The Anatomy of British Sea Power. A History of British Naval Policy in the Pre-Dreadnought Era, 1880–1905

605 Pages·1976·29.776 MB·English

by  Arthur J. Marder

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rhe Anatomy of
BRITISH SEA
POWER
A HISTORY OF BRITISH NAVAL POLICY IN THE
r880-1905
PRE-DREADNOUGHT ERA,
by
))
ARTHUR J~c MARDER
II
OCTAGON BOOKS
A DIVISION OF FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX
New York 1976
Copyright 1940 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Copyright renewed 1968 by Arthur J. ~larder
Reprinted 1976
by special arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
OCTAGON BOOKS
A DIVISI0:--1 OF FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX, J:-~c.
19 Union Square West
New York, N.Y. 10003
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Marder, Arthur Jacob.
The anatomy of British sea power.
Reprint of the 1940 ed.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Great Britain. Navy-History. 2. Great Britain-History,
Navy-19th cent. 3. Sea-power. I. Title.
VA454.M34 1973 359'.094f 73-2954
ISBN 0-374-95284-1
Manufactured by Braun-Brumfield, Inc.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Printed in the United States of America
TO
MY HARVARD GODFATHERS
PROFESSORS
WILLIAM LEO:'-l"ARD LANGER
DONALD COPE McKAY
MICHAEL KARPOVICH
in humble gratitude for
constant inspiration and guidance
Preface
]BRITISH naval policy in the ironclad era prior to the serious devel
opment of the German rivalry has been the subject of few special
¢
studies. Angela von Schonberg's pioneer work, though detailed
and solid, has utilized only the more obvious materials and does not
display any great depth.1 Professor William L. Langer has competently
dealt with English navalism generally in the 189o's.2 The most substan
tial study of the Anglo-German naval rivalry, by E. L. Woodward, re
lies too much on the published documentary sources and treats British
public opinion very superficially.3 Dr. Theodore Ropp's unpublished
doctoral dissertation on French naval policy, which. has incorporated
interesting material from the French marine archives, contains many
penetrating references to British naval policy.4 Dr. Otto Schi.iddekopf's
recent study of British naval policy is sketchy on the early period.5
The present volume is an attempt to fill in the lacuna: by writing the
first reasonably complete study of British naval policy in all its ramifi
cations in the vital pre-dreadnought era. In addition to poring through
every scrap of published material and innumerable organs of public
opinion, it has been my good fortune to be permitted to see various un
published materials of the first importance. These materials have never
before been utilized in any published work. The Admiralty Library
yielded a number of interesting reports and some printed papers by
Admiral Sir John Fisher.6 For this windfall I am deeply grateful to the
Secretary of the Admiralty and to the Librarian, Mr. D. Bonner-Smith.
The Secretary was also good enough to give me access, with some ex-
1 Urn den Twopowerstandard: Englische Flottenpolitik, 188o-1895 (Stuttgart, 1933).
2 The Diplomacy of Imperialism (2 vols., New York, 1935), II, 415-42.
8 Great Britain and the German Navy (Oxford, 1935), pp. 1-120 on the 1898-1905 period.
4 The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871-1904 (Harvard Uni-
versity, 1937).
fi Die. . Britische Marinepolitik, 188o-1918 (Hamburg, 1938), pp. 9-78 on the 1880-1905
period.
6 The Fisher papers include three volumes of Naval Necessities, one for each of the years
1904, 1905, 1906 (a fourth volume was seen in the Admiralty archives); Notes for Nat'Y Debates,
1895-96, collected while Fisher was controller; Mediterranean Fleet, 1899-1902, when Fisher
was commander-in-chief on that station.
v
VI PREFACE
ceptions, to the relevant Admiralty papers for the 1885-1905 period.7
The cooperation of Mr. H. H. Ellmers, the Head of the Secretary's Rec
ord Office, remains one of my most pleasant memories of London. The
extremely interesting papers of Lord Spencer, First Lord of the Admi
ralty, 1892-95, were placed at my disposal through the generosity of the
seventh Earl Spencer. The United States Navy Department records
furnished some important material on the origins of the dreadnought.
My thanks are due here to Captain Dudley Knox, U.S.N., and to his
secretary, Miss Craven.
A special debt of gratitude is due those patient gentlemen who read
the manuscript in whole or in part: Admiral Sir Douglas R. L. Nichol
son, R.N. (who also allowed me to use several unpublished letters of
Admirals Sir Reginald Custance and Sir Frederick Richards), Admiral
Sir Reginald H. Bacon, R.N., the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Selborne, First
Lord of the Admiralty, 1900-5, Professor William L. Langer, and Dr.
Theodore Ropp of Duke University (to whom I am also thankful for
permission to quote from his doctoral dissertation). The many construc
tive suggestions received, and errors of fact and interpretation corrected,
have improved the manuscript immeasurably.
But for the stylistic criticisms of my good friend and all too severe
critic, Mr. Nathaniel Nason, the book would be even less readable than
it is. It is a pleasure also to acknowledge the assistance given to me by
Mr. Victor Hull and the hard working staff of the Colindale News
JIP~
j paper Library of the British Museum, Mr. Robert H. Haynes, Mr. John
I
E. Shea, and Miss Esther McGuire of Harvard's famed Widener Li
~ brary, Lieut.-Col. W. C. T. Hammond and Mr. Guy C. Pollock of the
British Navy League, Mr. Seward W. Livermore, the Hon. Lady Phyl
i
!
! lis Sydenham, Mr. Alan Gardner, and Dr. Fritz Epstein. A special vote
4
of thanks is due Mr. Nathaniel Rice, who read proof under adverse
conditions, and to Miss Dorothy Vargis, my efficient arid conscientious
l
secretary.
Grants from the Bureau of International Research of Harvard Uni
versity and Radcliffe College for the academic year 1939-40 enabled me
to concentrate on the writing of this volume and facilitated its publica
tion. Words cannot express my indebtedness to the Bureau and its
chairman, Professor Sidney B. Fay. I also wish to express my thanks to
the editors of the Pacific Historical Review, The Navy, and the Journal
7 The Admiralty archival material will not be cited in reference footnotes in this work. The
188o-84 records, which are at the Public Record Office, revealed little of interest.
"
• I'
PREFACE Vll
of the Royal United Service Institution for permission to use portions
of articles published in these journals.
I should like to acknowledge the kind permission of the following
lll publishers to quote from their books: The Macmillan Company
~he Sir Sidney Lee: King Edward VII; Houghton Miffiin Company
:ds
G. M. Trevelyan: Grey of Falloden; Edward Arnold and Company
ht.
-Admiral H. H. Smith: A Yellow Admiral Remembers; John Mur
~is ray-Admiral Sir Percy Scott: Fifty Years in the Royal Navy; Admiral
C. V. Usborne: Blast and Counterblast; Frederic Manning: The Life
ad
of Sir William White; lvor Nicholson and Watson, Ltd.-M. V. Brett
ol
( ed.): Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher; Victor Gol
of
lancz, Ltd.-Louise King-Hall: Sea Saga; Admiral K. G. B. Dewar:
:al
The Navy from Within; Rich and Cowan, Ltd., and Lord Strabolgi
rst J. M. Kenworthy: Sailors, Statesmen-and Others; Constable and
)r. Company, Ltd.-Spenser Wilkinson: Thirty-Five Years; Harper and
or Brothers-Admiral A. T. Mahan: From Sail to Steam; Longmans,
IC Green and Company-Admiral Mark Kerr: Land, Sea, and Air;
d,
G. E. Buckle ( ed.): The Letters of Queen Victoria; Ernest Benn, Ltd.
- Elie Halevy: A History of the English People, 1905-1915; William
re Heinemann, Ltd.-Sir Frederick Maurice and Sir George Arthur: The
m Life of Lord Wolseley; Cambridge University Press-Alfred Colville
and H. W. V. Temperley ( eds.): Studies in Anglo-French History;
'S- H. W. V. Temperley and Lillian M. Penson (eds.): Foundations of
lll British Foreign Policy; The Clarendon Press, Oxford-Dictionary of
.1- National Biography; Oxford University Press, London-Lionel Gel
ber: Rise of Anglo-American Friendship; Frederick A. Stokes Com
pany, Inc., and Mr. J. A. Spender-J. A. Spender: Life, Journalism,
and Politics (Cassell & Company, Ltd.), and The Life of Sir Henry
;e Campbell-Bannerman (Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd.); G. P. Gooch and
lS Harold Temperley ( eds.): British Documents on the Origins of the
War, 1898-1914, by permission of the Controller of His Majesty's Sta
I tionery Office. Finally, I acknowledge with special pleasure the permis
.e sion of Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon to quote from his The Lz'fe of Lord
l Fisher of Kilverstone (Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd.; Doubleday, Doran
:s & Company), A Naval Scrap-Book, and From 1900 Onward (Hutchin
0 son & Company, Ltd.).
rl Not being a" naval expert," my sole aim has been to give the facts, or,
as a certain Talleyrand once said: "Je ne blame ni n'approuve: je ra
1C conte."
ARTHUR J. MARDER
Cambn.dg~. Massachusetts
July, 1940.
A NOTE ON THE BOARD OF ADMIRALTY
It consisted of the civilian first lord of the admiralty, who was a cabinet
minister, the civil lord, the parliamentary and financial secretary, the perma
nent secretary, and four professional sea lords.1 The first lord had the duty
of general direction and supervision; after him the first sea lord was the most
important officer of the Board. He was responsible for advice on naval
policy, the disposition of the Beet, and its fighting strength and efficiency.
The second sea lord's duties were concerned with the personnel of the Beet,
the manning of the navy, and mobilization. The third sea lord, the controller,
had charge of everything that concerned the materiel of the Beet. The fourth
or junior sea lord dealt with supplies and transport. The civil lord looked
after works and buildings. The parliamentary and financial secretary was
responsible for the finance of the department, the permanent secretary, the
" nerve-center " of the Board, for correspondence and the management of
the office.
By an order in council of 1869 the first lord was declared to be responsible to
the sovereign and to Parliament for all business of the Admiralty. That is,
the members of the Board are advisers of and subordinate to the first lord;
but if their advice is not accepted, they have no remedy except protest or
resignation.
The three most important men who formulated the naval policy described
in this volume were the first lord, the first sea lord, and a non-member of
the Board, the director of naval intelligence (D.N.I.). Founded in 1886, the
naval intelligence department (N.I.D.) had made such strides that by 1902
"no question of any greater importance than the, say, change of an article
of uniform, is decided upon without the N.I.D. having its say."
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The term " navalist" as used in this volume refers to those people, civilians
and officers, who actively supported a big-navy policy. "Navalism" is the
big-navy movement.
All newspapers cited are London newspapers, except where otherwise
stated.
The Journal of the Royal United Service Institution is abbreviated as the
R. U. S. I. Journal.
1 More accurately, naval lords. The old title of "sea lords" dated from 1613; "but which
some silly ass," said Admiral Fisher, "some hundred years ago altered to • Naval Lords.' " In
1904 the old titles were resuscitated as the first of Fisher's reforms when he became first sea lord.
Contents
I
PART
CAUSES OF NAVAL EXPANSION
I· The Revolution in Naval Architecture 3
British Naval Supremacy before 185o-Adoption of the Shell Gun
and Armor Plate Protection - The Race between Guns and Plates -
Development of Other Warship Requirements-The Transitory
Nature of Ironclad Shipbuilding-Its Effect on British Sea Power.
n · Imperialism and the Spirit of the Age IO
The New Imperialism-Its Dependence upon Sea Power-The De
fensive Role of the British Fleet-The Humanitarian Influence of the
Royal Navy-Summary-" Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"-The
Peace-Making Influence of Armaments-The Increase of Insecurity
- Darwinism and War - Character-Bracing Results of War - The
Pugnacity of English Opinion-Feeling of the Inevitability of War
- Declarations of War-Disarmament and Arbitration - Sum
mary.
III· The Armament Industry and Navalism 24
The Interest of the Iron and Steel Trades in the Navy-The Profits
in Naval Armaments-Methods and Practices of the Armament In
dustry-Composition of their Sharelists-The Chamberlain " Scan
dal"-The Integrity of Admiralty Officials-" Warship Building
Means Bread to the Workingman " -The Dockyard and Arsenal
Towns-Trade Depressions and Naval Expansion-The Govern
ment's Attitude towards the Private Armament Firms-The Role
of the Armament Makers in Naval Expansion.
XI