Dreadnought

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Dreadnought Page 126

by Robert K. Massie


  129 “destroyers”: FGDN, I, 100

  130 “There were no half-measures”: ibid., 101

  131 “He had a terrific face”: ibid., 102

  132 “On the other hand”: ibid.

  133 “Williamson and Paine”: ibid.

  134 “One ought not to wish for war”: ibid., 139

  135 “So I did”: Fisher, Records, 64

  136 “the tip-top appointment”: FGDN, I, 139

  137 “It is the greatest nonsense”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 239

  138 “Imagine a monarch”: ibid., 241

  139 “If you think that war”: Marder, Anatomy, 346

  140 “by the charm of his manner”: ibid.

  141 “Such a rush”: FGDN, I, 142

  142 “detestable and smelly”... “a beastly, stuffy”: ibid.

  143 “The humanizing of war?”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 121

  144 “Look, when I leave The Hague”: ibid., 122

  145 “England holds”: Mackay, 221

  146 “Thanks to the energetic attitude”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 261

  Chapter 24

  Ut Veniant Omnes

  1 “Renown... should not be”: Mackay, 257

  2 “I must say your old ship”: ibid.

  3 “If... the whole of the French Fleet”: FGDN, I, 166

  4 “Preliminary failure in Naval War”: ibid., 157

  5 “Success in war”: ibid., 168

  6 “Our frontiers”: ibid., 172

  7 “five minutes before”: Fisher, Records, 98

  8 “General Quarters”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 129

  9 “When Fisher left the ship”: ibid.

  10 “UT VENIANT OMNES”: ibid., 131

  11 “As the Commander of one ship”: ibid., 130

  12 “I am sorry”: ibid., 234

  13 “I went to a lecture”: FGDN, I, 151

  14 “It was brought home to them”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 127

  15 “Fisher had a practice”: Mackay, 230

  16 “It is impossible”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 128

  17 “the efficiency of the Navy”: FGDN, I, 150

  18 “Fishpond”: ibid., II, 36

  19 “The new admiral”: Mackay, 225

  20 “I fancy the new admiral”: ibid.

  21 “I had not seen Admiral Fisher”: ibid.

  22 “It is difficult for anyone”: ibid.

  23 “a night attack on Malta”: FGDN, I, 155

  24 “Woe to the captain”: Mackay, 240

  25 “sitting in the Superintendant’s chair”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 151

  26 “I have burnt”: FGDN, I, 151

  27 “The other day”: ibid., 197

  28 “I had a tremendously long day”: ibid., 159

  29 “Suddenness is the characteristic feature”: ibid., 173

  30 “In former days”: ibid., 165

  31 “up and down the quarterdeck”: ibid.

  32 “the bill to the Admiralty”: Mackay, 240

  33 “all such splendid men”: FGDN, I, 196

  34 “The admiral commanding”: ibid., 164

  35 “Who is going to be hung”: ibid., 156

  36 “I have the rope around my neck”: ibid., 167

  37 “In this famous Mediterranean Fleet”: ibid.

  38 “to encourage the others”: ibid., 164

  39 “I maintain it to be”: ibid., 175

  40 “Lord Selborne says ‘Trust us’”: ibid., 193

  41 “Unless I have the use”: ibid., 171

  42 “I would sooner have 14 battleships”: ibid., 194

  43 “[The Admiralty] admit”: ibid.

  44 “It was splendid for me”: ibid., 193

  45 “If more destroyers are not obtained”: ibid., 156

  46 “To steam a fleet at night”: Marder, Anatomy, 399

  47 “serious disappointment”: ibid., 400

  48 “I must call attention”: ibid., 404

  49 “His reiterated demands”: ibid., 403

  50 “The First Sea Lord is a nonentity”: FGDN, I, 210

  51 “Walter Kerr... is a slave”: ibid., 199

  52 “careful never to give away”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 137

  53 “BURN THIS!”: FGDN, I, 185 (and throughout Fisher’s correspondence)

  54 “I can’t help it”: Mackay, 251

  55 “mischievous”... “unpleasant prominence”: Barker, 37

  56 “warmed-over”: Mackay, 250

  57 “It’s a place”: FGDN, I, 185

  58 “You seem to place no trust”: ibid., 209

  59 “unprecedented”: ibid., 187

  60 “All has gone exceedingly well”: ibid., 207

  61 “I believe in the various talks”: ibid.

  62 “Nearly everything”: ibid., 230

  63 “Personally, I have always been”: ibid., 218

  64 “I am ‘tabooed’”: ibid., 199

  65 “I hear a syndicate”: ibid., 216

  66 “a few acres of land”: Mackay, 253

  67 “My dear Admiral”: FGDN, I, 222

  68 “I think it shows”: ibid., 230

  69 “I feel very sad”: ibid., 238

  70 “My object was to keep”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 161

  71 “They began singing”: Mackay, 272

  72 “like a torpedo boat”: ibid.

  73 “As usual”: FGDN, I, 242

  74 “As we passed the ships”: Mackay, 272

  75 “The Fourth Sea Lord”: FGDN, I, 270

  76 “You can’t get them too young”: ibid., 267

  77 “Surely we are drawing”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 31

  78 “our officers... down in the coal hole”: FGDN, I, 268

  79 “Look here, Brown”: ibid., 213

  80 “the Mandarins”: FGDN, II, 68

  81 “the fossils”: ibid., I, 67

  82 “They look on me”: ibid., I, 266

  83 “My dear Walker”: ibid., 243

  84 “I have in my drawer”: ibid., 269

  85 “I HAVE NO WORK”: ibid., 248

  86 “On the British Navy”: Fisher, Records, 248

  87 “you may sleep quietly”: ibid., 90

  88 “The Lord Chief Justice”: FGDN, I, 273

  89 “Fisher’s toys”: Marder, Anatomy, 559

  90 “un-English”: ibid., 358

  91 “this underhand method”: Mackay, 298

  92 “the cleverest officer”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 83

  93 “The submarine was”: Marder, Anatomy, 363

  94 “exercised an extraordinary... influence”: ibid., 366

  95 “I don’t think”: ibid., 367

  96 “The risks of allowing”: ibid., 363

  97 “Lord Selborne and all the rest”: FGDN, I, 289

  98 “The King will never forgive”: ibid., 290

  99 “The Board will expect me to fulfill”: ibid., 288

  100 “I was asked the question”: Fisher, Records, 32

  101 “makes my blood boil”: FGDN, I, 73

  102 “The Regular Army”: ibid., 291

  103 “A prayer for the War Office”: ibid., 300

  104 “The military system is rotten”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 205

  105 “the Old Gang”: ibid., 212

  106 “We have 550 people”: FGDN, I, 278

  107 “I shall be very disappointed”: ibid., 366

  108 “My rooms are next the King’s”: ibid., 286

  109 “So I’m all right for Church”: ibid., 287

  110 “Lord Selborne arrived”: ibid.

  111 “You must stay till Monday”: ibid., 286

  112 “I wasn’t master”: Fisher, Records, 37

  113 “Sir John, she has been invited”: ibid., 38

  114 “H.M. has two receptive plates”: FGDN, I, 324

  115 “Have you seen that halfpenny newspaper”: Fisher, Records, 40

  116 “The King came in”: Fisher, Memories, 26

  117 “Anyhow, I am stopping with you”: Dorling, 221

  118 “got the King’s nurse”: Fisher, Records, 40
/>   119 “I had four and a half hours alone”: FGDN, I, 327

  120 “As I was zero”: Fisher, Records, 39

  Chapter 25

  First Sea Lord

  1 “4 days ago”: FGDN, I, 316

  2 “The die is cast”: ibid.

  3 “Selborne was so cordial”: ibid., 324

  4 “I am ready for the fray”: ibid., 325

  5 “This fleet of lunatics”: Marder, Anatomy, 439

  6 “no more to be trusted”: ibid.

  7 “I’ve been with the Prime Minister”: FGDN, II, 47

  8 “Admiral Sir John Fisher”: Mackay, 335

  9 “We never ceased talking”: FGDN, II, 44

  10 “the house that Jack built”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 36

  11 “too weak to fight”: Winton, 102

  12 “magnificent on paper”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 107

  13 “The first duty of the Navy”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 38

  14 “with one courageous stroke”: FGDN, II, 24

  15 “It appears necessary to repeat”: Humble, 192

  16 “Bath Chair Flotilla”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 107

  17 “No, bless you, Sir”: Bacon, ibid., 110

  18 “the keystone... instantly ready”: FGDN, II, 23

  19 “has augmented the fighting power”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 38

  20 “which would have disgraced”: FGDN, I, 362

  21 “I don’t care if he drinks”: Humble, 188

  22 “Unless retrenchment”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 24

  23 “fighting efficiency”: FGDN, II, 124

  24 “There is only so much”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 25

  25 “amazing array of tumblers”: ibid.

  Chapter 26

  The Building of the Dreadnought

  1 “Selborne has agreed”: FGDN, I, 325

  2 “Two governing conditions”: D. K. Brown, “The Design and Construction of the Battleship Dreadnought,” Warship, IV, 43

  3 “In designing this ship”: Parkes, 468

  4 “when 12 inch guns are fired”: Marder, Anatomy, 531

  5 “The fast ship”: Parkes, 469

  6 “I am an apostle”: Fisher, Memories, 127

  7 “no guns be carried”: Parkes, 469

  8 “It is clearly necessary”: FGDN, I, 177

  9 “Monsters with short legs”: Hough, 6

  10 “If you fit reciprocating engines”: Brown, op. cit., 45

  11 “were noiseless”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 96

  12 “a glorified snipe marsh”: Bacon, Fisher, I, 263

  13 “Speed is armor”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 59

  14 “Hitting is the thing”: ibid., 62

  15 “No holes in the bulkheads”: Parkes, 470

  16 “the extra length”: ibid., 471

  17 “to infuse her own dauntless”: The Times, February 12, 1906

  18 The account of the launching of the Dreadnought is drawn from The Times, February 10 and February 12, 1906; Daily Chronicle, February 12, 1906.

  19 “The building and launching”: The Times, February 12, 1906

  20 “The Dreadnought is a symbol”: ibid.

  21 “It was an exciting moment”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 150

  22 “The King is greatly pleased”: PRO, ADM 153-19805 and ADM 136—No. 7

  23 “He looked very grave and serious”: Parkes, 479

  24 “a great, white-bellied brute”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 156

  25 “It was far cooler”: The Times, August 6, 1907

  26 “a cheap swaggerer”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 158

  27 “the air of mystery”: The Times, February 10, 1906

  28 “It is hardly too much”: ibid.

  29 “In my opinion”: Marder, Anatomy, 540

  30 “If there were no natural obstacles”: Woodward, 113

  31 “paralyzed by the Dreadnought”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 67

  32 “The whole British Fleet”: Marder, Anatomy, 56

  33 “a piece of wanton”: ibid.

  34 “We said, ‘Let there be’”: Woodward, 105

  35 “Putting all one’s naval eggs”: Marder, Anatomy, 536

  36 “I wish to God”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 70

  37 “It should clearly”: ibid., 64

  38 “When Sir William White suggests”: ibid., 69

  39 “Knowing as we did”: Bacon, From 1900 Onward, 103

  40 “I am afraid it will be rather hard,” Stephen, 40. The story of the Dreadnought Hoax is also told in Bell, I, 157–61 and Appendix E

  41 “the religious beliefs”: ibid., 44

  42 “Bunga-Bunga!”: ibid., 51

  43 “There would be no escape”: FGDN, I, 236

  44 “A single fast armored cruiser”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 55

  45 “I on one occasion”: FGDN, I, 174

  46 “to the world’s end”: Marder, Anatomy, 95

  47 “of the great Nelsonic idea”: Fisher, Records, 222

  48 “Vessels of this enormous size”: Parkes, 492

  49 “three large armored cruisers”: ibid.

  50 “Their speed... should have kept”: ibid., 494

  Chapter 27

  Lord Charles Beresford

  1 “One complains”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 77

  2 “Ruthless, Relentless, and Remorseless”: ibid., 36

  3 “I wish South Africa”: FGDN, II, 52

  4 “an immense combination”: ibid., 53

  5 “Nothing that Sir John Fisher could say”: Mackay, 358

  6 “instantly ready for war”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 23

  7 “Our only probable enemy”: ibid., 103

  8 “As you know”: Mackay, 361

  9 “Syndicate of Discontent”: FGDN, II, 110

  10 “pre-historic fossils”: ibid., 35

  11 “An attack should always be met”: ibid., III

  12 “Lest I should be exalted”: Barker, 61

  13 “Any smart action”: Beresford, II, 559

  14 “That white-faced little beggar”: ibid., I, 11

  15 “both methods”: ibid., 101

  16 “his red shirt flung open”: ibid., 164

  17 “I was the only person”: ibid., 151

  18 “I am an old woman now”: ibid., 152

  19 “He is an Irishman”: Lee, I, 456

  20 “Seeing the difficulty”: Beresford, I, 188

  21 “Good God!”: ibid.

  22 “Recall Condor”: ibid., 189

  23 “Arabs were murdering”: Beresford, I, 191

  24 “I only had to shoot”: ibid., 193

  25 “I was at work”: ibid., 196

  26 “With a roar”: ibid., 263

  27 “my sword rigid”: ibid., 266

  28 “a coward”... “a blackguard”: Magnus, 232

  29 “The days of duelling”: ibid.

  30 “I now demand an apology”: ibid., 234

  31 “Dear Lord Charles Beresford”: ibid., 235

  32 “I have no desire”: ibid., 236

  Chapter 28

  Fisher Versus Beresford

  1 “the British fleet”: Beresford, II, 363

  2 “We drank much beer”: ibid.

  3 “He really is very stupid”: FGDN, I, 122

  4 “Ramillies signalmen”: Chatfield, 41

  5 “Your flagship”: ibid.

  6 “Beresford did uncommonly well”: FGDN, I, 161

  7 “He is a first rate officer afloat”: ibid., 237

  8 “He could do so much good”: ibid.

  9 “I am very sorry”: ibid., 234

  10 “There is a good deal”: ibid., 237

  11 “Under the command”: Beresford, II, 467

  12 “battleships are cheaper”: ibid., 484

  13 “The Navy, unlike the Army”: ibid., 487

  14 “As the Emperor was leaving”: ibid., 494

  15 “The Russian ships were so loaded”: ibid., 495

  16 “It appeared to me”: Marder, Anatomy, 440

  17 “Lord Nelson’s dictum”:
ibid.

  18 “a massacre”: ibid.

  19 “The Service is very sore”: Mackay, 359

  20 “rotters”: FGDN, II, 80

  21 “wailing and bemoaning”: ibid., 76

  22 “What is upsetting”: ibid.

  23 “It is with extreme reluctance”: ibid., 79

  24 “extraordinary conduct”: ibid.

  25 “I thought Lord Tweedmouth”: Mackay, 360

  26 “I had three hours with Beresford”: FGDN, II, 115

  27 “Lord Charles Beresford now dictates”: ibid., 116

  28 “I followed your advice”: ibid., 117

  29 “My conviction is”: ibid.

  30 “blow to discipline”: ibid., 118

  31 “All I wish to assure you”: ibid., 121

  32 “There is not the slightest chance”: ibid.

  33 “is of itself a match”: ibid., 116

  34 “looking very like a Roman emperor”: Jameson, 89

  35 “My principal recollection”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 89

  36 “I remember coming up on deck”: Scott, 197

  37 “my little painted frigate”: Jameson, 89

  38 “our dangerous lunatic”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 91

  39 “We start at scratch”: ibid.

  40 “a fraud upon the public”: FGDN, II, 177

  41 “I am most distressed”: Mackay, 371

  42 “The truth is”: ibid.

  43 “with the object of disabusing him”: ibid., 372

  44 “I know him to be ambitious”: FGDN, II, 125

  45 “It is manifestly impossible”: ibid., 178

  46 “Improper”... “provocative”: ibid.

  47 The Fisher-Beresford-Tweedmouth conversations are taken from Bacon, Fisher, II, 39, and Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 94

  48 “I can now make out”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 95

  49 “It has come to my notice”: ibid., 96

  50 “you continue to employ language”: ibid.

  51 “Like most specialists”: Padfield, Aim Straight, 171

  52 “I would rather go into action”: ibid., 162

  53 “Paintwork appears”: ibid., 164

  54 “this signal”: ibid., 166

  55 “totally opposed to loyalty”: ibid., 167

  56 “grave disapprobation”: ibid., 170

  57 “act of insubordination”: ibid.

  58 “I should like to take”: ibid.

  59 “There is no doubt”: ibid., 177

  60 “a traitor”: Mackay, 395

  61 “Sir J. is in a most nervous state”: ibid., 393

  62 “He is so bitter”: ibid., 399

  63 “Sir J. is not well”: ibid.

 

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