Britain and the Mine, 1900–1915

319 Pages·2018·3.935 MB·English

by  Richard Dunley

N
I
A
T
R I AND THE
B
MI
NE,
1900–1915
Culture, Strategy and International Law
Richard Dunley
Britain and the Mine, 1900–1915
Richard Dunley
Britain and the Mine,
1900–1915
Culture, Strategy and International Law
Richard Dunley
The National Archives
Kew, London, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-72819-3 ISBN 978-3-319-72820-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72820-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934854
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To Bun and Andrea
A
cknowledgements
This project has its origins in a short conversation that took place
following a seminar at King’s College, London in 2008. Since then it has
grown out of all recognition, but at every stage this has only been possi-
ble due to the help and support of colleagues and friends. I would like to
thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for supporting my PhD
research from which this book has developed.
I am indebted to the staff of the numerous archives, libraries and
other institutions I have visited whilst conducting this research. Knowing
the extreme pressures felt at present across this sector makes me all the
more grateful for the many archivists and librarians who have gone
out of their way to share their knowledge and expertise of the collec-
tions they hold. Special thanks must go to Andrew Choong and Jeremy
Michell at the Brass Foundry in Woolwich, who are not only an inval-
uable mine of information, but also provided me with a near constant
stream of mince pies no matter the time of year I visited.
I am grateful to my friends and colleagues at The National Archives
for their insight and support, as I have sought to broaden out the project
from my original doctoral research. Working surrounded by colleagues
with such an extraordinary knowledge of the archival collections opens
up many new avenues for research, and has led me to numerous discov-
eries I would never have made on my own. Particular thanks must go to
James Cronan, Janet Dempsey, Juliette Desplat, George Hay and Laura
Tompkins.
vii
viii ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS
Throughout my time researching for and writing this book I have
benefited from a supportive network of fellow researchers. The PhD
and wider naval history community at King’s College, London proved
to be an essential group for discussing ideas, sharing experiences and
bemoaning the ‘struggles’ of PhD life. I would particularly like to thank
Andrew Breer, Stephen Cobb, Jennifer Daley, Marcus Faulkner and
Catherine Scheybeler. Special mention must also go to Alan Anderson, a
fellow traveller on this path. He has provided important feedback, ideas
and more than occasional good humour over the course of a number of
years, and I am very grateful. My PhD examiners, Matthew Seligmann
and Jan Rüger, gave me extremely useful feedback, and Matthew has
continued to prove a mine of information, especially on Admiralty
records. I am grateful to Rear-Admiral James Goldrick and Brigadier
Michael Clemmesen for their comments on the thesis, and to Palgrave’s
manuscript reviewers for their helpful remarks.
This book began life as a PhD project, and a special debt of grati-
tude is owed to Andrew Lambert, who not only was willing to take on a
troublesome student with an obscure project, but has provided essential
guidance and support ever since.
Finally I would like to thank my parents, and most especially Gwen,
without whose support and forbearance this work would never have
come to fruition.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Mining in a Cultural Context 9
3 British Attitudes to Mining Before 1904 23
4 Mine Warfare in the Russo-Japanese War:
The Royal Navy Perspective 45
5 The Russo-Japanese War: Outrage and Reaction 73
6 Mining and International Law:
Britain and the Hague Conference 97
7 The Strategic Shift: The Origins of British
Mine Warfare 131
8 Development and Institutionalisation:
Offensive Mining 1906–1909 165
9 Strategic Flux and Technical Failure 193
ix
x CoNTENTS
10 The Test of Conflict 225
11 War, Law and Diplomacy 267
12 Conclusion 297
Archival Sources 305
Index 309
A
bbreviAtions
ADNI Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence
ADT Assistant Director of Torpedoes
CID Committee of Imperial Defence
CoS Chief of the Admiralty War Staff
DID Director Intelligence Division (Admiralty War Staff)
DMo Director of Military operations
DNC Director of Naval Construction
DNI Director of Naval Intelligence
DNo Director of Naval ordnance
DoD Director operations Division (Admiralty War Staff)
EC Electro-Contact (Mine)
EM Electro-Mechanical (Mine)
FGDN Arthur J. Mardar, ed., Fear God and Dread Nought: The Correspondence
of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone
FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States
LWoS Low Water ordinary Springs (Tide)
NID Naval Intelligence Department
PP Parliamentary Papers
RE Royal Engineers
RMA Royal Marine Artillery
RMLI Royal Marine Light Infantry
SoS Superintendent of ordnance Stores
xi