EXPLANATORY FOOT-NOTES
TO TEXT
1The decision to concentrate the British Fleet in the North Sea was announced on February 2 in a speech by Mr. Arthur Lee, Civil Lord of the Admiralty at Eastleigh, responding to a toast to the Imperial Forces.
2Mr. Lee, according to the published reports of his speech, said:
"Naval reforms … were the result of absolutely changed conditions, arising partly out of the redistribution of Naval Power in Europe and out of lessons of the present war in the Far East (Russo-Japanese). In the first place, there has been a complete redistribution of the British Fleet, in order to prepare for possible enemies. The balance and centre of naval power in Europe had been shifted during the last few years. They had not so much to keep their eyes upon France and the Mediterranean, as they had to look with more anxiety, though not fear, towards the North Sea. It was for that reason that the Fleets had been distributed to enable them to deal with any danger in that direction … rather than devolving their attention to the Mediterranean. … If war should unhappily be declared, under existing conditions, the British Navy would get its blow in first, before the other side had time even to read in the papers that war had been declared." After referring to the intention no longer to repair ships, but to "build, instead, ships for the future which would be of the biggest and latest type … fewer in number, but more potent for the destruction of their enemies …" the Civil Lord went on to say, "The redistribution would result in great economy. … Yet our fighting strength as a fighting naval power, had been practically doubled during the last few weeks. The British Navy was stronger and more ready now to undertake any task which the nation demanded of it than hitherto."
It is interesting to compare the sentence "under existing circumstances the British Navy would get its blow in first, before the other side had time even to read in the papers that war had been declared," with Lord Fisher's subsequent avowals—he was then First Sea Lord—in his "Memoirs," published in 1919, as to his desire to "Copenhagen" the German Fleet, i.e ., to attack without a previous declaration of war. (See Note 34): also Chronology.
The Berliner Tageblatt (moderate Liberal) commenting upon Mr. Lee's speech asked the meaning of this "threat of war in time of peace." Mr. Lee issued a diplomatic correction of his speech five days later. He declared that what he had said was this:
"The British Fleet is now prepared strategically for every conceivable emergency, for, we must assume that all foreign naval powers are possible enemies. Owing to the growth of near naval powers, we have, unfortunately, more possible enemies than
