrons must be -collected together while in the reserve at the most convenient ports -and be placed under the Flag Officer who will take them to their war -stations, and this Flag Officer to understand he will be shot like a -dog in case of any inefficiency in these ships in war. - -Unless this is carried out the great strategic scheme in contemplation -could not be entertained nor could the number of ships in commission -be reduced as is absolutely essential for the efficiency of those in -reserve, _not on the score of economy at all, but the reduction of -ships in commission is imperative for the fighting efficiency of the -whole fleet when mobilised_. - -So we thus get one more illustration of the interdependence of all -portions of the scheme and beg again to refer to St. Paul as previously -quoted. - -It is convenient here to mention that the paucity of efficient -Admirals is a most serious matter, and will probably compel the -manufacture of Commodores or of Acting Admirals under a resuscitated -Order-in-Council. The least capable in the respective ranks of the -Navy are the Admirals. It’s not their own fault solely, they have had -no education, and this blot will continue till we have a Naval War -College established at Portsmouth, and Flag Officers and Captains, -hoping for employment, can practically prove their capacity by -manœuvring two fleets of destroyers against each other. This will be -much cheaper and less risky to the Empire than their manœuvring with -the big ships. _Experiments on the scale of 12 inches to a foot are not -economical!_ - -Mr. Childers was our Attila! He was the “scourge” of the Navy in -many ways, but most of all by his disastrous and frightfully costly -retirement schemes. _The secret of efficiency lies in large lists of -Officers!_ You have then a large field of selection, and a great flow -of promotion, and also no Officer considers it a stigma to be passed -over in company with forty others, and so not to pose as a solitary -monument of ineptitude as he appears at present to himself and his -friends when passed over with the present small lists of Flag Officers. - -Also “_Selection by non-employment_” goes so easily with large lists -(and with large lists is accepted as a necessity, and not resented as a -personal affront!). - - -PURGING THE NAVY OF OBSOLETE VESSELS. - -Out of 193 ships at present in commission (not counting destroyers) -organised in fleets, 63 _only_ are of such calibre as not to cause -an Admiral grave concern if allowed to wander from the protection of -larger ships. There are among these several ships which should be paid -off as soon as possible, being absolutely of no fighting value. And -there are, further, several ships having trained naval crews doing the -work usually performed by small merchant tramps. Further still, there -are in our Home Ports many ships taking up valuable berthing space, -requiring maintenance and repair, which never under any circumstances -whatever would be used in war time. - -The above useless vessels being in commission means awful waste of -money. - -Every ship that has defects taken in hand, and which would not be of -use in war, is a waste of money to the country. - -Of course objections will be raised, and it will be shown that the Navy -cannot be run without them, but wipe them out, and in a year no one -will remember that they ever existed. - -It is well to review generally our distant stations and the composition -of their squadrons. - -The Navy and the country have grown so accustomed to the territorial -nomenclature of our distant squadrons that their connection with the -sea is considerably obscured, and their association with certain -lands has led to a tacit belief that those particular squadrons are -for the protection of the lands they frequent, and not generally for -the destruction of the enemy’s fleet wherever it may happen to be. Of -course no such idea is accepted by the Admiralty, but, in spite of the -broad principles of strategy involved, certain fleets are composed -largely with a view to work in restricted waters, which vessels would -be a source of danger and weakness on the sudden outbreak of war with a -combination of Powers. - -Take the combination of ships on each of the following stations: North -America, Cape of Good Hope, East Indies, and Australia. Remember the -“Variag.” What happened in the small area of the theatre of operations -in the present war will be repeated in the larger theatre of operations -of a conflict of European Powers when the whole world will be involved. -What will happen to our “Odins,” “Redbreasts,” “Fantomes,” “Dwarfs,” -etc.? aye! and what will happen to our “Scyllas,” “Katoombas,” and -“Hyacinths,” if caught sight of by first class cruisers of modern -armament on foreign stations?[7] Lucky if they can reach a neutral -port, disarm, and have their crews interned for the remainder of the -war. Lucky, indeed, if a far worse fate does not befall them. At all -events, such wholesale scattering of the British foreign fleets would -lead to irreparable loss of prestige among the smaller States where -these little vessels were usually located. - -Now is there any necessity for such numbers of useless fighting ships? -Cannot more efficient classes be substituted for them, or, at all -events, some of them? - -What we have to face is the probability of a serious combination of -strong Powers against us, for then we will be unable to spare two -first class cruisers to go in search of individual enemy’s first class -cruisers, who, if not caught, may sweep round and lick up or force -into neutral ports all our inefficient small fry. - -Surely the three Atlantic squadrons should be of such strength as -to be able to rendezvous and form a fleet more or less absolutely -self-protective, to say nothing of being offensive. Such a squadron, -under one admiral in war time, would be an effective Atlantic squadron, -and would protect our interests by holding the ocean against enemy’s -cruisers. - -Such squadrons can be formed without increasing the personnel of the -Navy, and, moreover, the crews would be in ships that would be used in -war instead of being in “floating anxieties.” - -Now for the present, sufficient cruisers, first class, do not exist to -meet the requirements of supplying ships to take the place of smaller -obsolete ones, and also for reserve purposes. - -For the present a large proportion of cruisers, second class, must -be retained, but it is hoped that these will in time be replaced by -cruisers, first class, in the proportion of one cruiser, first class, -to three cruisers, second or third class. No one can argue that one -first class cruiser is not a superior fighting unit to three cruisers -second or third class. Also one defect list instead of three! - -If it should be insisted on that certain ports require certain small -vessels, then they should be earmarked for that purpose, and only such -places be recognised which larger vessels cannot frequent, such as the -rivers on the West Coast of Africa (our territory), shallow rivers in -China where no question of neutrality can arise, or special places of -this nature. It should be overwhelmingly proved to the satisfaction of -the Admiralty that essential conditions necessitate the presence of -useless fighting ships before they relax their efforts to have such -useless ships removed. - -It should be accepted as a principle that the great aim and object of -the Admiralty is to have nothing floating on the waters except the -four fundamental types of fighting vessels, and that (for the present) -lack of ships of the necessary classes prevents this being realised, -but that as the delivery of ships takes place, the substitution will -automatically follow. - -The Foreign Office will in time be bound to recognise the real -efficiency of the scheme, even if a consul is robbed of the shadow of -support of a gunboat under his window, but has the substantial strength -of a first class cruiser substituted at the end of a telegraph wire. - -_The danger that is eternally present to the Navy is over confidence in -our preparedness for war._ - -The chief cause of unpreparedness for war is want of appreciation of -the cumulative effect of daily small changes in our ships and armament -on the whole question of strategy and shipbuilding. - -Changes have slipped so gradually from wooden sailing ships through -slow steam iron vessels to our present splendid ships of war that -the tendency has always been to subordinate our strategy to our ship -construction, rather than to mould our war ship design to suit our -strategy. - -_Strategy should govern the types of ships to be designed._ - -_Ship design, as dictated by strategy, should govern tactics._ - -_Tactics should govern details of armaments._ - -In approaching the important question of ship design the first -essential is to divest our minds totally of the idea that a single type -of ship as now built is necessary, or even advisable, then to consider -the strategic use of each different class, especially weighing the -antagonistic attributes of nominally similar classes in the old wars. - -To commence with the battleship. - -The sole reason for the existence of the old line of battleship was -that that ship was the only vessel that could not be destroyed except -by a vessel of equal class. This meant that a country possessing the -largest number of best equipped battleships could lay them alongside -the enemy, or off the ports where the enemy were. Transports with -the escort of a few battleships could then proceed to make oversea -conquests. Squadrons of battleships or cruisers escorting the convoy -of merchant ships and keeping the line of communications open. In each -case the battleship, being able to protect everything it had under -its wing from any smaller vessel, was the ultimate naval strength of -the country. _Then_ it was that, by means of the battleship only, -was the command of the sea gained and held. _Let us be quite clear -on the matter, it was solely from the fact that the battleship was -unassailable by any vessel except a battleship that made the command of -the sea by battleships a possibility!_ - -Hence battleships came to symbolise naval sea strength and supremacy. -For this reason battleships have been built through every change of -construction and material, although by degrees other vessels not -battleships have arisen which can attack and destroy them. - -Here therefore there is good ground for inquiry whether the naval -supremacy of a country can any longer be assessed by its battleships. -To build battleships merely to fight enemy’s battleships, so long -as cheaper craft can destroy them, and prevent them of themselves -protecting sea operations, is merely to breed Kilkenny cats unable to -catch rats or mice. For fighting purposes they would be excellent, but -for gaining practical results they would be useless. - -This at once forces a consideration as to how a battleship differs from -an armoured cruiser. Fundamentally the battleship sacrifices speed for -a superior armament and protective armour. It is this superiority of -speed that enables an enemy’s ships to be overhauled or evaded that -constitutes the real difference between the two. At the present moment -_naval experience is not sufficiently ripe to abolish totally the -building of battleships_ so long as other countries do not do so. - - _But it is evidently an absolute necessity in future construction - to make the speed of the battleship approach as nearly as - possible that of the armoured cruiser._ - -Next consider the case of the armoured cruiser. - -In the old days the frigate was the cruiser, she was unarmoured, that -is, her sides were so much thinner than those of the battleship that -she was not able to fight in the line of battle, but the weak gun fire -of those days permitted close scouting by such unprotected vessels, -she could approach a battleship squadron very closely without fear of -damage, she could sail round a fleet and count their numbers without -danger to herself, unless chased off by other frigates, she was a scout -and a commerce destroyer. Similarly with present day armoured cruisers, -they can force their way up to within sight of a fleet, and observe -them, unless chased off by other armoured cruisers, but to do this they -have to be given a certain amount of protective armour. - -The range of eyesight has remained constant, that of gunfire has -increased. Speed is a necessity to ensure safety, armour protection to -ensure vision. - -It is evident, from the above considerations, that the functions of the -frigate have devolved on the armoured cruiser to a greater extent than -have the functions of the line of battleship devolved on the modern -battleship. - -But how about the unarmoured cruisers and those of low speed? - -With loss of protection a cruiser loses her power of reasonable -approach for observation purposes, and if to this be added a loss of -reasonable speed her safety is gone. Cruisers without high speed and -protection are entirely and absolutely useless. - -Every vessel that has not high scouting speed, or the highest defensive -and offensive powers, _is useless for fighting purposes_. - -This is true of every class of vessel between the first class armoured -cruiser and the fast torpedo vessel. - - -NUCLEUS CREWS. - -It is impossible to exaggerate the vital importance to the nation of -having all the reserve ships absolutely ready for instant war. - -Our reserve ships, as they are now, are not, and cannot be made really -efficient fighting units under several months of commission. There -is no doubt that great strides towards rapid mobilisation have been -made of late years, but merely to hustle a complement of the required -ratings into a ship, is not to make her a really efficient fighting -machine. - - _The keystone of our preparedness for war has now to be - inserted, namely, the provision of efficient nucleus crews._ - - _This can be done to-morrow._ - -A nucleus crew should consist of approximately two-fifths of her -engine-room complement, the whole of her turret crews, gun layers -and sight-setters for all guns, all important special ratings, and -two-fifths of her normal crew, her captain, and all important officers. - -The ship can proceed half-yearly, or quarterly, as may be required, to -sea with her fighting ship’s company to carry out firing exercises, or -to work under the Admiral or Commodore who will command her and her -consorts in war, and be as nearly perfectly efficient as any ship, not -always at sea, can be. - -No more men above our present requirements need be entered, training in -gunnery and torpedo schools need not be interfered with, and a saving -of money to the taxpayer effected. - - -SUBSIDIARY SERVICES OF WAR. - -We are now busily engaged in perfecting each and all of these -subsidiary services; but they are not yet perfect. In some important -respects we are as yet far from it (Rome was not built in a day!), but -we now emphasise the fact in order that matters may be pushed on by all -concerned, from the Prime Minister downwards, with the utmost energy -and vigour! - -The items are not taken in the order of their relative importance, but -for convenience of argument. - -There is the service of all the auxiliary vessels of the Fleet for -supplying coal, ammunition, stores, provisions, water, materials for -repairs, &c., and also the multitudes of fast mercantile vessels we -require as Scouts; and there is also the nature of the employment of -the armed mercantile cruisers to be settled. All these points have -been carefully considered in the past, but in all and every one of -them there is that most deadly of all deadly drawbacks to fighting -readiness, the leaving certain things to be dealt with “_when the time -comes_.” The time will come like the Day of Judgment! There won’t be -time for doing anything, not even for repentance! We must go to the -very utmost limit of preparedness, not one little item must be left to -be dealt with “when the time comes.” We want all these vessels, without -any exception whatever, to be as ready for a sudden emergency as is -now the main Fighting Fleet! So therefore, day by day, we must know by -name each vessel for every service, and the orders for every captain -of every single one of this multitude of mercantile auxiliaries must -be prepared, and he (each several captain) must thoroughly understand -these orders beforehand; they must be explained to him by “one who -knows,” and when that captain leaves England for his next trade voyage -(and his ship is therefore no longer available), then the operation -must be repeated with the captain of the substituted vessel! It must -be laid down where every ship is to load, what route she is to follow, -what eventualities she has to guard against! _All, and together, must -be detailed and day by day kept perfect!_ - -Again, who are the officers at every port superintending the imparting -of this information every day of the year, to the daily fresh captains -of daily fresh ships, replacing others daily, going on their usual -trade voyages? Who is the Flag Officer in supreme charge of all these -superintending Port Officers? What are the names of the retired -Commissioned or Warrant Officers who may be allocated to take passage -in all the more important auxiliary vessels? such, for instance, and -above all, as the Ammunition and Repair ships, so as to ensure the -proper control and distribution of the cargo, as well as the efficient -and prompt action of the ship herself, to be at the right place at -the right time. Every Commander-in-Chief must know in minute detail -every particular about every one of these vessels that are coming to -him. He must know it _now_. He must know it _day by day_! He must -have his own agent at home to look after his interests and to be -responsible to him (the Commander-in-Chief) for the completeness of all -the arrangements,--if not complete, then this agent must report the -Superintending Port Officers for their incompetency. - -All this scheme above sketched out may involve immense labour and great -expense, _but it has got to be done_! Not a bit of use having the Fleet -at all, if you don’t feed it, and also feed it well! - -Quite as a separate service, apart from all that has been mentioned -above, is the dissemination of intelligence and its suppression. - -We must not (as has been hitherto accepted) permit the splendid costly -fighting vessels of the Fleet to be criminally wasted by being sent -here and there as messengers! Fast unarmoured mercantile steamers -must constitute the squadrons of the Sea Intelligence Department, and -instead of our Admirals running after information with costly armoured -cruisers, we must run after the Admirals with the information, with -easily obtainable cheap (because non-fighting), fast mercantile vessels. - -All this is but a brief review of what is in progress, and what has to -be done, but _there remains above all_ that daily consideration at the -Admiralty, and by every Admiral in command, of what would have to be -done _that very day_ in case of war, with the most unexpected, as well -as the most expected opponent! - - -A RETROSPECT (JULY, 1906). - -The most striking fact to an outsider is the astonishing confidence and -loyalty of the Navy in its rulers which has been exhibited during the -last two years of relentless reorganisation. - -Naval Officers, as a class, are conservative and dislike change, and -as a rule are prepared to resist it. The manner in which the recent -changes have been received, root and branch and sweeping as they were, -shows, as nothing else can, the necessity for reforms. Compare the -insignificant agitation (which has, however, now entirely collapsed), -in the Navy over the vast and drastic reforms of the last two years -with the agitation in the Army over the trifling matter of getting rid -of two battalions of Guards! - -So let us be grateful--adequately grateful--to the officers and men of -the Navy for their splendid loyalty during the introduction of reforms, -some of which have hit them very hard, notably the sudden bringing -home and paying off of the large number of vessels that were wiped -out of the Navy as not being up to the required standard of fighting -efficiency. And there was also the redistribution of the Fleet, which -deprived many officers of advantageous appointments and seriously -disturbed domestic arrangements. - -But the fact is that the Navy sees the fighting advantages we have -gained, and so has loyally responded to the demands on its sense of -duty. - -As an excellent writer in the “North American Review” for June so aptly -expresses it, the Navy saw that it was steam-manship that was wanted, -and so, as a body, they welcomed the new scheme of training both of -officers and men. They saw also that to have every vessel of the Navy, -large and small, mobilised and efficient to fight within three hours -in the dead of night, as practically exemplified in the recent Grand -Manœuvres, is a result which justifies all the drastic measures of the -Board of Admiralty. - -The Navy also recognises the incomparable fighting advantages of the -new era in giving us an unparalleled gunnery efficiency, as exemplified -in the fact that before that new era there were 2,000 more misses than -hits in the annual gunlayers’ competition, while in the year after -there were 2,000 more hits than misses! In the new order the best ship -is the one that can catch the enemy soonest, and hit him hardest and -oftenest; under the old system these considerations were certainly not -the primary ones. - -The Navy sees also that, while the fighting efficiency of the British -Fleet and its instant readiness for war has become a household -word amongst the Admiralties of the world, at the same time vast -economies--to be reckoned in many millions--have been effected; for -instance, our harbours, docks, and basins are ridded of obsolete -vessels and thus made adequate for the accommodation of our fighting -fleet, for which there was no room previously, and no less a sum than -13 millions sterling was at one time contemplated as necessary to give -the required accommodation. The whole of that 13 millions in proposed -works has been cancelled. - -Nor have the officers and men been forgotten. The men have had a -quarter of a million sterling practically added to their pay; one item -alone is £75,000 a year for increase of pensions to petty officers, -and another £47,000 a year in giving them their food allowance when -on leave, and other similar and just concessions make up the balance. -Further improvements in the position of the lower deck are now under -consideration and will shortly be ready for announcement, _i.e._, -Ratings Committee. - -The officers, again, no longer pay for the bands out of their own -pockets, and the system of Nucleus Crews gives them an amount of Home -Service combined with sea-time, with all its domestic advantages, -beyond anything ever before obtaining in the Navy. - -Again, it is recognised by all but a few misguided misanthropes that -the new shipbuilding policy is a magnificent departure in fighting -policy. _We ask the officers who are going to fight, what they -want, and we build thereto._ Formerly vessels were simply belated -improvements on their predecessors. Admirals had to make the best -use they could of the heterogeneous assemblage of vessels which the -idiosyncrasies of talented designers and Controllers of the Navy had -saddled us with, to the embarrassment of those whose business it was -to use them in battle, and to the bitter bewilderment of types in the -brain of the Board of Admiralty! Theory was entirely divorced from -practice, with the lamentable result that when the two were recently -brought together, and the “Dreadnought” was evolved, it was found that -the whole Navy had practically become obsolete! - -“First catch your hare” is the recipe in Mrs. Glasse’s Cookery Book -for “jugged hare,” and so speed has been put in the forefront in every -class of vessel from battleship to submarine, and as it’s no use having -the speed without the wherewithal to demolish the enemy, the armament -of our new ships, as so fully exemplified in the “Dreadnought,” has -received such a development that that vessel is equal to any two and a -half battleships at present existing. - -The efficacy of the Nucleus Crew system has also been obvious to the -whole Fleet in the unprecedented exemptions from machinery defects, and -the unexampled gunnery efficiency, coupled with a saving of about 50 -per cent. in repairs of ships, which incidentally has led in a large -measure to the reduction of 6,000 Dockyard workmen. _And it must never -be forgotten that every penny not spent in a fighting ship or on a -fighting man is a penny taken away from the day of battle!_ - -The management of the Royal Dockyards has now been placed on a much -sounder footing, more akin to the organisation in similar commercial -establishments, where any undue extravagance or unnecessary executive -machinery means loss of money to the shareholders, and is visited by -pains and penalties on the officials directly responsible. At the same -time the desirable possibilities of ready expansion in war time to -suit the varying requirements of a purely naval repairing and building -establishment have been maintained. - -The Navy also sees the great strategic advantages of our Fleets -exercising where they are likely to fight. As Nelson said, “_The battle -ground should be the drill ground_.” - -The placid waters and lovely weather of the Mediterranean do not fit -our seamen for the fogs and gales of the North Sea, or accustom them -to the rigours of a northern winter, when the icicles hang down over -the bed or the hammock of the Torpedo Boat Commander and his men, as -in the North Sea last winter when we sent 147 Torpedo Craft suddenly -to exercise at sea; and though sent on a full power trial of many -hours, on first being mobilised, not a single defect or breakdown was -experienced. Since that date the arrangements for the Torpedo Craft -have been still further perfected, and now the Destroyers are all -organised according to the strategic requirements of the situation of -the moment, and are definitely detailed in flotillas and divisions, -with their store and repair ships and reserves, according to the -approved modern methods of torpedo warfare as exemplified in the -Russo-Japanese War. - -The Navy also sees and welcomes the untold advantage given by the -Nucleus Crew system of instant war readiness, as exemplified when last -July all our vessels, large and small, in reserve went to sea unnoticed -by the Press and engaged in fighting Manœuvres in the Channel with 200 -pendants under the chief command of the Admiral of the Channel Fleet. - -No calling out of Reserves or such disorganisation as was incidental to -the old system, when the crews of ships in commission had to be broken -up to leaven the ships of the Reserve that then had no crews at all. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -NAVAL EDUCATION - - -I.--COMMON ENTRY. - -(_Written in 1905_). - -On the 25th of December, 1902, the new system of entry and training of -officers for the Navy was inaugurated. - -The fundamental principles of this great reform are:-- - - (_a_) The common entry and training of officers of the three - principal branches of the Service, viz., Combatant or - Executive, Engineer, and Marine. - - (_b_) The practical amalgamation of these three branches of officers. - - (_c_) The recognition of the fact that the existence of the Navy - depends on machinery, and that, therefore, all combatant - officers must be Engineers. - - (_d_) The adoption of the principle that the general education - and training of all these officers must be completed before - they go to sea, instead of, as heretofore, dragging on in - a perfunctory manner during their service as midshipmen, - to be finally completed by a short “cram” at Greenwich and - Portsmouth. - -When the details of the new scheme were published, it was stated -that at about the age of 20 these officers, who up till then had all -received an identical training, would be appropriated by selection to -the three branches, viz., Executive, Marine, or Engineer; however, -this is unlikely to be carried out in its entirety, and when the time -comes, the march of progress will have prepared us to recognise that -differentiation to this extent is unnecessary, and that the Fleet -will be officered by the combatant officer, who will be equally an -Executive, Marine, or Engineer Officer. - -Let us assume this to be true. In spite of the great revolution that -has been brought about since Christmas, 1902, in the Navy, and the -consequent awakening and development of the minds of all officers, -there is not one in one hundred who realises fully what the effects of -this great reform will be. - -The Cadets who are at present at Osborne College are being educated -primarily as Mechanical Engineers concurrently with the special -training necessary to make them good seamen, good navigators, and -good commanders. The most important training they have to receive is -undoubtedly that of the Mechanical Engineer, which will ultimately make -them capable of dealing with and handling ANYTHING of a mechanical -nature. In process of learning this they acquire a mathematical -training of a very high order, and, as pure mathematics are the same -all the world over, the various other subjects which the Naval Officer -of the future will be required to be proficient in only necessitate -a little training in the special application of the mathematics of -which they possess a firm grasp. Navigation and nautical astronomy are -simplicity exemplified once the student has learned trigonometry and -algebra. Gunnery, torpedo, and electricity are simply special cases of -mechanical problems. Modern seamanship is practically nothing else but -a practical application of simple mechanical “chestnuts.” - -What, therefore, is the meaning of it all? - -It means that the Naval Officer of the future will regard machinery, -mechanical work, and mechanical problems as his “bread and butter.” He -will think no more of handling machinery of any sort than the ordinary -mortal does of riding a bicycle; guns, gun-mountings, torpedoes, and -electrical instruments and machines he will regard as special types, -but differing no whit in principle from the primitive stock. Mystery -will disappear. At present it is an unfortunate thing that departmental -jealousy leads the members of each and every department of the -Service to make a mystery of their particular speciality. The Gunnery -Lieutenant, Torpedo Lieutenant, Engineer, and Marine Officer each -resent discussion by “outsiders” of any point in connection with their -speciality, as a piece of unwarrantable presumption, with the result -that each knows all about his own job, and pursues it diligently, -taking care not to poach on anybody else’s preserves, but without any -regard as to whether the Service might not gain in efficiency by a -little more co-operation and collaboration. - -From one point of view they are right in being exclusive, because they -know that no one else knows anything about their work, and therefore -discussion with “outsiders” is mere waste of breath, but in future all -this will be changed. Specialities will disappear; the Naval Officer of -the future will see no greater difference between a gun-mounting and a -torpedo, than an Engineer sees between the main engines and the feed -pump. - -However, although specialities will disappear, it will always be -necessary to have “experts” in each department. We shall still require -our Lieutenants G., T., and E.; but as at the present time when a -Lieutenant G. is promoted to Commander he drops the G., so also it -seems logical to conclude that the future Lieutenant E. on promotion to -Commander should drop the E. - -It is absolutely safe to predict that the Naval Officer of 50 years -hence will smile when he reads that his forefathers had to have an -officer of Commander’s rank appointed to a ship solely for charge of -the main engines. Foreigners gasp when they hear that Lieutenants of -two or three years standing command our destroyers; in other navies -destroyers are usually commanded by Captains de Corvette; and then we -smile when we remember youngsters like Lieutenant Rombulow-Pearse of -the “Sturgeon,” who rescued the crew of the sinking “Decoy” in a gale -of wind, with only his small whaler to help him, and with the loss of -only one man, who disappeared nobody knows how. - -The ideal complement of officers of the future therefore will be: 1 -Captain, 1 Commander, 1 Lieutenant G., 1 Lieutenant E., 1 Lieutenant -T., 1 Lieutenant M., 1 Lieutenant N., 1 Lieutenant P., and as many -other watchkeepers as necessary. - -Enough has been said in the meantime to show how completely the new -system of entry and training of officers has remodelled the British -Navy, and it is with the object of using the case of the officers as an -argument in considering the case of the men, that it has been dilated -on at such length. - - -STATE EDUCATION IN THE NAVY. - -(_This Paper was prepared in 1902 under great obligations to Mr. J. R. -Thursfield._) - -Everyone must now feel that the new system of Entry and Education of -Naval Officers must have a fair trial, and all reasonable people will -hold that it deserves one. - -There still remains to be faced an argument which is certain to appeal -to democratic sentiment. Broadly stated, it is this--that the new -system, as at present organised, must of necessity take all officers -of the Navy from among the sons of parents who can afford to spend -about £120 a year on their sons from the age of 12½ until they become -Lieutenants at the age of about 20, or even over. In other words, the -officers of the Navy will be drawn exclusively from the well-to-do -classes. - -Democratic sentiment will wreck the present system in the long run, if -it is not given an outlet. But let us take the far higher ground of -efficiency: is it wise or expedient to take our Nelsons from so narrow -a class? - -[Illustration: “THE DAUNTLESS THREE,” PORTSMOUTH, 1903. - - Sir John Fisher, Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth. - - Viscount Esher, President of the Committee of War Office - Reconstruction. - - Sir George Sydenham Clarke, late Governor of Victoria. -] - -Surely some small percentage of promising and intelligent boys from the -other classes could be secured and (if caught early enough, as is -now the case) trained to be _officers and gentlemen_ by the time they -are grown up. - -Nor is it the money barrier alone which excludes them. An exclusive -system of nomination is distasteful, if not alien, to the democratic -sentiment. Combined with the cost of the subsequent training, our -present system absolutely excludes all but a very small fraction of -the population from serving the King as naval officers. It admits the -duke’s son if he is fit, but it excludes the cook’s son whether he -is fit or not. It ought to admit both, _but only if both are fit_. -The cook’s son may not often be fit, but when he is, why exclude him? -Brains, character, and manners are not the exclusive endowment of those -whose parents can afford to spend £1,000 on their education. - -There seems to be only one way of solving this problem. Initial -fitness must be secured, as at present, by careful selection at the -outset, and if the promise is not fulfilled as time goes on, ruthless -exclusion, whether of duke’s son or of cook’s son, must be the -inflexible rule. But do not exclude for poverty alone, either at the -outset or afterwards. Let every fit boy have his chance, irrespective -of the depth of his parents’ purse. This might, of course, be done -by a liberal system of reduced fees for cadets, midshipmen, and -sub-lieutenants whose parents were in poor circumstances. But in the -first place there would be a certain element of invidiousness in the -selection of the recipients of the national bounty, and, in the second, -mischievous class distinctions would inevitably arise among the cadets -themselves--between those who were supported wholly or partially by -the State and those who were not. It is most essential that there -should be no such distinctions--that the cadets should be taught -to look up only to those who are eminent in brains, character, and -manners, and to look down only on those who are idle, vicious, vulgar, -or incorrigibly stupid. Now, a common maintenance by the State would -put them all on a common level of equality. Though the additional cost -to the State would doubtless be great, the result would be well worth -the extra expenditure. - -The quarter of a million sterling required would be lost and -unnoticeable in the millions of the Education Vote, yet it would be -worth all the millions of the Education Vote if it makes the Navy more -efficient, because - - _The British Nation Floats on the British Navy._ - -It would put the Navy once for all on a basis as broad as the nation; -it would immeasurably widen the area of selection, and place at the -disposal of the Admiralty all the intellect and all the character of -all classes of the people. - - -THE NEW NAVAL EDUCATION. - -Masts and sails disappeared irretrievably with the demand for high -speed. - -Now, what went with them? Why! The education that the sole use of sail -power gave to the eye, brain, and body, in battling with the elements! - -It was a marvellous education which we had in the pure sailing days! - -One was alert by instinct! You never knew what might happen! A -topsail-sheet carrying away, or a weather brace going, or a sudden -shift of wind, or squall! - -One thus got habituated to being quick and resourceful, and it was more -or less a slur and a stigma not to be so! _Also_ (_as Officer of the -Watch_) _men’s lives were in your hands!_ For instance with men on the -yards, and any lubberly stupidity with braces or helm! - -Both for Officers and Men then we no longer have this magnificent -education by _the Elements_! - -Steam has practically annihilated the wind and the sea! - -What are we to do to get the same ready and resourceful qualities by -other methods? - -The answer is: The Gymnasium, Boat Sailing, the Destroyer, the -Submarine, and the Engine Room. - -Apparently, we are in this country in the infancy of Gymnastics for -the training of the body when one reads of the Swedish system and its -results. (“_Mens sana in corpore sano._”) - -The one solitary element in which we are behind, and must be behind all -nations, is “Men.” We have no Conscription with the unlimited resources -it gives! How should we counterbalance this want? “By introducing every -possible form of labour-saving appliance,” regardless of cost, weight, -and space; for instance, is it really impossible to devise mechanical -arrangements for feeding the fires with coal instead of using the mass -of men we now are obliged to employ for the purpose? The coal is got -out of the bunkers in the same way now as in the first steamship ever -built. It is not only we thereby save men--we ensure success (for the -next Naval War will be largely a question of physical endurance and -nerves). - -“A machine has no nerves and doesn’t tire!” - -The other point necessary to consider is “not to waste educated labour, -and to utilise and cultivate specialities!” - -The present system of education both of Men and Officers is that we all -go in at one end like the pigs of every type at Chicago, and come out a -uniform pattern of sausages at the other! - -Thus, what we want is, above all things, a “Corps d’Elite” of -gun-firers! I should call them the “Bull’s Eye Party” (and give them -all 10_s._ a day extra pay!) - -They must do nothing else but practise hitting the target and lose -their pay when they don’t! - -Where would your violin player be if he didn’t daily practise? And if -you made him pick oakum, where would his touch be? - -This is what Paganini said: “The first day I omit to practise the -violin I notice it myself! - -“The second day my friends notice it!! - -“The third day the public notice it!!!” - -But if the “Bull’s Eye Party” are to hit the enemy as desired (and as -they can be made competent to do!) then the Admirals and Captains, and -all others, must equally play their parts to allow the “Bull’s Eye -Party” to get within range and sight of the enemy. _Their_ education -is therefore equally important. Scripture comes in here appropriately, -“The eye cannot say to the hand, nor the hand to the foot,” etc., etc. - -To put the matter very briefly: - -“The education of all our Officers, without distinction, must be -remodelled to cope with machinery, instead of sails!” - -The Gymnasium, the Engine-room, the Destroyer, the Submarine, and Boat -Sailing must be our great educational instruments. - -Not for a single moment is it put forward that a year in a workshop and -a year in an engine-room will make an efficient Engineer Officer! It is -long experience in such work that does that!--as in every other thing! -But in a small way, the argument of the abolition of the old Navigating -Class applies here very forcibly. It was said their abolition would be -absolutely fatal to the efficient navigation of the Fleet. - -But what has been the result? There have been fewer cases of bad -navigation since the old Navigating Class was done away with than in -the whole history of the Navy! And with this immense gain--that the -knowledge of navigation is now widely diffused through the Fleet. - -One can suppose cases where it would be of the utmost value to us were -engineering knowledge and the handling of mechanical appliances more -widely diffused amongst our Officers! - -But that is not _the vital point_! _The vital point_ is that were a -Midshipman to be continuously serving in the engine-room of Destroyers -and larger vessels (continuously under weigh) at high speeds, he would -get a training assimilating in its nature to that marvellous training -of the old sailing days, which kept the wits of Officer of the Watch -in the utmost state of tension, and produced the splendid specimens of -readiness and resource which we read of in the sea Officers of Nelson’s -time and later! - -TRAINING OF BOYS: No masts and sails--Gymnasium--Rifle and -gun practice--Boat sailing--Little or no school. (No Binomial -Theorem)--Destroyer work for sea-sickness--Sent straight from -training-ships to hot foreign stations on the hot-house principle -before bedding-out--Select from the very beginning the good shots and -the smart signalmen and train them specially. - -TRAINING OF THE MEN: Re-model instruction in Gunnery and Torpedo -Schools--“Corps d’Elite” of three classes of (1) gun firers or -“Marksmen”; (2) gun loaders; (3) gun manipulators--From the time the -boy enters the Navy in the training-ship till he gets his pension, the -sole object to be to select, train, and improve and retain “the good -shot,” and all training subordinated to this! - -TRAINING OF OFFICERS: Return to early entry at 12 years of age--A -much lower standard of entrance, educational examination, and a -high standard of physical entrance examination--Colloquial French -obligatory, no grammar, and no other language, dead or alive!--A -combined course of “Britannia” and “Keyham” Colleges with at least two -years of engine-room and shop work and Destroyer practice. - -These great changes are not fanciful ideas! - -The stubborn fact that we cannot provide what is required on the -present system forces the change both as regards Officers as well as -Men and Boys. - - -NAVAL OFFICERS’ TRAINING. - -_Some Opinions on the Admiralty Scheme_ (1902). - - -1. ADMIRAL LORD CHARLES BERESFORD. - -In 1902 Lord Charles Beresford, in an interview on the then recent -Admiralty memorandum on the subject of the entry, training, and -employment of officers and men of the Royal Navy, said:-- - - “The strongest opponent of the scheme will acknowledge that - it is a brilliant and statesmanlike effort to grapple with _a - problem upon the sound settlement of which depends the future - efficiency of the British Navy_. To-day the commander of fleets - must possess a greater combination of characteristics than - has ever before been required of him. He must not only be a - born leader of men, but he must have the practical scientific - training which the development of mechanical invention renders - an absolute and indispensable essential. The executive officer - of to-day should possess an intimate knowledge of all that - relates to his profession. Up to now he has been fairly - educated in the different branches. The most important, - however--in that we depend entirely upon it--that relating - to steam and machinery, has been sadly neglected. The duties - of this branch have been delegated to, and well and loyally - performed by, a body of officers existing for this special - purpose, and there have been two results. _The executive - officer has remained ignorant of one of the most important - parts of his profession; the engineer officer has never - received that recognition to which the importance of his duties - and responsibilities so justly entitled him._ The Board of - Admiralty have now unanimously approved a plan which provides - that naval officers shall have an opportunity of adding - to their professional attainments the essential knowledge - of marine engineering. Further than this, the Board have - recognised that the present status of naval engineer officers - could not continue, in fairness either to themselves or to the - Service. _The abolition of distinction regarding entry has - settled this point once and for ever, and it is satisfactory to - find that constituted authority has taken the matter in hand - before it became a political or party question._ - - “There seems to be a doubt as to whether it will be possible - under the new scheme for an executive officer to have the - knowledge he should possess of marine engineering. There is no - cast-iron secret or mystery with regard to marine engineering, - as some seem to imagine. This being so, there is no reason why - lieutenants (E.) should not be just as good and useful experts - in their speciality as the gunnery, torpedo, or navigating - lieutenant of the present day, without in the slightest degree - detracting from their ability to become excellent executive - officers. It is imperative that all officers of the present day - should be well acquainted with all the general duties connected - with the management of ships and fleets. The wider and fuller - the education the naval officer receives in matters relating to - science within his own profession, the more likely the Service - is to produce men who will be capable of seeing that the fleet - in its entirety is perfect for its work, and that there is no - weak link in the chain that may jeopardise the whole. - - “The memo, referring to the marines will be, I believe, - received with the greatest satisfaction by that splendid - corps as a whole as by the Service as a whole. _It is a marvel - that the zeal and ability of the officers of the Royal Marines - has not been effectively utilised long ago._ Many important - positions will now be open to them, and _they will feel that - they are taking a real part in the executive working of the - ship and fleet which is so proud to own them as a component - part_. It is to be hoped the way will now be open to give them - appointments as general officers commanding at many of the - naval bases. No part of the scheme will give the Service in its - entirety more sincere pleasure than the improvements promised - with regard to the position of the warrant officers. Promotion - of warrant officers to lieutenant’s rank has long been urged - by those who argued that the lower deck were fully entitled - to a right that had from time immemorial been engaged by the - non-commissioned ranks of the sister Service. Placing the - signal ratings on an equality with gunnery and torpedo ratings - is of far more importance than is generally realised. The vital - necessity of a good line of communication and good signalmen - has never been thoroughly appreciated. - - “_I consider the return to the early age of entry of infinite - value._ It has not yet been decided whether on first going - to sea midshipmen will be appointed to ships ordinarily in - commission or to ships specially in commission for training - purposes. I am strongly of opinion that it would be by far the - best plan to send them to learn their duties in the ordinary - ships of the regularly commissioned fleet. With regard to the - proposed arrangement of nomination to branches, I consider it - a fair contract, and it keeps the power of appointment to the - various branches in the hands of the constituted authorities. - In my opinion this gives the best young officer the fairest - chance of holding the best positions. - - “In conclusion, I am of the opinion that the plan is one that - has been thoroughly matured and well thought out, and I believe - that when its details have been definitely settled it will - make more complete the well-being, contentment, and efficiency - of that Service on which the safety of the empire absolutely - depends.” - - -2. SIR JOHN HOPKINS. - -I succeeded Admiral Sir John Hopkins, one of the most distinguished -Officers in the Navy, in seven different appointments--as Head of -the Gunnery School at Portsmouth, as Director of Naval Ordnance at -the Admiralty, as Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, as -Controller of the Navy, as 3rd Sea Lord, as Commander-in-Chief in -North America, and as Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. In each -of these appointments force of circumstances compelled me to have a -revolution. So the following spontaneous letter, which he wrote me long -after, is the more gratifying and shows his magnanimity: - - GREATBRIDGE, ROMSEY, - _16th April, 1906_. - - MY DEAR FISHER, - - There is a small band of writing critics “making mouths and - ceasing not” at the Education Scheme; but let them not trouble - you. The wonder will be in twenty years’ time how such a bold - forecast could have been made, that produced such excellent - results; and, in my opinion, the “Common Entry” man will be as - great a success as the best friends of the Service could wish. - - Believe me, - Sincerely yours, - (Signed) J. O. HOPKINS. - - -3. CHIEF INSPECTOR OF MACHINERY, SIR HENRY BENBOW, K.C.B., D.S.O., R.N. - - HABESHI, DORMAN’S PARK, - SURREY, - _20th April, 1908_. - - DEAR SIR, - - Permit me to congratulate you on the success of the new - system of Entry and Education of Naval Cadets, which has - always elicited my warmest sympathy as the only means of - doing away with class prejudice. A relative and namesake of - mine, a Lieutenant in the Service, only the other day spoke - to me most highly of the mental and physical development of - the present-day Cadets, and remarked how very favourably they - compared with the Cadets entered under the old _régime_. - - I remain, dear Sir, - Yours faithfully, - HENRY BENBOW. - - Admiral of the Fleet - Sir JOHN FISHER, G.C.B., O.M. - - -A NAVAL CANDIDATE’S ESSAY. - -I give here an essay written on 20th February, 1908, by a candidate for -entry at Osborne as a Naval Cadet. His age was 12½; his height four -foot nothing. The subjects were suddenly set to the candidates by the -Interview Committee, and they were allowed only ten minutes to write -the essay in. The original of this essay I sent to King Edward. - - _What Nation ought we to protect ourselves most against--and - why?_ - - “In my opinion we should protect ourselves most against Germany. - - “The most important reason is that they have the second - largest Navy in the world; to which (their Navy) they are - rapidly adding. They are also building three ships equal to - our ‘Dreadnought.’ Their Army also is very formidable; though - they are suffering from flat-feet. It is also rumoured that the - present German Emperor has a feud against King Edward; namely, - when they were young, King Edward punched the German Emperor’s - head; how far that is true, I don’t know. - - “I always think that Englishmen and Germans are, more or less, - natural enemies. One of the reasons for this is, I think, - that Englishmen and Germans are so different; for most of the - Germans I’ve met in Switzerland were not quarter so energetic - as our English friends. They (the Germans) would never go - much above the snow line. Also I think we rather despise the - Germans, because of their habit of eating a lot. The Germans - also would like a few of our possessions.” - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -SUBMARINES - - -I begin this chapter with a letter written to me on April 18th, 1918, -by Colonel Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary to the War Cabinet:-- - - MY DEAR LORD FISHER, - - Last night I dined with Lord Esher. He showed me letters of - yours dated 1904 describing in detail the German Submarine - Campaign of 1917. It is the most amazing thing I have ever - read; not one letter only, but several. - - Also some astonishing remarks of yours about the Generals - who ought to man the War Office in case of war. All men who - have come to the top were your nominees. Finally, General - Plumer (whom few people knew about) you picked out for - Quartermaster-General, with this remark: “Every vote against - Plumer is a vote for paper boots and insufficient shells!”[8] - - Priceless, the whole thing! Neck-busy though I am, I have - come to the Office early to pay this tribute of my undying - admiration, and to beg you to get hold of these astounding - documents for your Memoirs. But anyhow, they will appear in - Lord Esher’s Memoirs, I suppose. - - Yours ever, - (Signed) M. P. A. HANKEY. - -Now follows a letter which I wrote to a High Official in 1904, and -which I had forgotten, until I came across it recently. It’s somewhat -violent, but so true that I insert it. I went as First Sea Lord of the -Admiralty shortly after--very unexpectedly--and so was able to give -effect (though surreptitiously) to my convictions. Not only Admirals -afloat, but even Politicians ashore, dubbed submarines as “playthings,” -so the money had to be got by subterfuge (as I have explained in -Chapter V. of my “Memories”). - - ADMIRALTY HOUSE, - PORTMOUTH. - _April 20th, 1904._ - - MY DEAR FRIEND, - - I will begin with the last thing in your letter, which is far - the most important, and that is our paucity of submarines. I - consider it the most serious thing at present affecting the - British Empire!--That sounds _big_, but it’s true. Had either - the Russians or the Japanese had submarines the whole face of - their war would have been changed for both sides. It really - makes me laugh to read of “Admiral Togo’s _eighth_ attack on - Port Arthur!” Why! had he possessed submarines it would have - been _one_ attack and _one_ attack only! It would have been - all over with the whole Russian Fleet, caught like rats in a - trap! Similarly, the Japanese Admiral Togo outside would never - have dared to let his transports full of troops pursue the even - tenor of their way to Chemulpo and elsewhere! - - It’s astounding to me, _perfectly astounding_, how the very - best amongst us absolutely fail to realise the vast impending - revolution in naval warfare and naval strategy that the - submarine will accomplish! (I have written a paper on this, - but it’s so violent I am keeping it!) Here, just to take a - simple instance, is the battleship “Empress of India,” engaged - in manœuvres and knowing of the proximity of Submarines, the - Flagship of the Second Admiral of the Home Fleet nine miles - beyond the Nab Light (out in the open sea), so self-confident - of safety and so oblivious of the possibilities of modern - warfare that the Admiral is smoking his cigarette, the Captain - is calmly seeing defaulters down on the half-deck, no one - caring an iota for what is going on, and suddenly they see - a Whitehead torpedo miss their stern by a few feet! And how - fired? From a submarine of the “pre-Adamite” period, small, - slow, badly fitted, _with no periscope at all_--it had been - carried away by a destroyer lying over her, fishing for - her!--and yet this submarine followed that battleship for a - solid two hours under water, coming up gingerly about a mile - off, every now and then (like a beaver!), just to take a fresh - compass bearing of her prey, and then down again! - - Remember, that this is done (and I want specially to emphasise - the point), with the Lieutenant in command of the boat out in - her for the first time in his life on his own account, and half - the crew never out before either! why, it’s wonderful! And so - what results may we expect with bigger and faster boats and - periscopes more powerful than the naked eye (such as the latest - pattern one I saw the other day), and with experienced officers - and crews, and with nests of these submarines acting together? - - I have not disguised my opinion in season and out of season - as to the essential, imperative, immediate, vital, pressing, - urgent (I can’t think of any more adjectives!) necessity for - more submarines at once, at the very least 25 in addition to - those now ordered and building, and a hundred more as soon as - practicable, or we shall be caught with our breeches down just - as the Russians have been! - - And then, my dear Friend, you have the astounding audacity to - say to me, “I presume you only think they (the submarines) can - act on the _defensive_!”... Why, my dear fellow! not take the - offensive? Good Lord! if our Admiral is worth his salt, he - will tow his submarines at 18 knots speed and put them into - the hostile Port (like ferrets after the rabbits!) before war - is officially declared, just as the Japanese acted before the - Russian Naval Officers knew that war was declared! - - In all seriousness I don’t think it is even _faintly_ realised-- - - _The immense impending revolution which the submarines will - effect as offensive weapons of war._ - -When you calmly sit down and work out what will happen in the narrow -waters of the Channel and the Mediterranean--how totally the submarines -will alter the effect of Gibraltar, Port Said, Lemnos, and Malta, it -makes one’s hair stand on end! - -I hope you don’t think this letter too personal! - - Ever yours, - J. A. FISHER. - -Note made on January 5th, 1904: - -Satan disguised as an Angel of Light wouldn’t succeed in persuading the -Admiralty or the Navy that in the course of some few years Submarines -will prevent any Fleet remaining at sea continuously either in the -Mediterranean or the English Channel. - -[Illustration: SOME SHELLS FOR 18-INCH GUNS. - -The shells for the 20-inch guns to be carried by H.M.S. “Incomparable” -would have been far bigger, and would have weighed two tons.] - -Now follows a paper on “The Effect of Submarine Boats,” which I wrote -while I was Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, October, 1903. - -_These remarks can only be fully appreciated by those who witnessed the -Flotilla of Submarine Boats now at Portsmouth practising out in the -open sea._ - - It is an historical fact that the British Navy stubbornly - resists change. - - A First Sea Lord told me on one occasion that there were no - torpedoes when he came to sea, and he didn’t see why the devil - there should be any of the beastly things now! - - This was _à propos_ of my attracting the attention of his - serene and contented mind to the fact that we hadn’t got any - torpedoes at that time in the British Navy, and that a certain - Mr. Whitehead (with whom I was acquainted) had devised an - automobile torpedo, costing only £500, that would make a hole - as big as his Lordship’s carriage (then standing at the door) - in the bottom of the strongest and biggest ship in the world, - and she would go to the bottom in about five minutes. - - Thirty-five years after this last interview, on September 4th, - 1903, at 11 a.m., the ironclad “Belleisle,” having had several - extra bottoms put on her and strengthened in every conceivable - manner that science could suggest or money accomplish, was sent - to the bottom of Portsmouth Harbour by this very Whitehead - automobile torpedo in seven minutes. - - This Whitehead torpedo can be carried with facility in - Submarine Boats, and it has now attained such a range and such - accuracy (due to the marvellous adaptation of the gyroscope), - that even at two miles’ range it possesses a greater ratio - of power of vitally injuring a ship in the line of battle - than does the most accurate gun. This is capable of easy - demonstration (if anyone doubts it). - - There is this immense fundamental difference between the - automobile torpedo and the gun--the torpedo has no trajectory: - it travels horizontally and hits below water, so all its hits - are vital hits; but not so the gun--only in a few places - are gun hits vital, and those places are armoured. It is - not feasible to armour the bottoms of ships even if it were - effectual--which it is not. - - But the pith and marrow of the whole matter lies in the fact - that the Submarine Boat which carries this automobile torpedo - is up to the present date absolutely unattackable. When you see - Battleships or Cruisers, or Destroyers, or Torpedo Boats on - the horizon, you can send others after them to attack them or - drive them away! You see them--you can fire at them--you can - avoid them--you can chase them--but with the Submarine Boat - you can do nothing! You can’t fight them with other Submarine - Boats--they can’t see each other! - - Now for the practical bearing of all this, and the special - manner it affects the Submarine Boat and the Army and the - Navy--for they are all inextricably mixed up together in this - matter:-- - - As regards the Navy, it must revolutionise Naval Tactics for - this simple reason--that the present battle formation of - ships in a single line presents a target of such a length - that the chances are altogether in favour of the Whitehead - torpedo hitting some ship in the line even when projected - from a distance of several miles. This applies specially to - its use by the Submarine Boat; but in addition, these boats - can, in operating defensively, come with absolute invisibility - within a few hundred yards to discharge the projectile, not at - random amongst the crowd of vessels but with certainty at the - Admiral’s ship for instance, or at any other specific vessel - desired to be sent to the bottom. - - It affects the Army, because, imagine even one Submarine Boat - with a flock of transports in sight loaded each with some - two or three thousand troops! Imagine the effect of one such - transport going to the bottom in a few seconds with its living - freight! - - Even the bare thought makes invasion impossible! Fancy 100,000 - helpless, huddled up troops afloat in frightened transports - with these invisible demons known to be near. - - Death - near--momentarily--sudden--awful--invisible--unavoidable! - Nothing conceivable more demoralising! - - It affects the existence of the Empire, because just as we - were in peril by the non-adoption of the breech-loading gun - until after every Foreign nation had it, and just as we were - in peril when Napoleon the Third built “La Gloire” and other - French ironclads, while we were still stubbornly building - wooden three-deckers, and just as we were in peril when, before - the Boer War, we were waiting to perfect our ammunition and in - consequence had practically no ammunition at all, so are we - in peril now by only having 20 per cent. of our very minimum - requirements in Submarine Boats, because we are waiting for - perfection! We forget that “half a loaf is better than no - bread”--we strain at the gnat of perfection and swallow the - camel of unreadiness! We shall be found unready once too often! - -In 1918 I wrote the following letter to a friend on “Submarines and Oil -Fuel.” - - You ask for information in regard to a prophecy I made before - the War in relation to Submarines, because, you say, that my - statement made in 1912 that Submarines would utterly change - Naval Warfare is now making a stir. However, I made that same - statement in 1904, fourteen years ago. - - I will endeavour to give you a brief, but succinct, synopsis of - the whole matter. I have to go some way back, but as you quite - correctly surmise the culmination of my beliefs since 1902 was - the paper on Submarine Warfare which I prepared six months - before the War.[9]... - - In May, 1912 (I am working backwards), Mr. Asquith, the Prime - Minister, and Mr. Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, came - to Naples, where I then was, and I was invited to be Chairman - of a Royal Commission on Oil Fuel for the Navy, and on Oil - Engines. What most moved me to acceptance was to push the - Submarine, because oil and the oil engine had a special bearing - on its development. - - Continuing my march backwards in regard to the Submarine, - there was a cessation in the development of the Submarine - after I left the Admiralty as First Sea Lord on January 25th, - 1910. When I returned as First Sea Lord to the Admiralty in - October, 1914, there were fewer Submarines than when I left the - Admiralty in January, 1910, and the one man incomparably fitted - to develop the Submarine had been cast away in a third-class - Cruiser stationed in Crete. No wonder! An Admiral, holding a - very high appointment afloat, derided Submarines as playthings! - - In one set of manœuvres the young officer commanding a - Submarine, having for the third time successfully torpedoed - the hostile Admiral’s Flagship, humbly said so to the Admiral - by signal, and suggested the Flagship going out of action. The - answer he got back by signal from the Admiral was: “You be - damned!” - - I am still going on tracing back the Submarine. In 1907, - King Edward went on board the “Dreadnought” for a cruise and - witnessed the manœuvres of a Submarine Flotilla. I then said - to His Majesty: “The Submarine will be the Battleship of the - future!” - - In February, 1904, Admiral Count Montecuccoli, the Austrian - Minister of Marine, invited himself to stay with me at - Portsmouth, where I was then Commander-in-Chief. He had been - Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy at Pola when I was - Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. We became very great - friends out there. The Austrian Fleet gave us a most cordial - reception. He also was an ardent believer in the Submarine. - That’s why he invited himself to stay, but I refused to let him - see our Submarines at Portsmouth, which were then advancing - by leaps and bounds. Admiral Bacon was then the admirable - Captain in charge of Submarines, and he did more to develop the - Submarine than anyone living. The Submarine is not the weapon - of the weak. Had it only been properly used and developed, - it’s the weapon of the strong, if you use your Naval Supremacy - properly, and - - _seize the exits of the enemy, and make a blockade effectual by - Submarines and Mines, which our predominant and overwhelming - naval superiority renders feasible_. - -All that was required to meet a German Submarine Menace was the -possession of Antwerp, the Belgian Coast, and the Baltic. We could -quite easily have accomplished these three objects. - -Nearly three months before the War, before the meeting of the Committee -of Imperial Defence held on May 14th, 1914, I sent the Prime Minister -the following Memorandum which I had written in the previous January; -and added:-- - - -THE SUBMARINE IS THE COMING TYPE OF WAR VESSEL FOR SEA FIGHTING. - - But for that consummation to be reached we must perfect the oil - engine and we must store oil. - - There is a strong animus against the submarine--of course there - is! - - An ancient Admiralty Board minute described the introduction of - the steam engine as fatal to England’s Navy. - - Another Admiralty Board minute vetoed iron ships, because iron - sinks and wood floats! - - The whole Navy objected to breech-loading guns, and in - consequence sure disaster was close to us for years and years. - - There was virulent opposition to the water-tube boiler (fancy - putting the fire where the water ought to be, and the water - where the fire should be!) - - The turbine was said by eminent marine engineers to have an - “insuperable and vital defect which renders it inadmissible as - a practical marine engine--its vast number of blades--it is - only a toy.” 80 per cent. of the steam-power of the world is - now driving turbines. - - Wireless was voted damnable by all the armchair sailors when we - put it on the roof of the Admiralty, and yet we heard what one - ship (the “Argyll”) at Bombay was saying to another (the “Black - Prince”) at Gibraltar. - - “Flying machines are a physical impossibility,” said a very - great scientist four years ago. To-day they are as plentiful as - sparrows. - - “Submarines are only playthings!” was the official remark of - our Chief Admiral afloat only a little while ago, and yet now - submarines are talked of as presently ousting Dreadnoughts. - - The above texts, extracted from comparatively modern naval - history (history is a record of exploded ideas!), should make - anyone chary of ridiculing the writer when he repeats: - - THE SUBMARINE IS THE COMING TYPE OF WAR VESSEL FOR SEA FIGHTING. - - And what is it that the coming of the submarine really means? - It means that the whole foundation of our traditional naval - strategy, which served us so well in the past, has been broken - down! The foundation of that strategy was blockade. The Fleet - did not exist merely to win battles--that was the means, not - the end. The ultimate purpose of the Fleet was to make blockade - possible for us and impossible for our enemy. Where that - situation was set up we could do what we liked with him on the - sea, and, despite a state of war, England grew steadily richer. - But with the advent of the long-range ocean-going submarine - that has all gone! Surface ships can no longer either maintain - or prevent blockade, and with the conception of blockade are - broken up all the consequences, direct and indirect, that used - to flow from it. All our old ideas of strategy are simmering in - the melting pot! Can we get anything out of it which will let - us know where we are and restore to us something of our former - grip? It is a question that must be faced. - - * * * * * - - Sea-fighting of to-day, or at any time, entails the removal of - the enemy’s sea forces. If, as is maintained, the submarine - proves itself at once the most efficient factor for this - purpose and also the most difficult sea force to remove, let us - clear our minds of all previous obsessions and acknowledge the - facts once and for all. - - -HOSTILE SUBMARINES. - - _It has to be freely acknowledged that at the present time no - means exist of preventing hostile submarines emerging from - their own ports and cruising more or less at will._ - - It is, moreover, only barely possible that, in the future, - mining and other blocking operations on a very extensive scale - may so develop as to render their exit very hazardous; but it - is plain that such operations would require a large personnel, - unceasing energy and vigilance, and an immense quantity of - constantly replaceable materials. - - * * * * * - -THE SUBMARINE AND COMMERCE. - - Again, the question arises as to what a submarine can do - against a merchant ship when she has found her. She cannot - capture the merchant ship; she has no spare hands to put a - prize crew on board; little or nothing would be gained by - disabling her engines or propeller; she cannot convoy her - into harbour; and, in fact, it is impossible for the submarine - to deal with commerce in the light and provisions of accepted - international law. Under these circumstances, is it presumed - that the hostile submarine will disregard such law and sink - any vessel heading for a British commercial port and certainly - those that are armed or carrying contraband? - - There is nothing else the submarine can do except sink her - capture, and it must therefore be admitted that (provided it - is done, and however inhuman and barbarous it may appear) this - submarine menace is a truly terrible one for British commerce - and Great Britain alike, for no means can be suggested at - present of meeting it except by reprisals. All that would - be known would be that a certain ship and her crew had - disappeared, or some of her boats would be picked up with a few - survivors to tell the tale. Such a tale would fill the world - with horror, and it is freely acknowledged to be an altogether - barbarous method of warfare; but, again, if it is done by the - Germans the only thing would be to make reprisals. The essence - of war is violence, and moderation in war is imbecility. - - It has been suggested that it should be obligatory for a - submarine to fire a warning gun, but is such a proceeding - practical? We must bear in mind that modern submarines are - faster on the surface than the majority of merchantmen, and - will not necessarily need to dive at all. Therefore, as the - submarine would in most cases be sighted, and as she has no - prize crew to put on board, the warning gun is useless, as the - only thing the submarine could do would be to sink the enemy; - also, the apparently harmless merchant vessel may be armed, in - which case the submarine may but have given herself away if she - did not sink her. - - The subject is, indeed, one that bristles with great - difficulties, and it is highly desirable that the conduct - of submarines in molesting commerce should be thoroughly - considered. Above all, it is one of overwhelming interest to - neutrals. One flag is very much like another seen against the - light through a periscope, should he have thought it necessary - to dive; and the fear is natural that the only thing the - officer of the hostile submarine would make sure of would be - that the flag seen was not that of his own country. - - Moreover, under numerous circumstances can a submarine allow - a merchant ship to pass unmolested? Harmless trader in - appearance, in reality she may be one of the numerous fleet - auxiliaries, a mine-layer, or carrying troops, and so on. Can - the submarine come to the surface to inquire and lose all - chance of attack if the vessel should prove to be faster than - she is? The apparent merchant ship may also be armed. In this - light, indeed, the recent arming of our British merchantmen is - unfortunate, for it gives the hostile submarine an excellent - excuse (if she needs one) for sinking them; namely, that of - self-defence against the guns of the merchant ship. - - What can be the answer to all the foregoing but that (barbarous - and inhuman as, we again repeat, it may appear), if the - submarine is used at all against commerce, she must sink her - captures? - - For the prevention of submarines preying on our commerce, it is - above all necessary that merchant shipping should take every - advantage of our favourable geographical position, and that we - should make the Straits of Dover as difficult as we possibly - can. - - It is not proposed here to enter into the technical details of - such arrangements; but even after every conceivable means has - been taken, it must be conceded that there is at least a chance - of submarines passing safely through; while at night, or in - thick weather, it is probable that they would not fail to pass - in safety. - -I conclude with some details of British Submarines before and during -the War:-- - - I. When I left the Admiralty in January, 1910: - Submarines ready for fighting 61 - Building and on order 13 - - II. When I returned to the Admiralty, in October, 1914, as First Sea - Lord: - Submarines fit for fighting 53 - Building and on order 21 - But of these 21, only 5 were any good! - 2 were paid off as useless. - 3 sold to the Italians, not of use to us. - 4 sold to the French, not of use to us. - 7 of unsatisfactory design. - -- - 16 leaving only 5 of oversea modern (“E”) Type. - -- - -Nominally, there were 77 Submarines when I returned in October, 1914, -but out of these 24 were useless, or had gone to the Antipodes, as -follows: - - 2 to Australia. - 3 to Hong Kong. - 1 sold to Italy useless. - 8 “A” Class scrapped, 10 years old. - 10 “B” Class scrapped, 9 years old. - -- - 24 - -77 - 24 = 53 total Submarines fit for Service when I returned in -October, 1914. - -There were 61 Submarines efficient when I left the Admiralty in -January, 1910. - -Of those that were on order when I returned, 14 were of “G” Class, -but were of an experimental type, and so were not ready till _June, -1916_, or one year after the Submarines were ready which I ordered on -my return to the Admiralty in October, 1914. - -Here may be stated the great service rendered by Mr. Schwab, of the -Bethlehem Steel Works. I specially sent for him. I told him the very -shortest time hitherto that a Submarine had been built in was 14 -months. Would he use his best endeavours to deliver in six months? _He -delivered the first batch in five months!_ And not only that, but they -were of so efficient a type (“H” Class) that they came from America to -the Dardanelles without escort, and were of inestimable service out -there, and passed into the Sea of Marmora, and were most effective in -sinking Turkish Transports bringing munitions to Gallipoli. - -The type of Submarine (“H” Class) he built hold the field for their -special attributes. I saw one in dock at Harwich that had been rammed -by a Destroyer--I think a German Destroyer--and had the forepart of her -taken clean away, and she got back to Harwich by herself all right. The -Commander of her, an aged man, was in the Merchant Service. (What a -lot we do indeed owe to the Merchant Service, and especially to those -wonderful men in the Trawlers!) - -But Mr. Schwab did far more than what I have narrated above. He -undertook the delivery of a very important portion of the armament of -the Monitors. - -The idea was followed up in making old Cruisers immune from German -Submarines--the “Grafton,” an old type Cruiser (and so also the -“Edgar”), thus fitted, was hit fair amidships by a torpedo from a -German submarine off Gibraltar, and the Captain of the “Grafton” -reported himself unhurt and going all the faster for it (as it had -blown off a good bit of the hull!), and those vessels were ever so much -the better sea boats for it! - -It is lamentable that no heed was given to the great sagacity of Mr. -Churchill in his special endeavour to give further application to this -invention. - -In the Submarine Monitor M1, which carries a 12-inch gun, and which is -illustrated in this volume, we have the type of vessel I put before the -Admiralty in August, 1915. She is the forerunner of the Battleship of -the future; but her successors should be built in a much shorter time -than she was. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES - -_How War and Peaceful Commerce will be Revolutionised by the Oil -Engine._ - - -On September 17th, 1912, at 3 a.m., I invited two very eminent experts, -Sir Trevor Dawson and his coadjutor McKechnie, to leave their beds and -come into my room to see an outline of the Fast Ship of the Future, -both for War and Commerce, carrying sufficient fuel to go round the -Earth with and with an increased capacity of 30 per cent. as compared -with similar vessels of the same displacement using steam. At length a -special Government Research Department has been set up to develop the -Oil Engine, and a sum prohibitive in peace time has been cheerfully -accorded by War reasoning to set up this establishment on a big -basis. I reiterate what is said elsewhere, that the Oil Engine will -revolutionise both War and Commerce when once it is perfected--through -the enormous gain it affords in space and smaller crews through -riddance of stokeholds and firemen, and facility of re-fuelling and -cleanliness and absence of funnels, etc., etc. - -Here is a descriptive outline of H.M.S. “Incomparable,” as set forth in -the early morning of September 17th, 1912: - -Really a Gem! She can be riddled and gutted outside the Central -Diamond-shaped Armoured Citadel because nothing vital outside that -Citadel! So lightly built she’ll weigh so little as to go Fast, with a -hundred and fifty thousand horse power! She’ll shake to pieces in about -10 years! What’s the good of a warship lasting longer? The d--d things -get obsolete in about a year! - -Ten 16-inch guns to begin with (afterwards 20-inch guns) for main -armament. - -Eight broadside Torpedo Tubes (21-inch Torpedo). - -32 knots speed at least. - -16-inch armour on citadel and belt amidships, thinning towards the end. - -850 feet long--to be afterwards 1,000 feet; 86 feet wide. - -Four Torpedo Tubes each side to be well before the Citadel (submerged -Tubes) so as not to interfere with machinery space. - -Quadruple screws. - -Anti-Submarine guns in small single turrets. - -A Turtle-backed armoured hull, with light steel uninflammable structure -before and abaft the armoured Diamond-shaped Citadel. - -Two Conning Towers. - -Hydraulic crane each side (very low in height) for lifting boats. - -The light central steel hollow mast only for wireless and for -ventilation, made of steel ribbon to wind up and down at will. - -Jam up the Citadel all that is possible right in centre of Hull, and -squeeze the last inch in space so as to lessen amount of 16-inch armour. - -Curved thick armour deck. - -Ammunition service by Hydraulic power. - -Oil right fore and aft the whole ship. Enough to go round the earth! - -Very high double bottom--honeycombed. - -Coffer dams everywhere stuffed with cork. - -This, then, is the Fast Battle Cruiser “Incomparable” of 32 knots speed -and 20-inch guns and no funnels, and phenomenal light draught of water, -because so very long and built so flimsy that she won’t last 10 years, -but that’s long enough for the War! - -I have just found copy of a letter I sent Mr. Winston Churchill dated -two months later, when those two very eminent men, having cogitated -over the matter, very kindly informed me that the Visionary was -justified. I omit the details they kindly gave me, as I don’t wish to -deprive them of any trade advantage in the furtherance of their great -commercial intentions with regard to the oil engine, for it is just -now the commercial aspect of the internal combustion engine which -enthrals us. A ship now exists that has a dead weight capacity of 9,500 -tons with a speed of eleven knots (which is quite fast enough for all -cargo-carrying purposes) and she burns only a little over ten tons of -oil an hour. Having worked out the matter, I conclude she would save -roughly a thousand pounds in fuel alone over a similar sized steamship -in a voyage of about 3,000 miles (say crossing the Atlantic); and, of -course, as compared with coal, she could carry much additional cargo, -probably about 600 tons more. Then the getting rid of boilers and coal -bunkers gives another immense additional space to the oil engine ship -for cargo, as the oil fuel would be carried in the double-bottom. A -Swiss firm has put on board an ocean-going motor-driven ship a Diesel -engine which develops 2,500 indicated Horse Power in one cylinder, so -that a quadruple-screw motor ship could have 80,000 Horse Power with -sixteen of these cylinders cranked on each shaft. I don’t see why one -shouldn’t have a sextuple-screw motor ship with a hundred thousand -Horse Power. So it is ludicrous to say that the internal combustion -engine is not suited to big ships. For some reason I cannot discover, -“Tramp” owners are hostile to the internal combustion engine. I hope -they will not discover their error too late. I sent two marvellous -pictures of a Motor Battleship to Mr. Winston Churchill on November -17th, 1912, saying to him:-- - -“These pictures will make your mouth water!” - -However, this type of ship is obsolete for war before she has been -begun, as we have got to turn her into a submersible--not that there is -any difficulty in that--it has already been described that in August, -1916, a submersible vessel with a 12-inch gun was proposed and after -extreme hesitation and long delays in construction was built, but she -was completed too late to take part in the war. She might have sunk -a goodly number of the German Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. But our -motto in the war was “Too Late.”[10] - -The whole pith and marrow of the Internal Combustion Engine lies in the -science of metallurgy. We are lamentably behind every foreign nation, -without exception, in our application of the Internal Combustion Engine -to commercial purposes, because its reliability depends on Metallurgy, -in which science we are wanting, and we are also wanting in scientific -research on the scale of 12 inches to a foot. We have no scale at all! - -_We are going to be left behind!_ - -The Board of Invention and Research, of which I was President, -after much persistence obtained the loan of a small Laboratory at -South Kensington, greatly aided by Professor Dalby, F.R.S., for -research purposes as regards the Internal Combustion Engine; but its -capabilities were quite inadequate. Then the President of the Council -(Earl Curzon) was to undertake the whole question of Research on a -great and worthy scale, and I got a most kind letter from him. It ended -with the letter! - -In this connection I have had wonderful support from Sir Marcus Samuel, -who staked his all on Oil and the Oil Engine. Where should we have -been in this War but for this Prime Mover? I’ve no doubt he is an oil -millionaire now, but that’s not the point. Oil is one of the things -that won us the War. And when he was Lord Mayor of London he was -about the only man who publicly supported me when it was extremely -unfashionable to do so. - - * * * * * - -Oil is the very soul of future Sea Fighting. Hence my interest in it, -and though not intending to work again, yet my consuming passion for -oil and the oil engine made me accept the Chairmanship of a Royal -Commission on Oil and the Oil Engine when Mr. Churchill and Mr. Asquith -found me at Naples in May, 1912. - -I have come to the conclusion that about the best thing I ever did -was the following exuberant outburst over Oil and the Oil Engine. I -observe it was printed in November 1912, written “currente calamo,” -and now on reading it over I would not alter a word. I am only aghast -at the astounding stupidity of the British Shipbuilder and the British -Engineer in being behind every country in the development of motor -ships. - - -OIL AND THE OIL ENGINE (1912). - - I.--With two similar Dreadnoughts oil gives 3 knots more - speed--that is if ships are designed to burn oil only - instead of oil and coal--_and speed is everything_. - - II.--The use of oil fuel increases the strength of the British - Navy 33 per cent., because it can re-fuel at sea off the - enemy’s Harbours. Coal necessitates about one-third of - the Fleet being absent re-fuelling at a base (in case - of war with Germany) some three or four hundred miles - off!--_i.e._, some six or eight hundred miles unnecessary - expenditure of fuel and wear and tear of machinery and men. - - III.--Oil for steam-raising reduces the present engine and - boiler room personnel some 25 per cent., and for Internal - Combustion Engines would perhaps reduce the personnel over - 60 per cent. This powerfully affects both economy and - discipline. - - IV.--Oil tankers are in profusion on every sea and as England - commands the Ocean (_she must command the Ocean to live!!_) - she has peripatetic re-fuelling stations on every sea and - every oil tanker’s position known every day to a yard! - Before very long there will be a million tons of oil on - the various oceans in hundreds of oil tankers. The bulk of - these would be at our disposal in time of war. Few or none - could reach Germany. - - V.--The Internal Combustion Engine with _one_ ton of oil does - what it takes _four_ tons of coal to do![11] And having - no funnels or smoke is an _indescribable fighting asset_! - (Always a chance of smoke in an oil steam-raising vessel - where of course the funnels which disclose a ship such an - immense distance off are obligatory. Each enemy’s ship - spells her name to you by her funnels as they appear on the - horizon, while you are unseen!) - - VI.--The armament of the Internal Combustion Ship is not hampered - by funnels, so can give all-round fire, an inestimable - advantage because the armament can all be placed in the - central portion of the Hull with all-round fire, and giving - the ship better seaworthy qualities by not having great - weights in the extremities, as obligatory where you have - funnels and boilers. - - VII.--But please imagine the blow to British prestige if a - German warship with Internal Combustion Propulsion is at - sea before us and capable of going round the World without - re-fuelling! What an _Alabama_!!! What an upset to the - tremblers on the brink who are hesitating to make the - plunge for Motor Battleships! - - According to a reliable foreign correspondent, the keel of a - big Oil-Engine Warship for the German Navy is to be laid - shortly. Krupp has a design for a single cylinder of 4,000 - H.P.! He has had a six-cylinder engine of 2,000 H.P., each - cylinder successfully running for over a year. - - VIII.--Anyhow, it must be admitted that the burning of oil to - raise steam is a roundabout way of getting power! The motor - car and the aeroplane take little drops of oil and explode - them in cylinders and get all the power required without - being bothered with furnaces or boilers or steam engines, - so we say to the marine engineer, “Go and do thou likewise!” - - The sailor’s life on the 70,000 H.P. coal using _Lion_ is - worse than in any ship in the service owing to the constant - coalings. - - It’s an economic waste of good material to keep men grilling - in a baking fire hole at unnecessary labour and use 300 men - when a dozen or so would suffice! - - Certainly oil at present is not a cheap fuel! but it _is_ - cheap when the advantages are taken into consideration. In - an Internal Combustion Engine, according to figures given by - Lord Cowdray, his Mexican oil would work out in England, - when freights are normal, as equivalent to coal at twelve - to fifteen shillings a ton! - - Oil does not deteriorate by keeping. Coal does. You can store - millions of tons of oil without fear of waste or loss of - power, and England has got to store those millions of tons, - though this reserve may be gradually built up. The initial - cost would be substantial but the investment is gilt-edged! - We must and can face it. _Si vis pacem para bellum!_ - - You can re-fuel a ship with oil in minutes as compared with - hours with coal! - - At any moment during re-fuelling the oil-engine ship can - fight--the coal-driven ship can’t--she is disorganized--the - whole crew are black as niggers and worn out with intense - physical exertion! In the oil-driven ship one man turns a - tap! - - _It’s criminal folly to allow another pound of coal on board a - fighting ship!_--or even in a cargo-ship either!--Krupp has - a design for a cargo-ship with Internal Combustion Engines - to go 40,000 (forty thousand) miles without re-fuelling! - It’s vital for the British Fleet and vital for no other - Fleet, to have the oil engine. That’s the strange thing! - And if only the Germans knew, they’d shoot their Dr. Diesel - like a dog! - - Sir Charles Parsons and others prefer small units. It is - realised in regard to the multiplication of small units (as - the Lilliputians tied up Gulliver) that though there is - no important reason why cylinders shall not be multiplied - on the same shaft yet the space required will be very - large--the engines thus spreading themselves in the fore - and aft direction--but here comes in the ingenuity of the - Naval Constructor and the Marine Engineer in arranging a - complete fresh adaptation of the hull space and forthwith - immense fighting advantages will accrue! Far from being - an insuperable objection it’s a blessing in disguise, for - with a multiplicity of internal combustion engines there - undoubtedly follows increased safety from serious or total - breakdown, provided that suitable means are provided for - disconnecting any damaged unit and also for preventing in - case of such failure any damage to the rest of the system. - The storage of oil fuel lends itself to a remarkable new - disposition of the whole hull space. Thus a battleship - could carry some five or six thousand tons of oil in her - double bottoms--sufficient to go round the earth without - r-fuelling. The “Non-Pareil” (being the French for the - “Incomparable”) will carry over 6,000 tons of oil in her - double bottoms, with an extra double bottom below those - carrying the oil. This is equal to 24,000 tons of coal! - - This new arrangement of the hull space permits some dozen - motor boats being carried in a central armoured pit (where - the funnels used to be). These 60-feet motor boats would - carry 21-inch Torpedoes and have a speed of 40 knots. - Imagine these hornets being let loose in a sea fight! The - 21-inch Torpedo which they carry goes 5 miles! And the - silhouette of an Internal Combustion Battleship is over 30 - per cent. less than any living or projected Battleship in - the target offered to the enemy’s fire. - - IX.--Finally: - - _To be first in the race is everything!_ - - Just consider our immense gains in having been first with the - water-tube boiler! First with the turbine! First with the - 13½-inch gun! Just take this last as an illustration! We - shall have 16 ships armed with the 13½-inch gun before the - Germans have a single ship with anything bigger than the - 12-inch, and the 13½-inch is as superior to the 12-inch as - the 12-inch is to a peashooter. - - And yet we hesitate to plunge with a Motor Battleship! Why - boggle at this plunge when we have plunged before, every - time with success? - - People say Internal Combustion Propulsion in a hundred - thousand horse-power _Dreadnought_ is similarly impossible! - “Wait and see!”--The “Non-Pareil” is coming along! - - The rapid development of the oil engine is best illustrated - by the fact that a highly influential and rich German - syndicate have arranged for six passenger steamers for the - Atlantic and Pacific Trade, of 22 knots speed and 36,000 - H.P. with nine of Krupp’s cylinders of 4,000 H.P. each on - three shafts.[12] - - There need be no fear of an oil famine because of the immense - sure oil areas recently brought to notice in Canada, - Persia, Mesopotamia and elsewhere. The British oil area in - Trinidad alone will be able to more than supply all the - requirements of the British Navy. Assuming the present coal - requirements of the Navy at 1½ million tons annually, then - less than half a million tons of oil would suffice when - the whole British Navy is oil engined, and, as recently - remarked by the greatest oil magnate, this amount would be - a bagatelle compared with the total output of oil, which he - expects before many years to reach an output of a hundred - million tons a year in consequence of the great demand for - developing its output and the discovery of new oil areas - and the working of shale deposits. - -We turned coal-burning Battleships that were building in November, -1914, into oilers, with great increase of efficiency and speed. - - * * * * * - -I have chanced upon a Memorandum on “Oil and its Fighting Attributes,” -which I drew up on March 3rd, 1913, for the First Lord of the -Admiralty. It shows what a Great Personality can effect. I was told by -an enemy of Mr. Deterding (of whom I am speaking) that when he came -in as Manager of the Great Shell Oil Combine, the Concern could have -been bought for £40,000. When I wrote my Memorandum, it was valued by -a hostile Oil Magnate (who told me this himself) at forty millions -sterling. Whether it is Oil, or Peace, or War, it’s the Man, and not -the System that Wins. And Mr. Deterding is the man who shifted the -centre of gravity of oil (together with an immense assemblage of clerks -and chemists and all the paraphernalia of a huge financial web) from -abroad to this country. - - “The ideal accumulator which everybody has been after for - the last 50 years, is oil. There will never be found another - accumulator or source of power of such small volume as oil. - - “Just fancy! Get a gallon of oil and a man can go to Brighton - and back again, carrying the weight of his bicycle and himself - by means of it.... - - “It’s a shame that anybody is allowed to put oil under a - boiler--for this reason, that when oil is used in an oil engine - it realises about five times greater effect.... - - “The moment the price of oil is £5 a ton it will not be used - anywhere under a boiler for steam raising, and the whole - world’s supply will be available for the Navy and the Diesel - Engine.... - - “I am going to raise every penny I can get and build storage, - and even when I have built five million tons of storage I - am still going on building it and filling it, even if it is - only for the pleasure of looking at it. It is always so much - condensed labour stored for the future.... - - “Oil fuel when stored, does not deteriorate as coal does. - The stocks would therefore constitute a national asset, the - intrinsic value of which would not diminish.”... (Mr. Deterding - before the Royal Commission on Oil and Oil Engines.) - -My Memorandum was as follows:-- - - Mr. Deterding in his evidence before the Royal Commission, - confesses that he possesses in Roumania, in Russia, in - California, in the Dutch Indies, in Trinidad, and shortly in - Mexico, the controlling interest in oil. The Anglo-Persian - Company also say he is getting Mesopotamia and squeezing - Persia which are practically untouched areas of immense size - reeking with oil. Without doubt Mr. Deterding is Napoleonic in - his audacity and Cromwellian in his thoroughness. Sir Thomas - Browning in his evidence says that the Royal Dutch-Shell - Combination is more powerful and aggressive than ever was the - great Standard Oil Trust of America. - - Let us therefore listen with deep attention to the words of a - man who has the sole executive control of the most powerful - organisation on earth for the production of a source of power - which almost doubles the power of our Navy whilst our potential - enemies remain normal in the strength of their fleets. _What - does he advise?_ - - He says: “Oil is the most extraordinary article in the - commercial world and the only thing that hampers its sale is - its production. There is no other article in the world where - you can get the consumption as long as you make the production. - In the case of oil make the production first as the consumption - will come. There is no need to look after the consumption, and - as a seller you need not make forward contracts as the oil - sells itself.” Only what you want is an enormously long purse - to be able to snap your fingers at everybody and if people - do not want to buy it to-day to be able to say to them: “All - right; I will spend a million sterling in making reservoirs - and then in the future you will have to pay so much more.” - “The great point for the Navy is to get oil from someone who - can draw supplies from many spots, because no one spot can be - absolutely relied on.” There is not anybody who can be certain - of his supply; oil fields in my own experience which at the - time yielded 18,000 barrels a day within five days went down to - 3,000 barrels without the slightest warning. - -_The British Empire “has the long purse”; build reservoirs and store -oil. Keep on building reservoirs and buy oil at favourable rates when -they offer._ - - - _November 21st, 1917._ - -The report below of the Secretary of the United States Navy is -interesting. I have just been looking up the record in 1886, when -high officials said I was an “Oil Maniac.” I was at that time at -the Admiralty as Director of Naval Ordnance, and was sent from that -appointment to be Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, -prior to being appointed Controller of the Navy, where I remained six -years. At Portsmouth Dockyard, while I was Admiral Superintendent, -we paved the way for rapid shipbuilding in the completion of the -Battleship “Royal Sovereign” in two years. Afterwards, with the same -superintendence but additional vigour, we completed the “Dreadnought” -in one year and one day ready for Battle! - - -OIL BURNING BATTLESHIPS. - - WASHINGTON. - -Mr. Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, issues a report urging that -Congress should authorise the construction of three Battleships, one -Battle Cruiser, and nine Fleet Submarines. He favours oil-burning -units, and says that the splendid work which has been accomplished by -these vessels would not have been done by coal-burning ships. _The use -of any other power but oil is not now in sight._ - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE BIG GUN - - -Perhaps the most convincing speech I ever read was made impromptu by -Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon at a meeting of the Institution of Naval -Architects on March 12th, 1913. - -First of all Admiral Bacon disposed of the fallacy brought forward by -one of the speakers, as to which is more effective in disabling the -enemy, to destroy the structure of the ship or destroy the guns--the -fact being that both are bound up together--if you utterly destroy the -hull of the ship you thereby practically destroy the gun-fire. (This -is one of those things so obvious that one greatly wonders how these -clever experts lose themselves.) - -Then Admiral Bacon in a most lovely parable disposed of the “Bow and -Arrow Party,” who want a lot of small guns instead of, as in the -Dreadnought, but one type of gun and that the heaviest gun that can be -made. This is Admiral Bacon:-- - - “I should like to draw your attention to some advice that was - given many years ago by an old Post Captain to a Midshipman. - He said, ‘Boy, if ever you are dining and after dinner, over - the wine, some subject like politics is discussed when men’s - passions are aroused, if a man throws a glass of wine in your - face, do not throw a glass of wine in his: _Throw the decanter - stopper!_’ And that is what we advocates of the Heavy Gun as - mounted in the Dreadnought propose to do--not to slop the - six-inch shot over the shirt-front of a battleship, but to go - for her with the heaviest guns we can get; and the heavier - the explosive charge you can get in your shell and the bigger - explosion you can wreak on the structure near the turrets and - the conning tower and over the armoured deck the more likely - you are to disable that ship. We object most strongly to the - fire of the big guns being interfered with by the use of - smaller guns at the same time with all the smoke and mess that - are engendered by them. The attention of the Observing Officers - is distracted; their sight is to a great extent obliterated, - and even the theoretical result of the small guns is not worth - the candle.... The ordinary six-inch gun in a battleship is, - as regards torpedo-boat attack, of just as much use as a stick - is to an old gentleman who is being snow-balled: it keeps his - enemy at a respectful distance but still within the vulnerable - range of the torpedo. In these days the locomotive torpedo - can be fired at ranges at which it is absolutely impossible - even to hope or think of hitting the Destroyer which fires - the torpedoes at you. You may try to do it, but it is quite - useless. Very well, then; the six-inch gun does keep the - Destroyer at a longer range than would be the case if the - six-inch gun were not there, that’s all.... Then the problem - of speed has been touched upon. I quite see from one point of - view that to lose two guns for an extra five-knot speed seems - a great loss; but there is one question which I should like - to ask, and that is whether you would send out to sea a whole - fleet, the whole strength of the nation, with no single ship of - sufficient superior speed to pick up a particular ship of the - enemy? That is the point to rivet your attention upon. We must - always in our Navy have ships of greatly superior speed to any - one particular ship in the enemy’s fleet, otherwise over the - face of the sea you will have ships of the enemy roaming about - that we cannot overhaul and that nothing can touch.” - -The above words were spoken by Admiral Bacon two and three-quarter -years before Admiral von Spee and his fast Squadron were caught up -and destroyed by the British fast Battle Cruisers, “Invincible” and -“Inflexible.” Admiral Bacon was a prophet! In other words, Admiral -Bacon had Common Sense, and saw the Obvious. - -It’s difficult for a shore-going person to realise things obvious to -the sailor. For instance: in the case of a Big Gun, if twice two is -four, then twice four isn’t eight, it’s sixteen, and twice eight isn’t -sixteen, it’s sixty-four; that is to say, the bursting effect of a -shell varies with the square. So the bigger the calibre of the gun the -more immense is the desolating effect of the shell, and, incidentally, -the longer the range at which you hit the enemy. - -The projectile of the 20-inch gun that was ready to be made for H.M.S. -“Incomparable” weighed _over two tons_, and the gun itself weighed 200 -_tons_. Such a projectile, associated with a Howitzer, may effect vast -changes in both Sea and Land War, because of the awful and immense -craters such shell explosions would effect. - -To illustrate the frightful devastating effect of such huge shell I -will tell a story that I heard from a great friend of mine, a Japanese -Admiral. He was a Lieutenant at the time of the Chino-Japanese War. -The Chinese vessels mounted very heavy guns. One of their shells burst -on the side of the Japanese ship in which my friend was. The Captain -sent him down off the bridge to see what had happened, as the ship -tottered under the effect of this shell. When he got down on the gun -deck, he saw, as it were, the whole side of the ship open to the sea, -and not a vestige of any of the crew could he see. They had all been -blown to pieces. The only thing he rescued was the uniform cap of his -friend, the Lieutenant who was in charge of that division of guns, -blown up overhead between the beams. The huge rope mantlets that acted -as splinter nettings hung between the guns had utterly disappeared and -were resolved into tooth powder! (so he described it). - -I digress here with an anecdote that comes to my mind and which greatly -impressed me with the extraordinary humility of the Japanese mind. I -had remonstrated with my Japanese friend as to Admiral Togo not having -been suitably rewarded for his wonderful victory over the Russian -Admiral Rozhdestvensky. He replied: “Sir, Admiral Togo has received -the Second Class of the Order of the Golden Kite!” We should have made -him a Duke straight off! Togo was made a Count afterwards, but not all -at once--for fear, I suppose, of giving him a swelled head. He was a -great man, Togo; he was extremely diffident about accepting the English -Order of Merit, and even then he wore the Order the wrong way out, so -that the inscription “For Merit” should not be seen. The Mikado asked -him, after the great battle, to bring to him the bravest man in the -Fleet; the Mikado expecting to see a Japanese of some sort. I am told -that Admiral Togo brought Admiral Pakenham, who was alongside him -during the action. I quite believe it; but I have always been too shy -to ask my friend if it was true. All I know is that I never read better -Despatches anywhere than those of Admiral Pakenham. - -[Illustration: - - _Reproduced by courtesy of_ “_The Graphic_” - -LORD FISHER’S PROPOSED SHIP, H.M.S. “INCOMPARABLE,” SHOWN ALONGSIDE -H.M.S. “DREADNOUGHT.”] - -Somewhat is said in my “Memories” of the unmistakable astoundingness -of huge bursting charges in the shell of big guns. (I should be sorry -to limit the effects to even Geometrical Progression!) I don’t think -Science has as yet more than mathematically investigated the amazing -quality of Detonation. Here is a picture (see opposite p. 176) of only -eighteen inch gun shells, such as the Battle Cruiser “Furious” was -designed and built to fire. Her guns with their enormous shells were -built to make it impossible for the Germans to prevent the Russian -Millions from landing on the Pomeranian Coast! In this connection I -append a rough sketch by Oscar Parkes of a twenty-inch gun ship (see -opposite). The sketch will offend the critical eye of my very talented -friend, Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt, but it’s good enough for -shoregoing people to give them the idea of what, but for the prodigious -development of Air-craft, would have been as great a New Departure as -was the “Dreadnought.” The shells of the “Incomparable” fired from her -twenty-inch guns would each have weighed over two tons! Imagine two -tons being hurled by each of these guns to a height above the summit -of the Matterhorn, or any other mountain you like to take, and bursting -on its reaching the ground far out of human sight, but yet with exact -accuracy as to where it should fall, causing in its explosion a crater -somewhat like that of Vesuvius or Mount Etna, and consequently you can -then easily imagine the German Army fleeing for its life from Pomerania -to Berlin. The “Furious” (and all her breed) was not built for Salvoes! -They were built for Berlin, and that’s why they drew so little water -and were built so fragile, so as to weigh as little as possible, and so -go faster. - -It is very silly indeed to build vessels of War so strong as to -last a hundred years. They are obsolete in less than ten years. But -the Navy is just one mass of Tories! In the old days a Sailing Line -of Battleship never became obsolete; the winds of Heaven remained -as in the days of Noah. I staggered one Old Admiral by telling him -that it blew twice as hard now as when he was at sea; he couldn’t go -head-to-wind in his day with sails only, now with the wind forty miles -against you you can go forty miles dead against it, and therefore the -wind is equal to eighty miles an hour. He didn’t quite take it in. I -heard one First Sea Lord say to the Second Sea Lord, when scandalised -at seeing in a new ship a bathroom for the midshipmen, that he never -washed when he went to sea and he didn’t see why the midshipmen should -now! But what most upset him was that the seat of the water-closet was -mahogany French-polished, instead of good old oak holystoned every -morning and so always nice and damp to sit on. (Another improvement is -unmentionable!) - -I must not leave this chapter without expressing my unbounded delight -in having to do business with so splendid a man as Major A. G. Hadcock, -the Head of the Ordnance Department at the Elswick Works, who fought -out single-handed all the difficulties connected with the inception -of the eighteen-inch and the twenty-inch guns of the “Furious” and -“Incomparable.” I have another friend of the same calibre, who has -consistently been in the forefront of the Battle for the adoption of -the biggest possible gun that could be constructed--Admiral Sir Sydney -Eardley-Wilmot; he was also the most efficient Chief of the Munitions -Department of the Admiralty. When I was gasping with Hadcock over a -20-inch gun, Wilmot had a 22-inch gun! I really felt small (quite -unusual with me!). Now I hope no one is going to quote this line when -they review this book:--“Some men grow great, others only swell.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -SOME PREDICTIONS - - -When I was “sore let and hindered” in the days of my youth as a young -Lieutenant, a cordial hand was always held out to me by Commodore -Goodenough. He was killed by the South Sea Islanders with a poisoned -arrow. Being on intimate terms with him, I sent him, in 1868, a -reasoned statement proving conclusively that masts and sails were -damned as the motive power of warships. - -(As a parenthesis I here insert the fact that so late as 1896 a -distinguished Admiral, on full pay and in active employment, put -forward a solemn declaration that unless sixteen sailing vessels were -built for the instruction of the Officers and men of the Navy the -fighting efficiency of the Fleet would go to the devil.) - -Commodore Goodenough was so impressed by my memorandum that he had -a multitude of copies printed and circulated, with the result that -they were all burnt and I was damned, and I got a very good talking -to by the First Sea Lord. I hadn’t the courage of those fine old -boys--Bishops Latimer and Ridley--and ran away from the stake. Besides, -I wanted to get on. I felt my day had not yet come. Years after, I -commanded the “Inflexible,” still with masts and sails. She had every -sort of wonderful contrivance in engines, electricity, etc.; but -however well we did with them we were accorded no credit. The sails -had as much effect upon her in a gale of wind as a fly would have on a -hippopotamus in producing any movement. However, we shifted topsails -in three minutes and a half and the Admiral wrote home to say the -“Inflexible” was the best ship in the Fleet. Ultimately the masts and -sails were taken out of her. - -It was not till I was Director of Naval Ordnance that wooden boarding -pikes were done away with. I had a good look round, at the time, to see -if there were any bows and arrows left. - -What my retrograde enemies perfectly detested was being called “the -bow and arrow party.” When later they fought against me about speed -being the first desideratum, the only way I bowled them over was by -designating them as “the Snail and Tortoise party.” It was always the -same lot. They wanted to put on so much armour to make themselves safe -in battle that their ideal became like one of the Spithead Forts--it -could hardly move, it had so much armour on. The great principle of -fighting is simplicity, but the way a ship used to be built was that -you put into her everybody’s fad and everybody’s gun, and she sank in -the water so much through the weight of all these different fads that -she became a tortoise! The greatest possible speed with the biggest -practicable gun was, up to the time of aircraft, the acme of sea -fighting. Now, there is only one word--“Submersible.” - -But to proceed with another Prediction: - -The second prediction followed naturally from the first. With machinery -being dictated to us as the motive power instead of sails, officers and -men would have to become Engineers, and discipline would be better, and -so you would not require to have Marines to shoot the sailors in case -of mutiny. Now this does sound curious, but again it is so obvious. -When the sails were the motive power, the best Petty Officers--that -is to say, the smartest of the seamen--got their positions, not by -good conduct, but by their temerity aloft, and the man who hauled -out the weather-earing in reefing topsails in a gale of wind and -balanced himself on his stomach on a topsail yard, with the ship in -a mountainous sea, was a man you had to have in a leading position, -whatever his conduct was. But once the sails were done away with and -there was no going aloft, then the whole ship’s company became what may -be called “good conduct” men, and could be Marines, or, if you liked to -call them so, Sailors. One plan I had was to do away with the sailors; -and another plan I had was to do away with Marines. I plumped for the -sailors, though I loved the Marines. - -In December, 1868, I predicted and patented a sympathetic exploder for -submarine mines. In the last year of the war this very invention proved -to be the most deadly of all species of submarine mines. - -Quite a different sort of prediction occurs in a letter I wrote to Sir -Maurice Hankey in 1910, and of which he reminded me in the following -letter: - - -LETTER FROM SIR M. HANKEY, K.C.B. (SECRETARY TO THE WAR CABINET). - - OFFICES OF THE WAR CABINET, - 2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, S.W. - _May 28th, 1917._ - - MY DEAR LORD FISHER, - - I am sending your letter along to my wife and asking her to - write to you and send both a copy of your letter to me in 1910 - about Mr. Asquith’s leaving office in November, 1916,[13] and - also to write to you about your prophecy of war with Germany - beginning in 1914, and Sir John Jellicoe being in command of - the Grand Fleet when war broke out. - - I have the clearest recollection of the incident. My wife and - I had been down to you for a week-end to Kilverstone. You had - persuaded us not to go up by the early train on the Monday, - and you took us to the rose-garden, where there was a sundial - with a charming and interesting inscription. You linked one - arm through my wife’s and the other through mine, and walked - us round and round the paths, and it was walking thus that you - made the extraordinary prophecy-- - - “_The War will come in 1914, and Jellicoe will command the - Grand Fleet._” - -I remember that my practical mind revolted against the prophecy, and -I pressed you for reasons. You then told us that the Kiel Canal, -according to experts whom you had assembled five or six years before -to examine this question, could not be enlarged for the passage of -the new German Dreadnoughts before 1914, and that Germany, though bent -on war, would not risk it until this date. As regards Jellicoe, you -explained how you yourself had so cast his professional career in such -directions as to train him for the post, and, after a brief horoscope -of his normal prospects of promotion, you indicated your intention of -watching over his career--as you actually did. - -All this remains vividly in my mind, and I believe in that of my wife, -but, as I am not going home for a few days, she shall give you her -unbiassed account. - -The calculation itself was an interesting one, but what strikes me -now as more remarkable is the “flair” with which you forecasted with -certainty the state of mind of the German Emperor and his advisers, and -their intention to go to war the first moment they dared.... - -No more now. - - In haste, - Yours ever, - (Signed) M. P. A. HANKEY. - -The grounds for my prophecies are stated elsewhere. I won’t repeat them -here. They really weren’t predictions; they were certainties. - -I remark in passing that what the sundial said was:-- - - “Forsitan Ultima.” - -By the way, I was called a sundial once by a vituperative woman whom -I didn’t know; she wrote a letter abusing me as an optimist, and sent -these lines:-- - - “There he stands amidst the flowers, - Counting only sunny hours, - Heeding neither rain nor mist, - That brazen-faced old optimist.” - -Another woman (but I knew her) in sending me some lovely roses to -crown the event of a then recent success, sent also some beautiful -lines likewise of her own making. She regretted that I preferred a -crown of thorns to a crown of the thornless roses she sent me. The -rose she alluded to is called “Zephyrine Drouhin,” and, to me, it is -astounding that it is so unknown. It is absolutely the only absolute -thornless rose; it has absolutely the sweetest scent of any rose; it -is absolutely the most glorious coloured of all roses; it blooms more -than any rose; it requires no pruning, and costs less than any rose. I -planted these roses when I left the Admiralty in 1910. Somebody told -the Naval Attaché at Rome, not knowing that he knew me, that I had -taken to planting roses, and his remark was: “They’ll d--d well have to -grow!” He had served many years with me. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE BALTIC PROJECT - - _Note._--This paper was submitted for my consideration by Sir - Julian Corbett, in the early autumn of 1914. - - -From the shape the war has now taken, it is to be assumed that Germany -is trusting for success to a repetition of the methods of Frederick -the Great in the Seven Years’ War. Not only are the conditions of the -present war closely analogous--the main difference being that Great -Britain and Austria have changed places--but during the last 15 years -the German Great General Staff have been producing an elaborate study -of these campaigns. - -Broadly stated, Frederick’s original plan in that war was to meet the -hostile coalition with a sudden offensive against Saxony, precisely as -the Germans began with France. When that offensive failed, Frederick -fell back on a defensive plan under which he used his interior position -to deliver violent attacks beyond each of his frontiers successively. -By this means he was able for seven years to hold his own against odds -practically identical with those which now confront Germany; and in the -end, though he made none of the conquests he expected, he was able to -secure peace on the basis of the _status quo ante_ and materially to -enhance his position in Europe. - -In the present war, so far as it has gone, the same methods promise the -same result. Owing to her excellent communications, Germany has been -able to employ Frederick’s methods with even greater success than he -did; and at present there seems no certain prospect of the Allies being -able to overcome them soon enough to ensure that exhaustion will not -sap the vigour and cohesion of the coalition. - -The only new condition in favour of the Allies is that the Command -of the Sea is now against Germany, and it is possible that its mere -passive pressure may avail to bring her to a state of hopeless -exhaustion from which we were able to save Frederick in the earlier -war. If it is believed that this passive pressure can achieve the -desired result within a reasonable time, then there is no reason for -changing our present scheme of naval operations. If, on the other hand, -we have no sufficient promise of our passive attitude effecting what -is required to turn the scale, then it may be well to consider the -possibility of bringing our Command of the Sea to bear more actively. - -We have only to go back again to the Seven Years’ War to find a means -of doing this, which, _if feasible under modern conditions_, would -promise success as surely as it did in the eighteenth century. - -Though Frederick’s method succeeded, it was once brought within an ace -of failure. From the first he knew that the weak point of his system -was his northern frontier. - -_He knew that a blow in force from the Baltic could at any time -paralyse his power of striking right and left, and it was in dread of -this from Russia that he began by pressing us so hard to provide him -with a covering fleet in that sea._ - -Owing to our world-wide preoccupations we were never able to provide -such a fleet, and the result was that at the end of 1761 the Russians -were able to seize the port of Colberg, occupy the greater part of -Pomerania, and winter there in preparation for the decisive campaign -in the following spring. Frederick’s view of his danger is typified in -the story that he now took to carrying a phial of poison in his pocket. -Owing, however, to the sudden death of the Czarina in the winter the -fatal campaign was never fought. Russia made peace and Prussia was -saved. - -So critical an episode in the early history of Prussia cannot be -without an abiding influence in Berlin. Indeed, it is not too much to -say that in a country where military thought tends to dominate naval -plans, _the main value of the German Fleet must be its ability to keep -the command of the Baltic so far in dispute that hostile invasion -across it is impossible_. - -_If then it is considered necessary to adopt a more drastic war plan -than that we are now pursuing, and to seek to revive the fatal stroke -of 1761, it is for consideration whether we are able to break down -the situation which the German fleet has set up. Are we, in short, -in a position to occupy the Baltic in such strength as to enable an -adequate Russian army to land in the spring on the coast of Pomerania -within striking distance of Berlin or so as to threaten the German -communications eastward?_ - -The first and most obvious difficulty attending such an operation is -that it would require the whole of our battle force, and we could -not at the same time occupy the North Sea effectively. We should, -therefore, lie open to the menace of a counterstroke which might at -any time force us to withdraw from the Baltic; and the only means of -preventing this--since the western exit of the Kiel Canal cannot be -blocked-- - - _would be to sow the North Sea with mines on such a scale that - naval operations in it would become impossible_. - -The objections to such an expedient, both moral and practical, are, of -course, very great. The chief moral objection is offence to neutrals. -But it is to be observed that they are already suffering severely from -the open-sea mining which the Germans inaugurated, and it is possible -that, could they be persuaded that carrying the system of open-sea -mining to its logical conclusion would expedite the end of the present -intolerable conditions, they might be induced to adopt an attitude of -acquiescence. The actual attitude of the northern neutral Powers looks -at any rate as if they would be glad to acquiesce in any measure which -promised them freedom from their increasing apprehension of Germany’s -intentions. Sweden, at any rate, who would, after Holland, be the -greatest sufferer, has recently been ominously reminded of the days -when Napoleon forced her into war with us against her will. - -In this connection it may also be observed that where one belligerent -departs from the rules of civilised warfare, it is open to the other to -take one of two courses. He may secure a moral advantage by refusing to -follow a bad lead, or he may seek a physical advantage by forcing the -enemy’s crime to its utmost consequences. _By the half measures we have -adopted hitherto in regard to open-sea mines, we are enjoying neither -the one advantage nor the other._ - -On the general idea of breaking up the German war plan by operations -in the Baltic, it may be recalled that it is not new to us. It was -attempted--but a little too late--during Napoleon’s Friedland-Eylau -campaign. It was again projected in 1854, when our operations in -the Great War after Trafalgar, and particularly in the Peninsula, -were still living memories. In that year we sent a Fleet into the -Baltic with the idea of covering the landing of a French force within -striking distance of Petrograd, which was to act in combination with -the Prussian army; but as Prussia held back, the idea was never -carried out. Still, the mere presence of our Fleet--giving colour -to the menace--did avail to keep a very large proportion of the -Russian strength away from the Crimea, and so materially hastened the -successful conclusion of the war. - -On this analogy, it is for consideration whether, even if the suggested -operation is not feasible, a menace of carrying it out--concerted with -Russia--might not avail seriously to disturb German equilibrium and -force her to desperate expedients, even to hazarding a Fleet action or -to alienating entirely the Scandinavian Powers by drastic measures of -precaution. - -The risks, of course, must be serious; but unless we are fairly sure -that the passive pressure of our Fleet is really bringing Germany to -a state of exhaustion, _risks must be taken to use our command of the -Sea with greater energy_; or, so far as the actual situation promises, -we can expect no better issue for the present war than that which the -continental coalition was forced to accept in the Seven Years’ War. - - -_Lord Fisher to Mr. Lloyd George._ - - 36, BERKELEY SQUARE, - LONDON, - _March 28th, 1917_. - - DEAR PRIME MINISTER, - - I hardly liked to go further with my remarks this morning, - recognising how very valuable your time is, but I would have - liked to have added how appalling it is that the Germans may - now be about to deal a deadly blow to Russia by sending a large - German Force by sea from Kiel to take St. Petersburg (which, as - the Russian Prime Minister, Stolypin, told me, is the Key of - Russia! All is concentrated there!). And here we are with our - Fleet passive and unable to frustrate this German Sea attack - on Russia. All this due to the grievous faulty Naval strategy - of not adopting the Baltic Project put before Mr. Asquith in - association with the scheme for the British Army advancing - along the Belgian Coast, by which we should have re-captured - Antwerp, and there would have been no German submarine menace - such as now is. An Armada of 612 vessels was constructed to - carry out this policy, thanks to your splendid approval of the - cost when you were Chancellor of the Exchequer. - - I. Our Naval Strategy has been unimaginative. - - II. Our shipbuilding Policy has been futile, inasmuch as it has - not coped with the German Submarine Menace. - - III. Our Naval Intelligence of the enemy’s doings is good for - nothing. For it is impossible to conceive there would have - been apathy at the Admiralty had it been known how the Germans - were building submarines in such numbers--3 a week, Sir John - Jellicoe told us at the War Cabinet. I say 5 a week. - - Yours, etc., - (Signed) FISHER. - 28/3/17. - -I append a couple of extracts from Memoranda made by me in 1902, when I -was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. - - “Here we see 5,000 of these offensive floating mines laid - down off Port Arthur, covering a wider space than the English - Channel, and we, so far, have none, nor any vessel yet fitted! - What a scandal! For a purpose unnecessary to be detailed - here, it is absolutely obligatory for us to have these mines - instantly for war against Germany. They are an imperative - strategic necessity, and must be got at once.” - - -AUTOMATIC DROPPING MINES FOR OCEAN USE. - - “The question of the use of these mines as an adjunct to a - Battle Fleet in a Fleet action has not been put forward so - strongly as desirable as compared with their use for preventing - ingress or egress to a port. They can be used with facility in - the open sea in depths up to 150 fathoms. There is no question - that they could be employed with immense effect to protect - the rear of a retreating Fleet. This type of mine is quite - different to the blockade mine. They are offensive mines. Is - it wise, indeed is it prudent not to acquaint ourselves, by - exhaustive trials, what the possibility of such a weapon may - be, and how it may be counteracted?” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE NAVY IN THE WAR - - -SCAPA FLOW. - -Ages before the War, but after I became First Sea Lord on Trafalgar -Day, 1904, I was sitting locked up in a secluded room that I had -mis-appropriated at the Admiralty, looking at a chart of the North Sea, -and playing with a pair of compasses, when these thoughts came into -my mind! “Those d--d Germans, if dear old Tirpitz is only far-seeing -enough, will multiply means of ‘dishing’ a blockade by making the life -of surface ships near the coast line a burden to them by submarines and -destroyers. (At this time the Germans had only one submarine, and she a -failure!) Also, as their radius of action grows through the marvellous -oil engine, and ‘internal combustion’ changes the face of sea war, we -must have our British Fleet so placed at such a distance from hostile -attack that our Force off the Enemy’s Coast will cut off his marauders -at daylight in the morning on their marauding return.” I put that safe -distance for the British Fleet on my compasses and swept a circle, -and behold it came to a large inland land-locked sheet of water, but -there was no name to it on the chart and no soundings in it put on the -chart. I sent for the Hydrographer, and pointing to the spot, I said: -“Bring me the large scale chart. What’s its name?” He didn’t know. He -would find out. - -He was a d--d long time away, and I rang the bell twice and sent him -word each time that I was getting angry! - -When he turned up, he said it hadn’t been properly surveyed, and he -believed it was called Scapa Flow! So up went a surveying ship about -an hour afterwards, and discovered, though the current raged through -the Pentland Firth at sometimes 14 knots, yet inside this huge secluded -basin it was comparatively a stagnant pool! Wasn’t that another proof -that we are the ten lost tribes of Israel? And the Fleet went there -forty-eight hours before the War, and a German in the German Fleet -wrote to his father to say how it had been intended to torpedo the -British Fleet, but it had left unexpectedly sooner for this Northern -“Unknown!” Also, he said in his letter that Jellicoe’s appointment as -Admiralissimo was very painful to them as they knew of his extreme -skill in the British Naval Manœuvres of 1913. Also, thirdly, he added -to his Papa that it was a d--d nuisance we had bagged the two Turkish -Dreadnoughts in the Tyne the very day they were ready to start, as they -belonged to Germany! - -The mention of Jellicoe reminds me of Yamamoto saying to me that, just -before their War with Russia, he had superseded a splendid Admiral -loved by his Fleet, because Togo was “just a little better!!!” - -The superseded man was his own _protégé_, and Togo wasn’t. No wonder -these Japanese fight! - -Prince Fushishima, the Mikado’s brother, told me of 4,000 of a special -company of the bluest blood in Japan, of whom all except four were -killed in action or died of wounds--only nine were invalided for -sickness. However, I remarked to him we were braver than those 4,000 -Japanese, because their religion is they go to Heaven if they die for -their country, and we are not so sure! He agreed with me, and gave me a -lovely present. - - -A PRE-WAR PROPHECY. - -On December the 3rd, 1908, when I was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, -I hazarded a prophecy (but, of course, I was only doing the obvious!) -that should we be led by our anti-Democratic tendencies in High -Places, and by Secret Treaties and by Compromising Attendances of -Great Military Officers at the French Manœuvres at Nancy, into a sort -of tacit pledge to France to land a British Army in France in a war -against Germany, then would come the biggest blow to England she would -ever have experienced--not a defeat, _because we never succumb_--but -a deadly blow to our economic resources and by the relegation of the -British Navy into a “Subsidiary Service.” I said in 1908 (and told -King Edward so) that the German Emperor would, in such a case, order -his generals “to fight neither with small nor great,” but only with -the English and wipe them out! So has it come to pass, as regards the -Emperor giving these orders and his having this desire! - -The original English Expeditionary Force was but a drop in the Ocean -as compared with the German and French millions of soldiers, and the -value, _though not the gallantry_ of its exploits, has been greatly -over-rated. It was a very long time indeed before the British Army held -any considerable portion of the fighting line in France, and instead -of being on the seashore, in touch with the British Fleet and with -easy access to England, the British Expeditionary Force was by French -directions and because of French susceptibilities, stationed far away -from the sea, and sandwiched between French troops. We have always been -giving in to the susceptibilities of others and having none of our own! -The whole war illustrates this statement. The Naval situation in the -Mediterranean perhaps exemplifies this more than any other instance! - -Had the French maintained the defensive in 1915, it is unquestionable -that it would have been the Germans and not the French who would have -suffered the bloody losses in the regions of Artois and the Champagne. - -_We built up a great Army, but we wrecked our shipbuilding._ We ought -to have equipped Russia before we equipped our own Armies, for, had we -done so, the Russians would never have sustained the appalling losses -they did in pitting pikes against rifles and machine-guns. This was the -real reason of the Russian Catastrophe--the appalling casualties and -the inability of the old _régime_ to supply armaments on the modern -scale. Had another policy been pursued and the British Fleet, with its -enormous supremacy, cleared the Baltic of the German Navy and landed a -Russian Army on the Pomeranian Coast, then the War would have been won -in 1915! Also, as I pointed out in November, 1914, to Lord Kitchener, -we ought to have given Bulgaria all she asked of us. When later we -offered her these same terms she refused us with derisive laughter! - -There was no difficulty in all this, but we were pusillanimous and we -procrastinated. - -_We did not equip Russia!_ WE DID NOT SOW THE NORTH SEA WITH THOUSANDS -UPON THOUSANDS OF MINES, as I advocated in the Autumn of 1914, -and I bought eight of the fastest ships in the world to lay them -down! This sowing of the North Sea with a multitude of mines would -automatically have established a Complete Blockade! Again, we did not -foster Agriculture, and we almost ceased building Merchant Ships, -and robbed our building yards and machine shops of the most skilled -artisans and mechanics in the world to become “cannon fodder”! But a -wave of unthinking Militarism swept over the country and submerged -the Government, and we were in May, 1918, hard put to it to bring the -American Army across the Atlantic as we were so short of shipping. - -It needs not a Soldier to realise that had the British Expeditionary -Force of 160,000 men been landed at Antwerp by the British Fleet in -August, 1914 (instead of its occupying a small sector in the midst of -the French Army in France), that the War would certainly have ended -in 1915. This, in conjunction with the seizure of the Baltic by the -British Fleet and the landing of a Russian Army on the Pomeranian Coast -would have smashed the Germans. All this was foreshadowed in 1908, and -the German Emperor kindly gave me the credit as the Instigator of the -Idea so deadly to Germany. - - -THE “MONSTROUS” CRUISERS SO DERIDED IN PARLIAMENT - - _Note._--When I came to the Admiralty as First Sea Lord in - October, 1914--three months after the War had begun--I obtained - the very cordial concurrence and help of Mr. Churchill and Mr. - Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer) in an unparalleled - building programme of 612 vessels of types necessary for a - Big Offensive in Northern Waters (_the decisive theatre of - the War_). Coal-burning Battleships then under construction - were re-designed to burn oil, with great increase of their - efficiency and speed, and the last two of these eight - Battleships were scrapped (the “Renown” and “Repulse”), and, - together with three new vessels--the “Courageous,” “Glorious,” - and “Furious”--were arranged to have immense speed, heavy guns - and unprecedented light draught of water, thus enabling them - to fulfil the very work described in this letter below of - absolutely disposing of hostile light cruisers and following - them into shallow waters. They were also meant for service in - the Baltic. - - Ever since their production became known, Naval critics in both - Houses of Parliament (quite ignorant of new Naval strategical - and tactical requirements) have consistently crabbed these - new mighty Engines of War as the emanations of a sick brain, - “_senile and autocratic_!” Hence the value of the following - letter from an eyewitness of high rank: - - -_To Lord Fisher from a Naval Officer_ - - _December 12th, 1917._ - - DEAR LORD FISHER, - - In the late action in the Heligoland Bight the only heavy - ships which could get up with the enemy were the “Repulse,” - “Courageous” and “Glorious” (the “Renown” and “Furious” were - elsewhere).[14] They very nearly brought off an important - “coup!” Without them our light cruisers would not have had a - “look in,” or perhaps would have been “done in!” When public - speakers desired to decry the work of the Board of which you - were a Member in 1914 and 1915, and particularly that part of - the work for which you were so personally responsible as this - new type of heavy ship, no condemnation was too heavy to heap - on your design! - - It is a pleasure to me, therefore, to be able to let you know - that they have fully justified your anticipation of their - success. - - I trust you are quite well and will believe me, - - Yours sincerely, - ----. - - -_Lord Fisher to a Friend._ - - _August 22nd, 1917._ - - MY BELOVED FRIEND, - - I am scanning the dark horizon for some faint glimmer of the - end of the War. Not a sign of a glimmer! So far as the Germans - are concerned, there is indisputable authority for stating - that Germany is equal to a seven years’ war! Are we? So far, - alas! we have had no Nelson, no Napoleon, no Pitt! The one - only “substantial victory” of ours in the War (and, as Nelson - wished, it was not a Victory--it was Annihilation!) was the - destruction of Admiral von Spee’s Armada off the Falkland - Islands.... And the above accomplished under the sole direction - of a Septuagenarian First Sea Lord, who was thought mad for - denuding the Grand Fleet of our fastest Battle Cruisers to - send them 14,000 miles on a supposed wild goose chase.... - And how I was execrated for inventing the Battle Cruisers! - “Monstrous Cruisers,” they called them! To this day such asses - of this kidney calumniate them, and their still more wonderful - successors, the “Repulse,” “Renown,” “Furious,” “Glorious,” and - “Courageous.” How would they have saved England without these - Fast Battle Cruisers?... And yet, dear friend, what comes to - the Author of the Scene? - - The words of Montaigne! - - “Qui de nous n’a sa ‘terre promise,’ - Son jour d’extase, - Et sa fin en exil?” - - Yours, etc., - (Signed) FISHER. - - _Note._--Much talk of a recent _mot_ at a great dinner-table, - where society’s hatred of Lord Fisher was freely canvassed, and - his retirement (in May 1915) much applauded. “I did not know,” - remarked a statesman, “that Mr. Pitt ever put Lord Nelson on - the retired list.” - - -THE DREADNOUGHT BATTLE CRUISER. - -The following imaginary dialogue I composed in 1904 to illustrate the -text that “Cruisers without high speed and protection are absolutely -useless”:-- - -“The ‘Venus,’ an Armoured Cruiser, is approaching her own Fleet at full -speed! - -“Admiral signals to ‘Venus’: ‘What have you seen?’ - -“‘Venus’ replies: ‘Four funnels hull down.’ - -“Admiral: ‘Well, what was behind?’ - -“‘Venus’ replies: ‘Cannot say; she must have four knots more speed than -I had, and would have caught me in three hours, so I had to close you -at full speed.’ - -“Admiral’s logical reply: ‘You had better pay your ship off and turn -over to something that is some good; you are simply a device for -wasting 400 men!’” - -The deduction is: - - ARMOUR IS VISION. - -So we got out the “Dreadnought” Battle Cruiser on that basis, and also -to fulfil that great Nelsonic idea of having a Squadron of very fast -ships to bring on an Action, or overtake and lame a retreating foe. And -in the great war this fast “Dreadnought” Battle Cruiser carried off all -the honours. She sank the “Blücher” and others, and also Admiral von -Spee at the Falkland Islands. - -But the _sine qua non_ in these great Ships must ever be that they -carry the Biggest Possible Gun. It was for this reason that the 18-in. -gun was introduced in the Autumn of 1914[15] and put on board the new -Battle Cruiser “Furious”; and indeed all was completely arranged for -20-in. guns being placed in the succeeding proposed Battle Cruisers of -immense speed and very light draft of water and _possessing the special -merit of exceeding rapid construction_. - -Alas! those in authority went back on it! It was precisely the same -argument that made these same retrograde Lot’s wives go back from oil -to coal. Coal, they said, was good enough and was so safe! Lot’s wife -thought of her toasted muffins. Notice now especially that if a man is -five per cent. before his time he may possibly be accounted a Genius! -but if this same poor devil goes ten per cent. better, then he’s voted -a Crank. Above that percentage, he is stark staring Mad. - -(N.B.--I have gone through all these percentages!) - - -THE WAY TO VICTORY. - -_Lord Fisher to the Prime Minister._ - - HOUSE OF LORDS, - _June 12th, 1917_. - - MY DEAR PRIME MINISTER, - - In November, 1914, Sir John French came specially from France - to attend the War Council to consider a proposal put forward - by the Admiralty that the British Army should advance along - the sea shore flanked by the British Fleet. Had this proposal - been given effect to, the German Submarine Menace would have - been deprived of much of its strength, and many Enemy Air - Raids on our coast would have been far more difficult. The - considerations which made me urge this proposal at that time - have continuously grown stronger, and to-day I feel it my duty - to press upon you the vital necessity of a joint Naval and - Military operation of this kind. I do not feel justified in - arguing the Military advantages which are, however, so obvious - as to be patent to the whole world, nor the political advantage - of getting in touch with Holland along the Scheldt, but solely - from a Naval point of view the enterprise is one that ought to - be undertaken with all our powers without further delay. The - present occasion is peculiarly favourable, as we can call upon - the support of the whole American Fleet. - - Yours truly, - (Signed) _Fisher_. - - * * * * * - - 36, BERKELEY SQUARE, - LONDON, - _July 11th, 1917_. - - MY DEAR PRIME MINISTER, - - In putting before your urgent notice the following two - propositions, I have consulted no one, and seen no experts. It - is the emanation of my own brain. - - Owing to two years of departmental apathy and inconceivable - strategical as well as tactical blunders, we are wrongly raided - in the air, and being ruined under water. - - I remember a very famous speech of yours where you pointed out - that we had been fourteen times “Too Late!” - - This letter is to persuade you against two more “Too lates”: - - (1) The Air: - - You want two ideas carried out: - - (_a_) A multitude of bombing aircraft made like Ford cars (so - therefore very expeditiously obtained thereby). - - (_b_) The other type of aircraft constantly improving to get - better fighting qualities. - - The Air is going to win the War owing to the sad and grievous - other neglects. - - (2) The Water: - - Here we have a very simple proposition. Now that America has - joined us, we have a simply overwhelming sea preponderance! - - Are you not going to do anything with this? - -Make the German Fleet fight, and you win the war! - -How can you make the German Fleet fight? By undertaking on a huge -scale, with an immense Armada of special rapidly-built craft, an -operation that threatens the German Fleet’s existence! - -That operation, on the basis in my mind, is one absolutely sure of -success, because the force employed is so gigantic as to be negligible -of fools. - -If you sweep away the German Fleet, you sweep away all else and end the -War, as then you have the Baltic clear and a straight run of some 90 -miles only from the Pomeranian Coast to Berlin, and it is the Russian -Army we want to enter Berlin, not the English or French. - - Yours truly, - (Signed) FISHER. - - -_Lord Fisher to a Friend._ - - _February 28th, 1918._ - - MY DEAR FRIEND, ... - - Quite recently we lost a golden opportunity of wrecking the - residue of the German Fleet and wrecking the Kiel Canal, - when the main German Fleet went to Riga with the German army - embarked in a huge fleet of transports and so requiring all the - Destroyers and Submarines of Germany to protect it. - - Well, in reply to your question, this is what I would do now: - - I would carry out the policy enunciated in the Print on the - Baltic Project which was submitted early in the war[16] and - again reverted to in my letter to the Prime Minister, dated - June 2nd, 1916. Sow the North Sea with mines as thick as - the leaves in Vallombrosa! That blocks effectually the Kiel - Canal, if continued laying of these mines is always perpetually - going on with damnable pertinacity! Then I guarantee to - force a passage into the Baltic in combination with a great - Military co-operation, but that co-operation must not be the - co-operation of the Walcheren Expedition! - - “Lord Chatham with his sword drawn - Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan, - Sir Richard, longing to be at ’em! - Was waiting for the Earl of Chatham!” - - It has got to be chiefly a Naval Job! And the Army will be - landed by the Navy! The Navy will guarantee landing the Army - on the Coast of Pomerania and elsewhere. Three feints, any of - which can be turned into a Reality. - - Further in detail I won’t go, but I can guarantee success. - - Have I ever failed yet? It’s an egotistical question, but I - never have! - - What a d--d fool I should be to brag now if I wasn’t certain! - - Yours, etc., - (Signed) FISHER. - - P.S.--I have heard some Idiots say that the Baltic Sea is now - impregnable because of German mines in it. No earthly System of - mines can possibly avoid being destroyed. We can get into the - Baltic whenever we like to do so. I guarantee it. - - -“SOW THE NORTH SEA WITH MINES.” - -(_Written in November, 1914_). - -The German policy of laying mines has resulted in denying our access -to their harbours; has hampered our Submarines in their attempts to -penetrate into German waters; and we have lost the latest type of -“Dreadnought” (“Audacious”) and many other war vessels and over 70 -merchant vessels of various sizes. - -As we have only laid a patch of mines off Ostend (whose position we -have notified), the Germans have free access to our coasts to lay fresh -mines and to carry out raids and bombardments. - -We have had, to our own immense disadvantage in holding up our -coastwise traffic, to extinguish the navigation lights on our East -Coast, so as to impede German ships laying mines. At times we have had -completely to stop our traffic on the East Coast because of German -mines; and the risk is so great that freights in some cases have -advanced 75 per cent.--quite apart from shortness of tonnage. - -The Germans have laid mines off the North of Ireland, and may further -hamper movements of shipping in the Atlantic. - -The German mine-laying policy has so hindered the movements of the -British Fleet, by necessitating wide detours, that to deal with a raid -such as the recent Hartlepool affair involves enormous risks, while -at the same time the German Fleet can navigate to our coast with the -utmost speed and the utmost confidence. They know that we have laid no -mines, and the position, of course, of their own mines is accurately -charted by them--indeed we know this as a fact. Our Fleet, on the -contrary, has to confine its movements to deep water, or slowly to -grope its way behind mine-sweeping vessels. - -_There is no option but to adopt an offensive mine-laying policy._ - -It is unfortunate, however, that we have only 4,900 mines at present -available. On February 1st (together with 1,000 mines from Russia) we -shall have 9,110, and on March 1st we shall have 11,100 mines. This -number, however, is quite inadequate, but every effort is being made to -get more. Also FAST Mine-Layers are being procured, as the present ones -are very slow and their coal supply very small. So at present we can -only go very slow in mine-laying; but carefully selected positions can -be proceeded with. - -We must certainly look forward to a big extension of German mine-laying -in the Bristol Channel and English Channel and elsewhere, in view of -Admiral Tirpitz’s recent statements in regard to attacking our commerce. - -Neutral vessels now pick up Pilots at the German island of Sylt, and -take goods unimpeded to German ports--ostensibly carrying cotton, -but more probably copper, etc., and thus circumventing our economic -pressure.[17] - - _This would be at once stopped effectually by a mine-laying - policy._ - -Nor could any German vessels get out to sea at speed as at present; -they would have to go slow, preceded by mine-sweeping vessels, and so -would be exposed to attack by our Submarines. - -[Illustration: THE SUBMARINE MONITOR M 1, - -which lately returned from a successful cruise in the Mediterranean. -She is designed to fight above or below water. She carries a 12-inch -gun firing an 850-lb. shell, which can be discharged when only the -muzzle of the gun is above water.] - - -A BIRTHDAY LETTER. - -_Lord Fisher to a Friend._ - - _January 25th, 1918._ - - MY DEAR FRIEND, - - A letter to-day on my birthday from an eminent Engineer, cheers - me up by saying that never has France been so vigorously - governed as she is now by her present Prime Minister, - Clemenceau, and that he is my age, 77. - - The Conduct of the War, both by Sea and Land, has been - perilously effete and wanting in Imagination and Audacity since - May, 1915. - - I know these words of mine give you the stomachache, but so did - Jeremiah the Jews when he kept on telling them in his chapter - v., verse 31: - - “The prophets prophesy falsely, - And the priests [the unfit] bear rule by their means, - And my people love to have it so, - And what will ye do in the end thereof?” - - (Why! Send for Jephthah!) - - “And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead” - - (who came supplicating, asking him to come back as their - captain) - - “Did ye not hate me and expel me? - And why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?” - - And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah: - - “We turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us and fight!” - - By Sea, when the German Fleet took the German Army to Riga, we - had a wonderful sure certainty of destroying the German Fleet - and the Kiel Canal, but we let it slip because there were - risks. (As if war could be conducted without risks!) Considered - Rashness in war is Prudence, and Prudence in war is usually a - synonym for imbecility! - - Observe the Mediterranean! The whole Sea Power of France and - Italy is collected in the Mediterranean to fight the puny - Austrian Fleet, but they haven’t fought it. Not only that, but - hundreds of vessels of the English Navy are perforce out in the - Mediterranean to aid them; and yet the German ships, “Goeben” - and “Breslau,” known to be fast, powerful and efficient, emerge - from the Dardanelles with impunity and massacre two of our - Monitors--never meant to be out there and totally unfitted - for such service--and two obsolete British Destroyers have to - put up a fight! But God intervened and sent the “Goeben” and - “Breslau” on top of mines. It was thus the act of God and not - the act of our Sea Fools that kept these two powerful German - ships from going to the coast of Syria, where they would have - played Hell with Allenby and our Palestine Army. - - We have pandered to our Allies from the very beginning of the - War, and yet practically we find most of the money and have - found four million soldiers, and a thousand millions sterling - lent to Russia have been lent in vain. - - You know as well as I do that our Expeditionary Force should - have been sent in August, 1914, to Antwerp and not to France; - we should then have held the Belgian Coast and the Scheldt, but - this was too tame--we were all singing: - - “Malbrook s’en va-t’en guerre!” - - The Baltic Project was scoffed at, though it had the - impregnable sanction of Frederick the Great, and the project - was turned down in November, 1914; and now the Germans, because - of their possession of the Baltic as a German lake, are going - to annex all the Islands they want that command Russia and - Sweden, and the Russian Fleet, with its splendid “Dreadnoughts” - and Destroyers disappear and eight British Submarines have been - sunk. Ichabod! - - Yours truly, - FISHER. - - -THE GERMAN SUBMARINE MENACE. - -_Lord Fisher to a Friend._ - - _March 2nd, 1918._ - - MY DEAR “MR. FAITHFUL,” - - You write anxious to have some connected statement in regard to - the whole history of the German Submarine Menace. - - Now, the first observation thereon is the oft-repeated - indisputable statement that no private person whatever can hope - to fight successfully any Public Department. So even if you had - the most conclusive evidence of effete apathy such as at first - characterised the dealing with this German Submarine Menace, - yet you would to the World at large be completely refuted by - a rejoinder in Parliament of departmental facts. Nevertheless - here is a bit of Naval History. - - In December, 1915, the Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) - unexpectedly came up to me in the Lobby of the House of - Commons, and said he was anxious to consult me about Naval - affairs, and he would take an early opportunity of seeing me! - However, he must have been put off this for I never saw him. - A month afterwards I pressed him in writing to see Sir John - Jellicoe in regard to the paucity both of suitable apparatus - and of suitable measures to cope with the German Submarine - Menace; after much opposition the Prime Minister himself sent - for Sir John Jellicoe and he appeared before the War Council. - This is my Memorandum at that time, dated February 7th, 1916: - - -MEMORANDUM. - - “I have just heard that, notwithstanding the opposition to it, - Sir John Jellicoe will attend the War Council at 11.30 a.m. - next Friday. That he may have strength and power to overcome - all ‘the wiles of the Devil’ is my fervent prayer. - - “That there has been signal failure since May, 1915, to - continue the Great Push previous to that date of building fast - Destroyers, fast Submarines, Mine Sweepers and small Craft - generally is absolutely indisputable. - - “Above all, it was criminal folly and inexcusable on the part - of the Admiralty to allow skilled workmen (20,000 of them) - to be taken away from shipyards. Also it was inexcusable and - weak to give up the Admiralty command of steel and other - shipbuilding materials. - - “Kitchener instantly cancelled the order to take men from the - shipyards when it was attempted by his subordinates while I was - First Sea Lord. He saw the folly of it! - - “Again, deferring the shipbuilding that was in progress was - fatuous. I saw myself two fast Monitors (each of them a - thousand tons advanced) from which all the workmen had been - called off. A few months afterwards there was feverish and - wasteful haste to complete them. So was it with the five - fast big Battle Cruisers of very light draught of water. All - similarly delayed. - - “Well! Jellicoe, a ‘No Talker,’ at the War Council was opposed - to a mass of ‘All Talkers,’ so he did not make a good fight; - but when he got back to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow he - remembered himself and wrote a most excellent Memorandum, which - put himself right. - - “However, a wordy war is no use; nothing but a cataclysm will - stop our ‘Facilis descensus Averni.’” - - We must by some political miracle swallow up Korah, Dathan and - Abiram and have a fresh lot. In Parliament we have nothing but - the _suggestio falsi_ and the _suppressio veri_! A little bit - of truth skilfully disguised: - - “A truth that’s told with bad intent, - Beats any lie you can invent.” - - In reply to your question with reference to Mr. Bonar Law’s - corrected statement in Hansard, the Printer’s date at the - bottom of the Submarine Paper,[18] sent to the Prime Minister - and First Lord of the Admiralty is January, 1914, seven months - before the War. - - Yours always, - FISHER. - - -_Lord Fisher to Sir Maurice Hankey, K.C.B., Secretary to the War -Cabinet._ - - 19, ST. JAMES’S SQUARE. - - MY DEAR HANKEY, - - In reply to your inquiry, my five points of peace (as regards - Sea war only) are: - - (1) The German High Sea Fleet to be delivered up intact. - - (2) Ditto, every German Submarine. - - (3) Ditto, Heligoland. - - (4) Ditto, the two flanking islands of Sylt and Borkum. - - (5) No spot of German Territory in the wide world to be permitted! - It would infallibly be a Submarine Base. - - Yours, - (Signed) FISHER, - _October 21st, 1918_. - (Trafalgar Day). - -Why we were not as relentless in carrying out our Peace requirements at -Sea as on Land is positively incomprehensible. - -The German Fleet was not turned over and was afterwards sunk at -pleasure by the German crews. I don’t feel at all sure that every -German submarine, complete and incomplete, was handed over. Every -oil engine ought to have been cleared out of Germany. Through some -extraordinary chain of reasoning, absolutely incomprehensible, the -three Islands of Heligoland, Sylt and Borkum were not claimed and -occupied. In view of the prodigious development of Aircraft it was -imperative that these Islands should be in the possession of England. - -All this to me is absolutely astounding. The British Fleet won the -War, and the British Fleet didn’t get a single thing it ought to have, -excepting the everlasting stigma amongst our Allies, of being fools, -in allowing the German Fleet to be sunk under our noses, because we -mistook the Germans for gentlemen. - - -_The Miracle of the Peace_ - -(_that took place at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th Month!_) -only equalled by the Destruction of Sennacherib’s Army, on the night -described in the 25th verse of the 19th chapter of Second Book of -Kings! The heading of the chapter is “_An Angel slayeth the Assyrians_.” - - “That night the Angel of the Lord went forth ... in the morning - behold they were all dead corpses!” - -A Cabinet Minister, in an article (after the Armistice) in a newspaper, -stated that the Allies were at their last gasp when the Armistice -occurred as it did as a Miracle! for Marshal Foch had been foiled on -the strategic flank by the inability of the American Army to advance -and the unavoidable consequences of want of experience in a new Army -(_immense but inexperienced--they were slaughtered in hecatombs and -died like flies!_) and so the American advance on the Verdun flank was -held up, and Haig therefore had to batter away instead (and well he did -it!). And though the British Army entered Mons, yet the German Army was -efficient, was undemoralised, and had immense lines of resistance in -its rear before reaching the Rhine! There was no Waterloo, no Sedan, no -Trafalgar (though there could have been one on October 21st, 1918, for -the German Naval Mutiny was known! Sir E. Geddes said so in a Mansion -House Speech on November 9th, 1918). There was no Napoleon--no Nelson! -but “The Angel of the Lord went forth....” - - -_Lord Fisher to a Friend._ - - _March 27th, 1918._ - - MY DEAR BLANK, - - It has been a most disastrous war for one simple reason--that - our Navy, with a sea supremacy quite unexampled in the history - of the world (we are five times stronger than the enemy) has - been relegated into being a “Subsidiary Service!”... - - What _crashes_ we have had - - Tirpitz--Sunk. - Joffre--Stranded. - Kitchener--Drowned. - Lord French-- } - Lord Jellicoe-- } Made Viscounts. - Lord Devonport-- } - Fisher--Marooned. - Sir W. Robertson--The “Eastern Command” in Timbuctoo. - Bethmann-Hollweg--} - Asquith-- } Torpedoed. - - Heaven bless you! I am here walking 10 miles a day! and eating - my heart out! - - And a host of minor prophets promoted. (We don’t shoot now! we - promote!) - - Yours, etc., - (Signed) FISHER. - 27/3/18. - - -_To Lord Fisher from an Admirer._ - - _21st November, 1918._ - - DEAR LORD FISHER, - - We are just back after taking part in the most wonderful - episode of the war, and my heart is very full, and I feel that - the extraordinary surrender of the Flower of the German Fleet - is so much due to your marvellous work and insight--in giving - England the Fleet she has--that I must write you! - - I suppose the world will never again see such a sight--a line - of 14 heavy, modern, capital ships, with their guns fore and - aft in securing position, in perfect order and keeping good - station, quietly giving themselves up without a blow or a - murmur. Surely such a humiliating and ignominious end could - never have been even thought of in all history past or present. - - Had I been in a private ship I would have used every endeavour - to get you up to see the final fulfilment of your life’s work. - As it is, I can’t think it was very gracious of the authorities - not to have ensured your presence. But history will give you - your due. - - Forgive this effusion, and please don’t bother to answer it. - But _I_ realise that to-day’s victory was yours, and it is - iniquitous that you were not here to see it. - - Your affectionate and devoted admirer, - ----. - - -_To Lord Fisher from Admiral Moresby._ - - FAREHAM, - _July 9th, 1918_. - - DEAR OLD FRIEND, - - Just a line. One of our “Article writing” Admirals sent me - one of them on the progress of the war! Your name was not - mentioned, nor your services alluded to! I returned it, - saying it was the play without Hamlet. You might be wrong, - or despised, but you could not be _ignored_. With our Navy - revolutionised, Osborne created, obsolete cruisers scrapped, - naval base shifted from Portland to Rosyth, Dreadnoughts and - Battle Cruisers invented, Falkland Islands victory, and so on, - he might as well talk of Rome without Cæsar. He replied and - said you were an Enigma, and that covered it all! There is some - truth in this, for such are all born leaders of men, from our - Master, the greatest Enigma of all (who made thee thyself, who - gave thee power to do these things), down to all who can see - what is going on on the other side of the hill.... - - Yours ever, - (Signed) J. MORESBY. - - - - -POSTSCRIPT - - -Last night, in finishing off the examination of several boxes of old -papers, I came across a forgotten letter written a fortnight after the -Battle of Trafalgar from the “Dreadnought” (which ship participated -in the Battle). On mentioning it I was told there was a “Dreadnought” -in the Navy at the time of Henry VIII. I think one of the Docks at -Portsmouth dates from that time, and the “Dreadnought” may have been -docked in it. I love the delicious little touch at the end of this -letter where everyone seals their letters with black wax in memory -of Nelson, and the prayer and poetry are lovely. And where his -acquaintance in Collingwood’s Ship “had been shortened by the Hand of -Death,” and - - “Roll softly ye Waves, - Blow gently ye Winds - - O’er the bosom of the deep where the bodies of the Heroes rest, - until the Great Day, when all that are in their grave shall - hear the Voice of the Son of God, when thou O Sea! shall give - up thy dead to Life Immortal, and thou O Britain be grateful - to thy defenders! that the Widows and Orphans of thy deceased - Warriors be precious in thy sight--Soothe their sorrows, - alleviate their distresses and provide for their wants by - anticipating their wishes.” - -(The Straits of Gibraltar the writer spells “_Streights_.”) He adds -“Our splendid Success has been dearly bought. Our gallant Chief is -dead. In the arms of Victory fell the greatest Hero that ever any age -or Nation ever produced.” - - - - -APPENDIX I - -LORD FISHER’S GREAT NAVAL REFORMS - -_By_ W. T. STEAD - - “He being dead yet speaketh.”--_Hebrews_ xi. 4. - -[The following account of Lord Fisher’s Naval Reforms is extracted from -_The Review of Reviews_ for February, 1910.] - - -I briefly summarise Lord Fisher’s four great reforms: - -1. The introduction of the nucleus crew system. - -2. The redistribution of the fleets in accordance with modern -requirements. - -3. The elimination of inefficient fighting vessels from the Active List -of the Navy. - -4. The introduction of the all-big-gun type of battleship and -battleship-cruiser. - -To these four cardinal achievements must be added the system of common -entry and training for all executive officers and the institution and -development of the Naval War College and the Naval War Staff. - -By the nucleus crew system all our available ships of war are ready -for instant mobilisation. From two-fifths to three-fifths of their -complement, including all the expert and specialist ratings, are on -board, so that they are familiar with the ship and her armament. The -rest of the crew is held in constant readiness to come on board. Fisher -once aired, in after-dinner talk, the daring idea that the time would -come when the First Lord of the Admiralty would be supreme over the -War Office, and would, as in the days of the Commonwealth, fill up -deficiencies in ships’ crews by levies from the territorial forces. -Landsmen can serve guns as well as sailors. - -The second great revolution was necessitated by the alteration in the -centre of international gravity occasioned by the growth of the German -Navy. Formerly the Mediterranean Fleet ranked first in importance. Now -the Home Fleet concentrates in its four divisions all the best fighting -ships we possess. It is hardly too much to say, as M. Hanotaux publicly -declared, that Admiral Fisher had, by concentration and redistribution, -magnified our fighting naval strength by an amount unparalleled -in a hundred years. That the fighting efficiency of the Fleet has -been doubled under Fisher’s _régime_ is to understate the facts. To -say it has been trebled would hardly be over the mark. And what is -the most marvellous thing of all is that this enormous increase of -efficiency was achieved not only without any increase of the estimates, -but in spite of a reduction which amounted to nearly five millions -sterling--three and a half millions actual and one and a half millions -automatic increase checked. - -This great economy was largely achieved by the scrapping of ships too -weak to fight and too slow to run away. One hundred and fifty obsolete -and useless ships were removed from the effective list; some were -sold, others were broken up, while a third class were kept in store -for contingencies. They were lame ducks, all useless in war, costly -in peace, consuming stores, wasting the time of officers and men. The -obsolete ships were replaced on foreign stations by vessels which could -either fight or fly.... - -Of the introduction of the “Dreadnought” and super-“Dreadnoughts” I -have already spoken. - -Apart from the above matters of high policy, a number of other reforms -or advances have been made during the past five years which are beyond -all criticism. Opinions may differ as to the details of some of these -services, but there is no dispute as to their immense contribution to -the fighting efficiency of the Navy. Some of these may be thus briefly -enumerated: - -1. Complete reorganisation of the dockyards. [6,000 redundant workmen -discharged.] - -2. Improved system of refits of ships, and limitation of number of -vessels absent at one time from any fleet for repair. - -3. Introduction of the Royal Fleet Reserve, composed only of ratings -who have served for a period of years in the active service. - -4. Improvements of Royal Naval Reserve, by enforcing periodical -training on board modern commissioned ships in place of obsolete hulks -or shore batteries. - -5. Establishment and extension of Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. - -6. The establishment of a service of offensive mines and mine-laying -vessels. - -7. The introduction of vessels for defensive mine-sweeping in harbours -and on the open sea. - -8. A complete organisation of the service of auxiliary vessels for the -fleets in war. - -9. The development of submarines, and the equipment of submarine bases -and all the necessary auxiliaries. - -10. The proper organisation of the Destroyer Flotillas, with their -essential auxiliaries. - -11. The enormous development of wireless telegraphy afloat, the -equipment of powerful shore stations round the coast and at the -Admiralty, and the introduction of a special corps of operators. - -12. The experimental stage of aerial navigation entered upon. - -13. The foundation of the Royal Naval War College and its development. - -14. The establishment of Signal Schools at each port. - -15. The establishment of a Navigation School. - -16. Enormous advances in the Gunnery training and efficiency of the -Fleet. - -17. Great improvements in torpedoes and in the torpedo training. - -18. The introduction of a naval education and training for Engine Room -Artificers. - -19. The introduction of the new rating of Mechanician for the Stoker -Class for engine-driving duties. - -20. Complete reorganisation of the arrangements for mobilisation, -whereby every officer and man is always detailed by name for his -ship on mobilisation, and the mobilisation of the whole fleet can be -effected in a few hours. - -21. The introduction of a complete system of intelligence of trade -movements throughout the world. - -22. The stores of the Fleet put on a modern basis both -in the storehouses ashore and those carried in the ships -themselves--recognising the far different conditions now obtaining -to those of sailing-ship days of long voyages, necessitating larger -supplies being carried, and modern conditions of production and -supply enabling stores on distant stations and at home being rapidly -replenished. Some millions sterling were economised in this way with -increased efficiency, as the Fleet was supplied with up-to-date -articles; the only thing that gained by the age of the old system was -the rum. - -23. The provision of repair ships, distilling plant, and attendant -auxiliaries to all fleets, and the preparation of plans elaborated in a -confidential handbook providing for all the auxiliary vessels required -in war. - -In addition to all the above reforms great improvements have been -made in the conditions of service of officers and men, all tending to -increase contentment and thereby advance efficiency. Some of these are -as follows: - -1. The introduction of two-year commissions, in place of three years -and often four [so that men were not so long away from their homes and -the crews of ships did not get stale]. - -2. Increases of pay to many grades of both officers and men--as -regards Commanders, the only increase since the rank was introduced. - -3. Ship’s Bands provided by the Service, and a School of Music -established, and foreign musicians abolished. - -4. The long-standing grievances of the men with regard to their -victualling removed. Improvements in cooking. Bakeries fitted on board -ships. - -5. The Canteen system recognised and taken under Admiralty control, and -the old abuses abolished. - -6. The clothing system reformed, and much expense saved to the men. - -7. Great improvements effected in the position of Petty Officers. - -8. An educational test instituted for advancement to Petty Officer. - -9. Increase of pension granted to Chief Petty Officers. - -10. Allotment stoppages abolished. - -11. Allowances paid to men in lieu of victuals when on leave. - -12. Promotions from the ranks to Commissioned Officer introduced. - -13. Warrant rank introduced for the telegraphist, stoker, ship’s -steward, writer, ship’s police, and ship’s cook classes. - -I print the foregoing from a return drawn up by an expert familiar with -details of the Service. To the general reader they will be chiefly -interesting as suggesting the immense and multifarious labours of -Admiral Fisher. It is not surprising that he found it necessary to -start work every morning at four o’clock. - - - - -APPENDIX II - -SYNOPSIS OF LORD FISHER’S CAREER. - - -_Born January 25, 1841, at Rambodde, Ceylon._ - -Son of Captain William Fisher, 78th Highlanders, A.D.C. to the Governor -of Ceylon, and Sophia, daughter of A. Lambe, of New Bond Street, and -granddaughter of Alderman Boydell. His godmother was Lady Wilmot -Horton, wife of the Governor of Ceylon; and his godfather Sir Robert -Arbuthnot, Commanding the Forces in Ceylon. - - -_Entered the Royal Navy, June 13, 1854._ - -Received a nomination for the Navy from Admiral Sir William Parker, the -last of Nelson’s Captains. Joined his first ship, the “Victory,” at -Portsmouth, on July 12, 1854. The “Victory” was also the last ship to -fly his flag as an Admiral, October 20, 1904. - -Served in Russian War, in Baltic (Medal) in “Calcutta” 84 guns. - -Served in the China War, 1856–60, including the capture of Canton and -Peiho Forts. (China Medal, Canton and Taku Clasps.) Given command of -a small vessel by Admiral Sir James Hope, Commander-in-Chief, the -“Coromandel,” of which he was acting Captain at the age of 19. - -Also served in “Highflyer,” Captain Shadwell; “Chesapeake,” Captain -Hilles; and “Furious,” Captain Oliver Jones. Returned home in 1861 from -the China Station. - - -_Lieutenant, November 4, 1860._ - -In passing for Lieutenant, he won the Beaufort Testimonial; and was -advanced to Mate on January 25, 1860, and confirmed as Lieutenant -within eleven months. - - -_March 28, 1863._ - -Appointed to H.M.S. “Warrior,” Captain the Hon. A. A. Cochrane, the -first seagoing ironclad, for gunnery duties. Served in her for three -and a half years. - - -_November 3, 1866._ - -Appointed to the Staff of H.M.S. “Excellent,” gunnery schoolship, -Portsmouth, Captain Arthur W. A. Hood. - - -_August 2, 1869._ - -Promoted to Commander, and appointed to the China flagship. - - -_September 19, 1872._ - -On returning from China in H.M.S. “Ocean,” was appointed to “Excellent” -for Torpedo Service. Started the “Vernon” as a Torpedo Schoolship. -Visited Fiume to arrange for the purchase of the Whitehead Torpedo. - - -_October 30, 1874._ - -Promoted to Captain, and re-appointed to “Excellent” for torpedo -service and instructional duties, remaining until 1876. - - -_November 16, 1876._ - -Appointed for special service in “Hercules,” flagship of Vice-Admiral -the Hon. Sir James Drummond, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean. - - -_March 15, 1877._ - -Appointed Flag-Captain to Admiral Sir A. Cooper-Key, -Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, in the “Bellerophon.” - - -_June 7, 1878._ - -Appointed Flag-Captain to Admiral Sir A. Cooper-Key, Commanding the -Particular Service Squadron, in the “Hercules.” - - -_January 1, 1879._ - -Appointed in command of the “Pallas,” corvette, on Mediterranean -Station, returning home in July. President of a Committee for the -revision of the “Gunnery Manual of the Fleet.” - - -_September 25, 1879._ - -Appointed Flag-Captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Leopold M’Clintock, -Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, in the “Northampton.” - - -_January 18, 1881._ - -Appointed to command the “Inflexible,” the largest ship in the Navy. - - -_July 11, 1882._ - -Took part in the bombardment of Alexandria. Afterwards landed with the -Naval Brigade at Alexandria. Arranged for the first “armoured train,” -and commanded it in various skirmishes with the enemy. - - -_August 14, 1882._ - -Awarded the C.B. for service at Alexandria; also Egyptian Medal, with -Alexandria Clasp; Khedive’s Bronze Star; Order of Osmanieh, 3rd Class; -etc. - - -_November 9, 1882._ - -Invalided home through illness contracted on active service. - - -_April 6, 1883._ - -Appointed in command of “Excellent,” gunnery schoolship. - - -_1884._ - -Collaborated with Mr. W. T. Stead in the production of “The Truth About -the Navy,” resulting in increased Navy Estimates and the opening of a -new era in the provision of an adequate Fleet. - - -_November 1, 1886._ - -Appointed Director of Naval Ordnance, occupying this post four and a -half years. Carried out the transfer of the control of naval ordnance -from the War Office to the Admiralty. - - -_August 2, 1890._ - -Promoted to Rear-Admiral. - - -_May 21, 1891._ - -Appointed Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard. Expedited -the completion of the “Royal Sovereign,” first of a new type of -battleships. Acted as host when the French Squadron under Admiral -Gervais visited the Dockyard, 1891. - - -_February 1, 1892._ - -Appointed Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, and served in the -administrations of Lord George Hamilton, Earl Spencer, and Mr. G. J. -Goschen as First Lords; and Admirals Sir A. Hood, Sir A. H. Hoskins -and Sir F. W. Richards as First Sea Lords. During this period the firm -stand of the Admiralty Board brought about the resignation of Mr. -Gladstone, March 3, 1894. - - -_May 26, 1894._ - -Appointed K.C.B. - - -_May 8, 1896._ - -Promoted to Vice-Admiral. - - -_August 24, 1897._ - -Hoisted his flag in H.M.S. “Renown” as Commander-in-Chief, North -American Station. - - -_1899._ - -Attended the first Hague Peace Conference as Naval Delegate. - - -_July 1, 1899._ - -Appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station, with his flag in -the “Renown,” remaining in this post until June 2nd, 1902. Admiral Lord -Beresford, Second-in-Command, says of this period in his “Memoirs”: -“While Vice-Admiral Sir John Fisher was Commander-in-Chief of the -Mediterranean Fleet, he greatly improved its fighting efficiency. -As a result of his representations, the stocks of coal at Malta and -Gibraltar were increased, the torpedo flotillas were strengthened, and -the new breakwaters at Malta were begun. Some of Sir John Fisher’s -reforms are confidential; but among his achievements which became -common knowledge, the following are notable: From a 12-knot Fleet with -breakdowns, he made a 15-knot Fleet without breakdowns; introduced -long range target practice, and instituted the Challenge Cup for heavy -gun shooting; instituted various war practices for officers and men; -invited, with excellent results, officers to formulate their opinions -upon cruising and battle formation; drew up complete instructions -for torpedo flotillas; exercised cruisers in towing destroyers and -battleships in towing one another, thereby proving the utility of -the device for saving coal in an emergency; and generally carried -into execution Fleet exercises based, not on tradition, but on the -probabilities of war.” - - -_1900._ - -Received from the Sultan of Turkey the 1st Class of the Order of -Osmanieh. - - -_November 2, 1901._ - -Promoted to Admiral. - - -_June 5, 1902._ - -Returned to the Admiralty as Second Sea Lord, remaining until August -31, 1903, with Lord Selborne, First Lord, and Admiral Lord Walter Kerr, -First Sea Lord. - - -_June 26, 1902._ - -Appointed G.C.B. in the Coronation Honours List. - - -_December 25, 1902._ - -Launched new scheme of naval entry and education for officers, with -training colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. - - -_May 2, 1903._ - -Made his first public speech at the Royal Academy Banquet. - - -_August 31, 1903._ - -Appointed Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, in order to supervise -personally the inauguration of his new education scheme at Osborne -College. Also energetically promoted the formation and development of -the first British submarine flotilla. - - -_November 7, 1903._ - -Appointed member of Committee with Lord Esher and Colonel Sir George -Clarke (Lord Sydenham) to reorganise the War Office on the lines of the -Admiralty Board. - - -_October 21, 1904._ - -Appointed First Sea Lord in Lord Selborne’s administration, and held -this office for five years and three months, the period of his greatest -activity and his preparation for a war with Germany. Some of the more -notable of his many reforms are dealt with in his “Memories.” - -Also appointed, October 21, 1904, First and Principal Naval -Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VII. - - -_December 6, 1904._ - -Admiralty Memorandum on the Distribution of the Fleet, introducing -nucleus crew system for ships in reserve, and withdrawing obsolete -craft from foreign stations. - - -_January, 1905._ - -Committee appointed to inquire into the reorganisation of the -dockyards. - - -_March 6, 1905._ - -Appointment of Rear-Admiral Percy Scott to newly-created post of -Inspector of Target Practice. By this and other means, including the -service of Captain J. R. Jellicoe as Director of Naval Ordnance, the -marksmanship of the Navy was vastly improved. - - -_December 4, 1905._ - -Awarded the Order of Merit, and promoted by Special Order in Council to -be an additional Admiral of the Fleet, thus giving him five more years -on the active list in order to carry out his policy. - - -_February 10, 1906._ - -Launch of the “Dreadnought,” the first all-big-gun and turbine-driven -battleship, as recommended by the Admiralty Committee on Design -presided over by the First Sea Lord (Sir John Fisher). - - -_November, 1906._ - -Establishment of the Naval War College at Portsmouth. - - -_January, 1907._ - -Institution of a service of Fleet Auxiliaries--ammunition and store -ships, distilling and hospital ships, fleet repair ships, fishing -trawlers as, mine sweepers, etc., etc., etc., etc., - - -_March, 1907._ - -Creation of a new Home Fleet, with the “Dreadnought” as flagship for -service in the North Sea. - - -_August, 1907._ - -New scheme of advancement and pay of naval ranks and ratings -introduced. - - -_September, 1907._ - -Establishment of a wireless telegraphy branch, and installation erected -on the Admiralty building. - - -_November 9, 1907._ - -Speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, assuring his countrymen that they -could sleep quietly in their beds, and not be disturbed by invasion -bogeys. - - -_June, 1908._ - -Visited Reval with King Edward and Queen Alexandra on their visit to -the Tsar of Russia. Awarded G.C.V.O. on the conclusion of this cruise. - - -_June 17, 1908._ - -Created honorary LL.D. of Cambridge University. - - -_June, 1909._ - -Entertained delegates to Imperial Press Conference at a review of the -Fleet at Spithead, and a display of submarines, etc. - - -_December 7, 1909._ - -Raised to the peerage as Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, in the County of -Norfolk, after the manor bequeathed to his only son by the late Mr. -Josiah Vavasseur, C.B. - - -_January 25, 1910._ - -Retired from office of First Sea Lord, and was succeeded by Admiral of -the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson, but remained a member of the Committee -of Imperial Defence. Recording his retirement in the First Lord’s -Memorandum, dated March 4, 1910, Mr. Reginald McKenna said: “The -measures which are associated with his name and have been adopted by -several successive Governments will prove of far-reaching and lasting -benefit to the Naval Service and the country.” - - -_March 10, 1910._ - -Took the oath and his seat in the House of Lords. - - -_May 24, 1912._ - -Visited at Naples by Mr. Churchill (the new First Lord) and Mr. Asquith -(Prime Minister). - - -_July 30, 1912._ - -Appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission on Oil Fuel and Oil Engines -for the Navy. - - -_September 7, 1914._ - -Appointed Honorary Colonel of the First Naval Brigade, Royal Naval -Division. - - -_October 30, 1914._ - -Recalled to the Admiralty as First Sea Lord. - - -_December 8, 1914._ - -Victory of Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee over Admiral Count von Spee, -due to the prompt dispatch from England of two battle-cruisers -immediately on receipt of the news of the Coronel disaster. This was -the most decisive battle of the war, the German force being practically -annihilated. - - -_January 24, 1915._ - -Action of Sir David Beatty off the Dogger Bank, and sinking of the -“Blücher” another striking success of the battle-cruiser design. - - -_May 15, 1915._ - -Resignation as First Sea Lord over the Dardanelles question. - - -_July 5, 1915._ - -Appointed Chairman of the Board of Invention and Research. - - -_November 16, 1915._ - -First speech in House of Lords, in reference to Mr. Churchill’s speech -on the previous day, following the latter’s resignation from Cabinet. - - -_March 21, 1917._ - -Second speech in House of Lords, declaring his refusal to discuss -Dardanelles report during the war. - -Awarded the Grand Cordon, with Paulownia, of the Japanese Order of the -Rising Sun. - - -_May 5, 1919._ - -Speech at the luncheon to Mr. Josephus Daniels, U.S. Naval Secretary. - - -_October 21_ (Trafalgar Day), _1919._ - -Publication of “Memories.” - - -_December 8_ (Falkland Islands Day), _1919._ - -Publication of “Records.” - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] _Was that our Sea Policy during the War?_ Did we not keep our Fleet -in cotton wool? - -[2] These mottoes were painted up in my first ship, and I have had them -in every ship I have commanded since. - -[3] ONE SAMPLE OUT OF MANY.--“Lord Tweedmouth and Mr. Robertson, having -tasted blood in their reduction of this year’s Estimates, are about -to strike a blow at the vital efficiency of the Navy. But what are we -to think of the naval officers on the Admiralty Board, men who cannot -plead the blindness and ignorance of their civilian colleagues? No one -knows better than Sir John Fisher the real nature and the inevitable -consequences of those acts to which he is a consenting party. And we -are not speaking at random when we assert that more than any one man, -the responsibility and the guilt for those reductions lies at his -door.” (The _Globe_, 21 Sept. 1906.) - -[4] This was written in October, 1906. - -[5] Not reprinted. - -[6] There are two alternative schemes which may possibly be preferred -to this. - -[7] The “Pegasus” was massacred at Zanzibar by the Germans!--F. 1919. - -[8] For these predictions, see Letter to Lord Esher of (?) Jan., 1904 -“Memories,” p. 173. - -[9] See below, p. 181. - -[10] Only this morning (November 5th, 1919), I have arranged to deal -with the drawings of a proposed Submersible Battleship carrying many -Big Guns, and clearly a practicable production. - -[11] NOTE.--For steam raising 3 tons of oil are only equivalent to 4 -tons of coal. - -[12] The War stopped this.--F. 1919. - -[13] This was said in 1910, and Mr. Asquith did leave office as here -predicted, in November, 1916, six years afterwards! And Sir John -Jellicoe took command of the Grand Fleet forty-eight hours before war -was declared, and the war with Germany did break out as predicted in -1914! - -[14] These are the five Battle Cruisers built on my return to the -Admiralty in 1914–1915. - -[15] This 18-in. gun was ordered by me without any of the usual -preliminary trials or any reference to any Gunnery Experts whatever. -The credit of its great success is due to Major Hadcock, Head of the -Elswick Ordnance Manufacturing Department, who also designed the 20-in. -gun for the fast Battleship Type which was to have been built had I -remained at the Admiralty in May, 1915. - -A model of this 20-in. gun Battle Cruiser of 35 knots speed, was got -out before I left the Admiralty--three days more they would have -started building. - -[16] See Chapter XV. - -[17] The Foreign Office would not permit an efficient blockade, and -the outrageous release of vessels carrying war-helping cargoes caused -intense dissatisfaction in the fleet. No vessels ever passed our chain -of Cruisers without detention and examination. - -[18] See Chapter XI. - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - Action, 45 - - Adams, John Couch, 21 - - Admiralty House, Portsmouth, King Edward’s visit to, 24, 25 - - Admiralty policy: replies to criticisms, 98 _et seq._ - - Alcester, Lord, 30 - - Alderson, General, 54 - - Alexandria, bombardment of, 63, 256 - - Allan, Sir William, 88 - - Allenby, Lord, 241 - - American advance on Verdun, 246 - - Animated biscuits, 8 - - Arabi Pasha, 30 - - Arbuthnot, Sir Robert, 261 - - Archbishop and the pack of cards, the, 32 - - Armoured trains, institution of, 30 - - Ascension, the, 45 - - Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., 65, 179, 194, 214, 222, 242, 247, 269 - - Augé, M., 59 - - Automatic dropping mines for ocean use, 223–224 - - Aylesford, Lord, 3 - - - B - - Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald, 128, 181; - on the big gun, 204–206 - - Baker, Mrs., Lord Fisher’s cook, 25; - invited to Buckingham Palace by King Edward, _ibid._ - - Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J., 56, 65, 98 - - Balliol College, Oxford, 2 - - Baltic project, the, 217 _et seq._, 236, 241 - - Battle hymn of the American Republic, the, 77, 78 - - Beatty, Earl, 269 - - Beaufort Testimonial, won by Lord Fisher, 255 - - Beaumont, Admiral Sir Lewis, 30 - - Beilby, Sir George, 66 - - Benbow, Sir Henry, letter of, to Lord Fisher, 171 - - Beresford, Admiral Lord Charles, on training of officers and men for - the Navy, 167–170; - 265 - - Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, 247 - - Bible, the, and other reflections, 38 _et seq._; - Wyclif’s translation, 43; - Tyndale’s, _ibid._; - Coverdale’s, 44; - Authorised, _ibid._; - Revised, _ibid._; - Cranmer’s “Great Bible,” _ibid._ - - Big gun, the, 204 _et seq._ - - Birthday Honours List a serial novel, 73 - - Black, Dr. Hugh, 38, 39, 77 - - Boar, Mr., 128 - - Board of Invention and Research, 193, 269 - - Bodmin, ancestral home of the Fishers, 3 - - Borden, Sir Robert, and hereditary titles in Canada, 72 - - Borkum, 245 - - Bourke, Mr. Maurice, 95 - - Boydell, Alderman, 1, 261 - - Boys, training of, for the Navy, 166 - - Brampton, Lord, 26, 31, 33 - - Brest, blockade of, 6 - - Bright, John, 69, 70 - - British submarines before and during the war, 186 - - Brodrick, Mr., 83 - - Browning, Sir Thomas, 201 - - Brutality in the Navy, former, 10 - - Buonaparte, Napoleon, Archbishop Whately, on, 100 - - Burnham, the first Lord, 31, 32, 33 - - “Buying up opportunities,” 61 _et seq._ - - Byron, Lord, 4 - - - C - - Cabman’s retort to the Admiral, the, 52 - - Campbell-Bannerman, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry, 31, 32, 51, 53 - - Canada and hereditary titles, Sir Robert Borden on, 73 - - Cape Observatory, the, 124 - - Capri, 41 - - Cawdor, Lord, 98 - - Cawdor memorandum, the, 107, 117 - - Childers, Rt. Hon. Hugh, 56, 139 - - China Seas, an Admiral’s unique manner of surveying, 9 - - Chinese, the ingenious, 9 - - Christmas Day joys on a man-of-war, 22 - - Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston, 86, 179, 188, 191, 192, 194, 230, 269, - 270 - - Clarke, Sir George, 266 - - Claverhouse, 78 - - Clemenceau, M., 240 - - Clive, Lord, 74 - - Coastguard, service, the, 120 _et seq._ - - Cochrane, Captain the Hon. A. A., 262 - - Collingwood, Admiral, 90, 92 - - Commerce, the submarine and, 183–185 - - Common entry into the Navy, 156 _et seq._ - - Congreve, William, 92 - - Cooper-Key, Admiral Sir A., 262 - - Corbett, Sir Julian, 34 - - Cornwallis, Admiral, 6, 90 - - Coronel, 261 - - Coverdale, Miles, 42, 43, 44 - - Cowdray, Lord, 196 - - Cranmer’s Bible, 43, 44 - - Cromwell, Thomas, 42, 43, 44 - - Currie, General, 74 - - Curzon, Earl, 193 - - - D - - Dalby, Prof., 193 - - Daniels, Mr. Josephus, 79; - report on oil-burning battleships, 203, 270 - - Davies, Mr., American dentist to the Kaiser, 75 - - Dawson, Sir Trevor, 189 - - Defects and repairs, 112 _et seq._ - - Democracy, 69 _et seq._ - - Deterding, Mr., 200, 201 - - Devonport, Viscount, 247 - - Diesel, Dr., 197 - - Dilke, Sir C., 102 - - Disraeli, Mr., 20 - - Diving methods of the Chinese, 9 - - Dogger Bank, 269 - - “Dreadnought” and “Invincible,” the, 109 - - Dreadnought battle cruiser, the, 232–233 - - Drumclog, 78 - - Drummond, Admiral the Hon. Sir James, 262 - - - E - - Eardley-Wilmot, Admiral Sir Sydney, 210 - - Edison, Mr., 21 - - Edmunds, Mr. Henry, 21, 22 - - Empress of Russia, Dowager, 29 - - “Equal opportunity for all,” 71 _et seq._ - - Esher, Lord, 11, 53, 173, 266 - - Essentials of sea fighting, the, 88 _et seq._ - - - F - - Falkland Islands, 66 - - Fisher Baronetcy, lapse of, 2 - - Fisher’s career, Lord, synopsis of, 255 _et seq._ - - Fisher, Sir Clement, 2, 3 - - Fisher, John, 2 - - Fisher, Rev. John, of Bodmin, 3; - four generations of, 4 - - Fisher, Mr. John Arbuthnot, 5 - - Fisher, Sir Robert, of Packington, 3 - - Fisher, Sir Robert, 4 - - Fisher, William, father of Lord Fisher, 261 - - Fisher, Mary, wife of Lord Aylesford, 3 - - Fisher motto, the, 2 - - Fiume, 256 - - “Fleet Street” conspiracy, a, 101 - - Foch, Marshal, 246 - - Forgiveness, 49 - - “Free Tank Day,” a, 22 - - Frederick the Great and the Seven Years’ War, 217, 218 - - Freedom of the seas nonsense, 75 - - French, Lord, 247 - - Friedland-Eylau campaign, 221 - - Friend, Lord Fisher’s letter to a, 76 - - Fushishima, Prince, 227 - - - G - - Gallifet, General, 31 - - Gard, Mr., 128 - - Gardiner, Mr. A. G., 11 - - Gaunt, John of, 96 - - Geddes, Sir Eric, 67, 246 - - German Emperor, the, 227, 230 - - German submarine menace, the, 65, 242 - - Gervais, Admiral, 264 - - Ginsburg, Dr., letter from Lord Fisher to, 41 - - Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., final resignation of, 50 _et seq._, 264 - - Goodenough, Commodore, 211 - - Gould, Sir F. C., 36 - - Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., 264 - - Gracie, Mr., 128 - - Grafton, Richard, printer of the 1539 Bible, 38 - - Grant, Sir Hope, 17 - - Graves, Admiral, 7 - - “Great Silent Navy,” the, 95, 96 - - Greenwich Observatory, 124 - - Gunboat, the use of the, 116 _et seq._ - - Gunning, Miss, wife of two dukes and mother of four, 5, 6 - - - H - - Hadcock, Major A. G., 210, 233 - - Hamilton, Duke of, 5 - - Hamilton, Lady, 1, 6 - - Hamilton, Lord George, 54, 264 - - Hankey, Sir Maurice P. A., 173; - letter to Lord Fisher, 214–215; - letter of Lord Fisher to, 244 - - Hanotaux, M., 250 - - Harcourt, Lord, 53 - - Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Sir William, 51, 52, 53 - - Hawke, Admiral, Capt. A. T. Mahan on, 91 - - Hawkins, Sir Henry, _see_ Brampton, Lord - - Hay, General, commandant of the Hythe School of Musketry, 17, 18 - - Heligoland Bight, a Naval Officer, on the battle of, 230, 245 - - Henderson, Wilfrid, 128 - - Hereditary titles out of date, 73; - Canada and, _ibid._ - - Hicks-Beach, Rt. Hon. Sir Michael, 51 - - Hilles, Captain, 261 - - Hole, Dean, 65 - - Hood, Captain Arthur W. A., 262 - - Hood, Sir H., 262, 264 - - Hope, Sir James, 14, 15, 261 - - Hopkins, Sir John, 170; - letter of, to Lord Fisher, _ibid._ - - Horton, Lady Wilmot, 4, 261 - - Hoskins, Sir A. H., 264 - - Hostile submarines, 183 - - House of Lords, Lord Fisher’s speech in, November, 1915, 86; - March 21, 1917, 87 - - How the Great War was carried on, 64 _et seq._ - - Howe, Julia Ward, 77 - - Hunger and thirst the way to Heaven, 10 - - Huxley, T. H., 42 - - Hythe School of Musketry, the, 17 - - - I - - Incarnation of Revolution, Lord Fisher as the, 20 - - Inge, Dean, 28, 47, 48 - - Ireland under military law, 31 - - - J - - Jackson, Sir Henry, 128 - - Jellicoe, Viscount, 128, 214, 215, 223, 226, 242, 243, 247, 267 - - Joffre, General, 247 - - “Jolly and Hustle,” 58 _et seq._ - - Jonah’s Gourd, 97 _et seq._ - - Jones, Captain Oliver, 15, 16, 17, 261 - - - K - - Keble, John, 19 - - Kelvin, Lord, 21, 61, 62, 63 - - Kerr, Lord Walter, 265 - - Kiel Canal, 214, 236, 237, 240 - - King Edward, 4, 24; - characteristic thoughtfulness of, 25–27; - his friendship for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 32; - 57, 60, 180, 227, 266, 268 - - King William IV, 1 - - Kitchener, Lord, 54, 229, 243, 247 - - Knollys, Lord, 24 - - Knox, Sir Ralph, 55 - - Krupp, 196, 197, 199 - - - L - - Labouchere, Mr. Henry, 31, 32 - - Lambe, A., grandfather of Lord Fisher, 261 - - Lambe, Sophia, mother of Lord Fisher, 261 - - Lane, Jane, 2 - - Latimer, Bishop, 211 - - Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 73 - - Law, Rt. Hon. Bonar, 244 - - League of Nations nonsense, 75 - - Lectures to officers of the Fleet, 89 _et seq._ - - “Let ’em all come,” 81 - - Lethbridge, Captain, 11 - - Leverrier, Urbain, 21 - - Lloyd George, Rt. Hon., 77; - letter from Lord Fisher to, 222–223; 230 - - Lloyd’s, 125 - - Lochee, Lord, _see_ Robertson, Mr. Edmund - - “Loop Detection” scheme, the, 67 - - Lord Mayor’s Banquet 1907, the, Lord Fisher’s speech at, 83 - - Loreburn, Lord, 31 - - Lucy, Sir Henry, 36, 37 - - - M - - M’Clintock, Admiral Sir Leopold, 263 - - McCrea, Admiral, 59 - - McKechnie, Sir James, 189 - - McKenna, Rt. Hon. Reginald, 268 - - McLaughlin, A. C., Professor of History at Chicago, 69, 73, 74 - - Madden, Admiral, 128 - - Mahan, Capt. A. T., 90, 91; - on Nelson, 135 - - Marienbad, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36 - - Marlborough, Duke of, 74 - - Masterton-Smith, Sir J. E., 34 - - Memorandum on “Oil and its Fighting Attributes,” 200 - - Men, training of, for the Navy, 166 - - Mercantile Marine, the, 125 - - Midleton, Lord, _see_ Brodrick, Mr. - - Midshipman and the Admiral, the, Mr. A. G. Gardiner’s story of, 11, 12 - - Midshipmen’s food, 6 - - Midshipmen past and present, comparison between, 7, 8 - - Miller, Captain, 11 - - Mitchell, Dr. Weir, 46 - - Mons, 246 - - “Monstrous” cruisers, the, 230, 232 - - Montecuccoli, Admiral Count, Austrian Minister of Marine, 180 - - Moresby, Admiral J., 248 - - Morley, Rt. Hon. John, on the Navy, 1893, 135 - - Morley, Lord, “Life of Gladstone,” 50 - - Motto, a Fisher, 2 - - - N - - Napoleon, 74, 129; - Friedland-Eylau campaign, 221; - 231 - - Napoleon III, 179 - - Nargen, Island of, 8 - - National Lifeboat Institution as substitute for Coastguard, 123 - - Naval base reforms, 249 _et seq._ - - Naval candidate’s essay, a, 171–172 - - Naval captain and cavalry colonel, 17 - - Naval education, 156 _et seq._ - - Naval officer, a, on the battle of Heligoland Bight, 230 - - Navigation, ignorance of, in the Navy, 19 - - Navy, common entry into, 156 _et seq._ - - Navy in the war, the, 225 _et seq._ - - Nelson, 1, 6, 19, 81, 83, 129, 231, 232; - Capt. A. T. Mahan on, 135; - at Toulon, 136 - - Northbrook, Lord, 30 - - Nucleus crews, 147 - - - O - - Observatories, 124 _et seq._ - - Obsolete vessels, purging the Navy of, 139 _et seq._ - - Officers, training of, for the Navy, 166; - Lord Charles Beresford on, 167–170 - - Oil and oil engines, 189 _et seq._ - - Oil-burning battleships, Mr. Josephus Daniels’ report on, 203 - - Organisation for war, 133 - - Osborne system of Naval education, 7, 157, 248 - - “Out of date” fighting ships, 130 - - - P - - Paganini, 164 - - Page-Roberts, Dr., Dean of Salisbury, 49 - - Pakenham, Admiral, 110, 208 - - Parker, Admiral Sir William, last of Nelson’s captains, nominates - Lord Fisher for the Navy, 4, 261 - - Parkes, Mr. Oscar, 208 - - Parsons, Hon. Sir Charles, 66, 197 - - Peace, 74, 75 - - Pechili, Gulf of, 16 - - Penniless, friendless and forlorn, Lord Fisher’s entry into the Navy, - 10 - - Plumer, General, 173 - - Pope, the, and Tyndale, 43, 44 - - Pre-war prophecy, a, 227 - - Public speeches, 79 _et seq._ - - Purging the Navy of obsolete vessels, 139 _et seq._ - - - Q - - Queen Alexandra, her kindly disposition, 26; - 28, 29, 268 - - Queen Elizabeth, 135 - - Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, 34 - - Queen Victoria, 30, 55 - - - R - - Rambodde, Ceylon, Lord Fisher’s birthplace, 255 - - Redesdale, Lord, 25, 26 - - Redmond, John, 31 - - Redmond, William, 31 - - Redundant dockyard workmen, discharge of, 56, 57 - - Resentment, 46 - - Retrospect, a (July, 1906), 150 _et seq._ - - Reval, 268 - - Rhodes, Cecil, 28 - - Richards, Sir Frederick, 50, 51; - cabman’s retort to, 52; - 264 - - Ridley, Bishop, 211 - - Riga, 236 - - Ripon, Lord, 53 - - Roberts, Lord, 36 - - Robertson, Mr. Edmund, 98, 101 _n._ - - Robertson, Rev. F. W., of Brighton, 46, 47, 49 - - Robertson, Sir W., 247 - - Rombulow-Pearse, Lieut., 159 - - Royal Academy Banquet, 1903, the, Lord Fisher’s speech at, 79 - - Royal Dutch-Shell Combination, the, 201 - - Royal Marines, Lord Charles Beresford on the, 168–169 - - Rozhdestvensky, Admiral, 207 - - Rumbold, Sir H. G. M. (Ambassador at Vienna), 31, 33 - - Russell, Lord, 31, 32, 33 - - Russian catastrophe, the reason of the, 228 - - Russian War, the, 1854–5, 8 - - - S - - Saintly Naval captain, a, 12, 13, 14 - - Salisbury, Lord, 54, 55, 88 - - Salt-beef snuff-box, a, 10 - - Samuel, Sir Marcus, 193 - - Sankey, Mr., 77 - - Satanic captain, a, 15 - - Scapa Flow, 225–226, 243 - - Schwab, Mr., 187 - - Schwarzhoff, General Gross von, 55 - - Science, contempt for, in the Navy, 19 - - Scott, Admiral Percy, 80, 81, 267 - - Sea of Japan, battle of, 111 - - Sea-gull, a delicacy, 16 - - Secrecy and secretiveness, 93 _et seq._ - - Selborne, Lord, 101; - letter of Sir John Fisher to, 127; 265, 266 - - Seven Years’ War, the, 217, 218, 222 - - Shadwell, Captain, 12, 13, 14, 261 - - Shadwell, Sir Lancelot, last Vice-Chancellor of England, 12 - - Shand, Lord, 31, 33 - - Ship-building and dockyard workers, 56 _et seq._ - - Siegel, Admiral von, 55 - - “Sleep quiet in your beds,” speech at Lord Mayor’s banquet, 1907, 85 - - Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 54 - - “Snail and Tortoise Party,” the, 212 - - Snuff-box of salt beef, 10 - - Some predictions, 211 - - “Sow the North Sea with mines,” Lord Fisher’s advice in 1914, 237–239 - - Spee, Admiral von, 66, 206, 232, 233, 269 - - Spencer, Earl, 50, 51, 52, 264 - - Spencer, Herbert, 42 - - Staal, M. de, 55 - - Standard Oil Trust, America, 201 - - State education in the Navy, 160–162 - - Stead, Mr. W. T., 52, 53, 55; - on Lord Fisher’s great naval reforms, 253 _et seq._; - 263 - - Stewart, Mr., “Jolly and Hustle,” 61 - - Stolypin, M., 222 - - Sturdee, Admiral Sir Doveton, 269 - - Submarine boat, the, 82 - - Submarine and commerce, the, 183–185 - - Submarines, 173 _et seq._ - - Submarines and oil fuel, 179–181 - - Submarines, British, before and during the war, 186 - - Subsidiary services of war, 148 _et seq._ - - Swan, Mr., inventor of the incandescent light, 21 - - Sydenham, Lord, _see_ Clarke, Sir George. - - Sylt, 245 - - - T - - Taylor, Bishop Jeremy, 46 - - Tennyson-d’Eyncourt, Sir Eustace, 208 - - Tepl, monks’ colony at, 29 - - Thackeray, 79 - - “The World, the Flesh, and the Devil,” 33 - - Thomson, Sir J. J., O.M., 65 - - Thurlow, Major, 1 - - Thursfield, Mr. J. R., 160 - - Tirpitz, Admiral von, 225, 247 - - Titles, hereditary, and Canada, 73 - - Togo, Admiral, 110, 174, 207, 226, 227 - - Training of boys for the Navy, 166 - - Training of men for the Navy, 166; - Lord Charles Beresford on the, 167–170 - - Training of officers for the Navy, 166, 167–169 - - Tsar of Russia, 268 - - Tweedmouth, Lord, 98, 101 _n._ - - Twiss, General, 89 - - Two-Power standard, the, 13, 105 - - Tyndale, John, 42, 43, 44 - - - U - - Uruguay, 119 - - Use of the gunboat, the, 116 _et seq._ - - - V - - Vavasseur, Mr. Josiah, 268 - - Verdun, 5; - American advance on, 246 - - “Victory,” the, Lord Fisher’s first and last ship, 4, 5 - - Villeneuve, Admiral, 89 - - Vladivostok, 110, 111 - - - W - - War, organisation for, 133 - - War, subsidiary services of, 148 _et seq._ - - Warsaw, Napoleon at, 129 - - Watch, a historic, 3 - - Watson, Sir William, 78 - - Way to Victory, the, Lord Fisher’s letters to the Prime Minister, - 234–236 - - Wellington, Lord, 74 - - Wesley, John, 46 - - Whately, Archbishop, 99, 100 - - Whitchurch, Edward, printer of the 1539 Bible, 38 - - Whitehead torpedo, 177, 262 - - Wilson, Sir Arthur, 268 - - Wilson, President, 77 - - Winchester, Bishop of, 114 - - Wireless Telegraphy, 82 - - Wotton, Sir Henry, 34 - - Wyclif, John, 42, 43 - - - Y - - Yamamoto, Admiral, 226 - - Yates, Edmund, 31, 32 - - Youthful midshipmen, advantage of, 5, 7; - arduous lives of, 6 - - - PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. 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