Dreadnought
Page 126
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
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.