Castles of Steel

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by Robert K. Massie


  CHAPTER 2: GOEBEN IS YOUR OBJECTIVE

  27 “would easily be able to avoid the French”: Churchill, I, 222–23.

  27 “A droop-jawed, determined little man”: Robert James, 9.

  29 “We did not plead much”: McLaughlin, 54.

  30 “the African coast”: Kopp, 23.

  30 “like an armadillo”: Marder, I, 55.

  31 “Your first task”: Churchill, I, 222–24.

  31 “Goeben must be shadowed”: Ibid., 223.

  31 “Watch on mouth of Adriatic”: Ibid., 224.

  31 “Very good. Hold her”: Ibid.

  31 “to prevent Goeben leaving”: McLaughlin, 49.

  32 “a backstairs cad . . . a sneak”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 360.

  32 “a serpent of the lowest type”: Ibid., 418.

  32 “Sir Berkeley Mean”: Ibid., 447.

  32 “went to Balmoral”: Ibid., 418.

  32 “Winston has sacrificed the country”: Ibid., 458.

  32 “I fear this must be my last communication”: Ibid., 451–52.

  33 “Use Malta as if it were Toulon”: Churchill, I, 229.

  33 “break in upon”: Ibid., 222.

  33 “in quest of his colleague”: Hough, Great War, 71.

  34 “The idea of turning about”: McLaugh-lin, 56.

  34 “sowing death and panic”: Ibid.

  34 “Our trick succeeded brilliantly”: Kopp, 24.

  34 “like a giant azure bell”: Ibid., 27.

  35 “giant grey monsters”: Ibid., 28.

  35 “not French ships”: McLaughlin, 60.

  35 “The overheated air”: Kopp, 30.

  36 “Goeben . . . is evidently going to interfere”: Churchill, I, 224.

  36 “Winston with all his war paint on”: Asquith, Letters to Venetia, 150–51.

  36 “no act of war”: Churchill, I, 225.

  36 “the tortures of Tantalus”: Ibid., 226.

  36 “unable to utter a word”: Ibid., 227.

  36 “Sent hands to tea”: McLaughlin, 59.

  37 “Goeben out of sight”: Hough, Great War, 74.

  37 “for the last time”: McLaughlin, 67.

  37 “With a heavy heart”: Ibid., 68.

  38 “Numerous Sicilians”: Ibid.

  38 “At present time”: Ibid., 69.

  38 “It was impossible for me”: Ibid.

  39 “Italian government have declared neutrality”: Churchill, I, 226.

  40 “Had it been put to me”: Ibid., 250.

  40 “Certainly if . . . [Milne]”: Ibid., 254.

  40 “Is Austria neutral power”: McLaughlin, 66.

  40 “First Cruiser Squadron and Gloucester”: Ibid.

  41 “Goeben altering course to southward”: Ibid., 71.

  42 the Silver King: Ibid., 32.

  42 “the handsomest officer”: Ibid., 105.

  42 “met Mrs. Troubridge in the Abbey”: Ibid., 30.

  42 “they must not be surprised”: Ibid., 74.

  43 For Troubridge’s conversations with Wray, see Ibid., 76–77.

  43 “I cannot turn away”: Marder, II, 26.

  43 “Being only able to meet Goeben”: McLaughlin, 78.

  44 “Why did you not continue”: Ibid.

  44 “With visibility at the time”: Ibid.

  45 “gradually . . . drop astern”: Corbett, I, 66.

  45 “Have engaged at long range”: Hough, Great War, 77.

  45 “Commence hostilities at once”: Marder, II, 30.

  46 “Negative my telegram”: Hough, Great War, 81.

  46 “Indispensable military necessity”: Tuchman, Guns of August, 157.

  47 “Enter. Demand surrender”: McLaugh-lin, 84.

  47 “Action Stations”: Kopp, 66.

  47 “Request pilot”: Ibid., 67.

  47 “Please follow me”: Ibid., 68.

  48 “They are to allow them to enter” and “Yes”: Kannengiesser, 26.

  48 “interesting,” but that “as we shall insist”: Asquith, Letters to Venetia, 168.

  48 “temporarily and superficially”: Tuchman, Guns of August, 159.

  49 “I have even more terrible news for you”: Morgenthau, 81.

  49 “we could not afford to do without”: Churchill, I, 29.

  49 “insolent,” “defiant,” and “openly fraudulent”: Ibid., 491.

  50 “more slaughter, more misery and ruin”: Churchill I, 252.

  50 “careful examination . . . their Lordships approved”: Milne, 146.

  51 “Your sole duty”: Churchill, I, 491.

  51 “amazing misconduct”: McLaughlin, 108.

  51 “signally failed”: Ibid., 107–8.

  51 “had a very fair chance”: Ibid., 111.

  51 “did, from negligence”: Ibid., 112.

  51 “Do not be brought to action”: Churchill, I, 222.

  51 “fixed and unalterable opinion”: McLaughlin, 110.

  51 Troubridge and Milne: Marder, II, 34.

  51 “he had no intention to engage”: McLaughlin, 111.

  52 “All I could gain”: Ibid., 107.

  52 “deep conviction”: Ibid., 133.

  52 “a desperate one”: Ibid.

  52 “It was at this psychological moment”: Marder, II, 27.

  53 “the limited ammunition of Goeben”: Churchill, I, 251.

  53 “Up to the range of sixteen thousand yards”: McLaughlin, 120.

  53 “superior force . . . fully and honorably”: Ibid., 145.

  54 “Sir Berkeley Goeben”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 52.

  54 “this most disastrous event”: Ibid., 53.

  54 “an amateur on shore”: Milne, 16.

  54 “They pay me to be an admiral”: Hough, Great War, 84.

  55 “Even if all our ships had been sunk”: Pope, 197.

  CHAPTER 3: JELLICOE

  56 “the only man on either side”: Churchill, III, 112.

  56 “Jellicoe to be Admiralissimo”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 424.

  57 “If war comes before 1914”: Ibid., 443.

  57 “our beloved Commander-in-Chief”: Marder, II, 10.

  57 “really does too much”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 418–19.

  58 “one of the cleverest cadets”: Winton, 12.

  58 “Jellicoe was admired”: Goldrick, in The Great Admirals, ed. Sweetman, 365.

  58 “Property of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe”: Bacon, Jellicoe, 8.

  58 “swam with extraordinary vigor”: Bacon, Jellicoe, 53.

  59 “I felt the shock”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 10.

  60 “I don’t think I shall ever forget”: Bacon, Jellicoe, 113.

  61 “one of the five best brains”: Winton, 101.

  61 “far greater protection”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 13.

  61 “I had a decided admiration”: Ibid., 22.

  62 “On my way to Keil”: Ibid., 15.

  62 “I think it shows”: Ibid., 17.

  63 “If one asks English naval officers”: Marder, I, 410.

  63 “It did not take me very long”: Jellicoe Papers, 26–27.

  63 “He thanked me”: Ibid., 30.

  64 “certainly one of the future leaders”: Ibid.

  64 “brilliant and daring”: Ibid., 29.

  65 “War with Germany”: Bacon, Jellicoe, 190.

  65 “in certain circumstances”: Jellicoe, Grand Fleet, 3.

  66 “I had the most profound respect”: Ibid., 5.

  66 “the fleet might conclude”: Ibid.

  67 “These are not times”: Gilbert, I, 60.

  67 “respectfully and most earnestly”: Winton, 142.

  67 “We have absolute confidence”: Ibid.

  67 For the messages between Churchill and Jellicoe, see Jellicoe Papers, I, 41–42.

  68 “When I reported myself”: Jellicoe, Grand Fleet, 4.

  69 “as always, a most gallant officer”: Ibid., 5.

  70 “would cause unprecedented disaster”: Beatty Papers, I, 112.

  70 “We received the terrible news”: Beatty Papers, I, 113.<
br />
  70 “Your feelings do you credit”: Churchill, I, 218.

  70 “I hope I never have to live”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 48.

  70 “My dear Jellicoe”: Bacon, Jellicoe, 202.

  71 “Look here, old chap”: Ibid., 203.

  CHAPTER 4: FIRST DAYS

  72 “the principal object”: Marder, I, 367.

  73 “a steady and serious”: Ibid., 371.

  73 “In a war with Germany”: Ibid., II.3.

  73 “Great Britain cannot help”: Ibid., I, 431.

  73 “Owing to recent”: Ibid., 424.

  73 “so long as”: Ibid., II, 3.

  76 “As it is”: Ibid., I. 372–73.

  76 “Before the war”: Dewar, 152.

  76 “There was only one”: Scheer, 11.

  76 “equalization of forces”: Groos, I. 54.

  77 “dropping things overboard”: Patterson, Tyrwhitt, 46.

  77 “the first British shot in the war”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 68.

  78 “if we go up on a mine”: Goldrick, 66.

  78 “The foremost half of the ship”: Ibid., 67.

  79 “stagger out of the chart house”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 70.

  79 “the strong odor of petroleum”: Groos, I, 233.

  79 “Tomorrow, Sunday,”: Churchill, I, 256.

  80 “In the years”: Tuchman, Guns of August, 121.

  80 “contemptible little army”: Patterson, Jellicoe, 61.

  80 “The more English”: Tuchman, Guns of August, 121.

  81 “We grudged every light cruiser”: Churchill, I, 286–87.

  81 “the mother country”: Bean, I, 16.

  82 “without the loss of a single ship”: Churchill, I, 305.

  CHAPTER 5: BEATTY

  84 “For no apparent reason”: Chalmers, 122–23.

  84 “observe the private unhappiness”: Barnett, 135.

  86 “free ranging”: Charles Beatty, 34.

  87 “Some months ago”: Chalmers, 75–76.

  87 “So great is the joy”: Ibid.

  87 “Dear Arthur”: Charles Beatty, 40.

  87 “wilful and beautiful”: Tree, 16.

  87 “divorce crushed my father’s spirit”: Ibid., 18.

  87 “Your mother has sent me”: Ibid., 26.

  88 “You have done a great deal of grumbling”: Beatty Papers, I, 11.

  88 “My darling Tata”: Ibid., 8.

  88 “Well, love”: Chalmers, 118.

  89 “J-aaack”: Charles Beatty, 42.

  89 “What? Court Martial my David”: Leslie, 211.

  89 “I have thought for a long time”: Beatty Papers, 15.

  89 “beautiful, opulent, ambitious”: Roskill, 36.

  89 “the most unhappy man”: Ibid.

  89 “We have eight admirals”: Beatty Papers, 23.

  89 “As you know, ‘Lion’ and I”: Ibid., 16–17.

  90 “I felt as if I was an ogre”: Beatty Papers, 30–31.

  90 “Rear Admiral Beatty”: Chalmers, 105.

  90 “David must have known”: Charles Beatty, 57.

  90 “Mum, Mum, come”: Chalmers, 111.

  90 “made no secret”: Charles Beatty, 57.

  90 “My little lady”: Roskill, 45.

  91 “David was threatening to leave the Navy”: Ibid., 43–44.

  91 “The fact is that the Admiralty”: Beatty Papers, 34.

  92 “The vessel was commanded”: Churchill, My Early Life, 178–79.

  92 “You are quite right”: Beatty Papers, 11–12.

  92 “I see in the papers”: Ibid., 28.

  92 “You seem very young”: Morgan, 322.

  92 “My first meeting”: Churchill, I, 88.

  92 “I had two hours solid conversation”: Beatty Papers, 35.

  92 “I hope to be able to squeeze”: Ibid., 65.

  93 “Oh dear, I am so tired”: Ibid., 46.

  93 “viewed naval strategy”: Churchill, I, 88.

  93 “I had no doubts”: Ibid.

  93 “a love of doing everything”: Chalmers, 116.

  93 “a nice old thing”: Ibid., 124.

  94 “You must not bother”: Beatty Papers, 66.

  95 “There seems to be something wrong”: Chatfield, 143.

  96 “I have often been asked”: Goodenough, 91.

  CHAPTER 6: THE BATTLE OF THE BIGHT

  97 “We are still wandering”: Beatty Papers, I, 120.

  97 “What is the Navy doing” and “offensive measures”: Roskill, Beatty, 82.

  97 “When are we going to make war”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 76.

  98 “simple and daring”: Churchill, I, 308.

  98 “too fully occupied”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 80.

  98 “gave me an opportunity”: Ibid., 81.

  99 “damned slow”: Patterson, Tyrwhitt, 41.

  99 “from the oldest and slowest”: Ibid., 54.

  100 “a destroyer sweep”: Chalmers, 142.

  100 “Propose to cooperate”: Goldrick, 85.

  100 “Until I know the plan of operations”: Ibid.

  100 “Cooperation by battle fleet”: Ibid., 86.

  100 “We are to rendezvous”: Chalmers, 143.

  101 “Are you taking part”: Ibid.

  101 The German defensive arrangements in the Heligoland Bight are described in Groos, I, 131–33.

  102 “Attacked by enemy cruisers”: Goldrick, 88.

  103 “hunt destroyers”: Ibid.

  104 “were in boiling water”: Groos, I, 150.

  105 “as a sample”: Corbett, II, 109.

  106 “Please chase westward”: Goldrick, 97.

  106 “Cruisers are our cruisers”: Ibid.

  106 “I was not informed”: Beatty Papers, I, 126.

  106 “I came under detailed orders”: Goldrick, 98.

  107 “to cut off the retreat”: Groos, I, 175.

  107 “We received a very severe and most accurate fire”: Chalmers, 145–46.

  108 “Am attacked by large cruiser”: Beatty Papers, I, 124.

  108 “a hornets’ nest”: Marder, II, 51.

  108 “intercepting various signals”: Beatty Papers, I, 129.

  109 “What do you think we should do”: Chatfield, 134.

  109 “Am proceeding to your support”: Goldrick, 101.

  109 “heavy smoke clouds”: Groos, I, 176.

  109 “very wisely fled like a stag”: King-Hall, 54.

  109 “Even in the act”: Goldrick, 102.

  110 “furrowed”: King-Hall, 55.

  110 “The ship reared”: Groos, I, 179.

  110 “We closed down on her”: King-Hall, 55.

  110 “Mainz was incredibly brave”: Chalmers, 146.

  110 “The state of Mainz”: Groos, I, 178–79.

  110 “Sink the ship”: Ibid., 177.

  111 “A young German officer”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 88.

  111 “I really was beginning to feel a bit blue”: Marder, II, 52.

  111 “Following in each other’s wake”: King-Hall, 57.

  111 “There straight ahead of us”: Chalmers, 146.

  112 “As we approached”: Chatfield, 125.

  112 “The turrets swung around”: Ibid.

  113 “A small German ship”: Ibid.

  113 “the first salvo fell”: Goldrick, 106.

  113 “completely enveloped”: Groos, I, 185.

  113 “The Admiral told me”: Chatfield, 126.

  113 “drifting among corpses”: Groos, I, 218.

  114 “not to engage”: Ibid., 193.

  114 “At 8:23 p.m.”: Ibid., 198.

  115 “It seems your anchor”: Chalmers, 152.

  115 “The end justified the means”: Marder, II, 52.

  115 “We had a great reception”: Ibid.

  116 “the only action which was possible”: Ibid.

  116 “It was good work”: Beatty Papers, I, 121.

  116 “Poor devils”: Chalmers, 152–53.

  116 “I had thought I should have received”: Ibid., 154.

  116 “It
really was awfully fine”: Patterson, Tyrwhitt, 62–63.

  116 “I think an absurd fuss”: Keyes Papers, I, 19.

  117 “I think it right to tell you”: Ibid., 17–18.

  118 “a greater expenditure of ammunition”: Chatfield, 127.

  118 “The battle was of immense”: Marder, II, 54.

  118 “It was no great naval feat”: Chatfield, 126.

  118 “Enemy battle cruiser squadron”: Groos, I, 283.

  119 “the long-suppressed battle ardor”: Ibid., 210.

  119 “However heavy the losses”: Ibid., 216.

  120 “the larger part”: Ibid., 215.

  120 “hold itself back”: Bennett, Naval Battles, 151.

  120 “in his anxiety”: Goldrick, 115.

  120 “August 28”: Tirpitz, II, 91.

  120 “on the approach of the English”: Ibid., 92–93.

  121 “They knew we were coming”: Chalmers, 154.

  121 “[We] could not go messing about”: Marder, II, 55.

  121 “The Germans knew nothing”: Churchill, I, 309.

  CHAPTER 7: SUBMARINES AND MINES: “FISHER’S TOYS”

  122 “water conducts shock”: Keegan, The Price of Admiralty, 97.

  123 “Death near”: Fisher, Records, 177–78.

  123 “playthings” and “Fisher’s toys”: Marder, Anatomy, 559.

  123 “un-English”: Ibid., 368

  123 “underhanded method of attack”: Mackay, 298.

  124 “I shall be very disappointed”: Fisher, FGDN, I, 366.

  124 “the cleverest officer in the navy”: Marder, I, 83.

  124 “exercised an extraordinary influence”: Marder, Anatomy, 366.

  125 “dressed like North Sea fishermen”: Keyes, I, 47.

  125 “I note by examining”: Hough, Great War, 174.

  125 “the notoriously short, steep seas”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 102.

  126 “Under the circumstances”: Goldrick, 121.

  126 “We have no money to waste”: Hough, Great War, 169.

  126 “for experiments connected with submarines”: Ibid., 170.

  126 “her employment”: Ibid.

  127 “Our submarine fleet”: Gray, 28.

  129 “Think of . . .”: Keyes, Memoirs, 76–77.

  129 “the ‘live bait’ squadron”: Churchill, I, 323.

  130 “My dear fellow”: Marder, II, 57.

  130 “The Bacchantes ought not to continue”: Churchill, I, 324.

  130 “I should not have given in”: Kerr, 248.

  130 “Still rather rough”: Goldrick, 127.

  132 “Oh, no. I have only broken one arm”: Hoehling, 42.

  133 “three cruisers”: Thomas, 18.

  133 “I could see their gray-black sides”: Hoehling, 48.

  133 “to make my aim sure”: Ibid.

  133 “a dull thud”: Thomas, 20.

 

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