VI.—The Grand Fleet Bases
Mention has been made elsewhere of the unprotected state of the Grand Fleet bases against submarine attack in the early part of the War. The matter was one of supreme importance, and formed the subject of very urgent representations to the Admiralty. Many brains were at work on the problem at the Admiralty, at the bases, and in the Fleet itself.
The first step was that taken under the direction of Captain Donald S. Munro, the King’s Harbour Master at Cromarty, who devised a system of submarine obstruction which later formed the pattern for the deep-water obstructions at most of our naval bases. Owing to his energy and driving power, the entrance to Cromarty was rendered fairly secure by October 26th, 1914. Whilst he was working out a defence for Cromarty another officer, Lieutenant Bircham, R.N.V.R., under the command of Admiral Sir Robert Lowry, the Commander-in-Chief of the coast of Scotland, suggested a method for providing an obstruction for the Rosyth base. This was fitted in place by the end of October, 1914, and was also entirely successful.
As soon as the Cromarty scheme was in train, I requested that obstructions on similar lines should be fitted to the three main entrances to Scapa Flow, the Hoxa entrance (by far the most likely to be attempted) being taken in hand first. Exasperating delays in the supply of the necessary material were experienced, and the first line of obstructions in the Hoxa entrance was not completed until December 29th, 1914, the first line in Switha Sound by January 12th, 1915, and that in Hoy Sound by February 19th, 1915. Meanwhile officers and men of the Fleet had improvised obstructions, first at Lough Swilly and Loch na Keal, and later at Scapa Flow, which, while not giving thorough security against a determined attempt at entry, had a psychological value. These obstructions, which were kept in existence even after the completion of the more efficient methods of dealing with the problem, involved much labour.
Towards the end of 1915, or early in 1916, the disadvantages attendant on basing the Fleet so far north as Scapa Flow, were discussed between Sir Henry Jackson (then First Sea Lord) and myself. We both felt that, with the Fleet at the northern base, the difficulties of intercepting the High Sea Fleet during coast raids, and of dealing with landing raids covered by the High Sea Fleet, were so considerable as to make it eminently desirable to base the whole Fleet farther south, if this were feasible. A discussion took place at Rosyth, and as the result I suggested a scheme of submarine obstructions across the Firth of Forth, which would admit not only of berthing the whole Grand Fleet in that anchorage, but would also allow of gunnery and torpedo practices being carried out with a considerable degree of safety in the Forth, so that the Fleet, if based there, could keep up its fighting efficiency. Many senior officers in the Grand Fleet were not in favour of the idea, for two reasons: first, that the Fleet could be mined in by the enemy with much greater ease when in the Forth than when at Scapa; and, secondly, that practices could not be so efficiently carried out in the Forth. There was much weight in both these objections, although the difficulties of carrying out practices in the Forth were exaggerated; but the strategic advantage, in my opinion, outweighed them, and the scheme was proceeded with as proposed.
That part of the scheme which admitted of the safe carrying out of practices was completed by December, 1916, and the whole of the new obstructions were in place by July, 1917, nearly a year later, it is true, than the anticipated date. The result certainly justified the conclusion arrived at. When the conditions made it at all probable that the High Sea Fleet might put to sea for an operation in southern waters, the Grand Fleet assembled in the Firth of Forth, and the undoubted disadvantages of the southern base were neutralised by skilful dispositions on the part of the flag officers responsible.
The protection of the Grand Fleet bases against submarine attack was only one of the many factors necessary for their development. In pre-War days, although it had been decided that the use of northern bases would be necessary in the event of a war with Germany, the bases had not been prepared to meet the new situation. It is, perhaps, desirable to remove any misunderstanding as to the causes of this failure.
(a) The decision had not long been taken, and
(b) The necessary financial provision was lacking.
Under the first of these headings the base at Scapa Flow was affected, and, under the second, that at Rosyth, where for some time progress in the development of the base had been arrested.
The Admiralty had taken steps to make some preparations at Cromarty, in so far as the provision of gun defences against attack by surface vessels was concerned, but nothing had been done for the upkeep of a fleet beyond a decision to transfer to Cromarty, during war, one of the floating docks at southern yards.
In fact, the situation was that, whilst we had shifted our Fleet to the north, all the conveniences for the maintenance of that fleet were still in the Channel ports. The first step was the transference of the large floating dock from Portsmouth to Invergordon, in the Cromarty Firth, together with a staff of dockyard workmen, who were housed in a merchant ship captured from the Germans. Workshops were fitted up on shore under the energetic superintendence of Rear-Admiral Edmund R. Pears and his able staff of dockyard officers. It can be said with great emphasis that this floating dock was simply invaluable to the Grand Fleet.
Invergordon gradually developed into a great repairing base. A second and smaller floating dock was purchased early in 1916 at my request and placed there, and by the middle of that year the base had attained large proportions; work of all kinds was carried out with rapidity and success, including the repairs of battleships after the Jutland battle, and the great extension in armoured-deck protection fitted to ships after the same action.
Ordinary refits of battleships had been carried out at Invergordon since the autumn of 1914. At Scapa Flow the same possibilities as a repairing base did not exist, although a floating dock for destroyers, for which many requests had been made, was eventually obtained and placed there.
But the base at Scapa Flow had extended out of all knowledge in other directions. In August, 1914, the base organisation consisted only of the seagoing Fleet repair ships Cyclops and Assistance. At an early stage the Cyclops was connected to a shore telegraph cable off the village of Scapa, and she became at the same time a floating post office and a base for the auxiliary vessels (a few drifters) which were first requisitioned. Rear-Admiral Francis S. Miller was appointed to her as the Senior Naval Officer at the base. The manner in which the great demands on her accommodation were met was a standing wonder to me. In the early part of the War, officers on Admiral Miller’s staff and others were obliged to make their sleeping berths, as best they could, on the deck or on top of their writing-tables, and it was surprising that the overcrowding in all directions did not affect health. But the work went on very successfully in the most inconvenient circumstances.
Towards the end of 1914 it became necessary, owing to the weather conditions, to move the base organisations from the north to the south-west side of Scapa Flow. The anchorage at Long Hope was selected, whilst the Fleet itself lay off the north side of the Island of Flotta, and the numerous larger auxiliaries, colliers, oilers, store ships, and the ammunition ships lay between Long Hope and Hoy Sound. Prior to this, the importance of the organisation in the Orkneys and Shetlands had increased to such an extent that I had asked for the appointment of a Senior Flag Officer in general command of the whole district, and of the defences in particular.
So much of my time was being occupied in deciding and pressing forward the work of organisation of the base and its obstructions and defences, in dealing with the numerous questions relating to the patrol of the coast by coast watchers, in arranging for the disposal of merchant ships sent in for re-examination, and for guarding such vessels, in considering questions affecting the occupation of land for the erection of defences, in the requisitioning of trawlers and drifters, etc., that it was becoming difficult to deal with the fast accumulating Fleet work proper. Vice-Admiral Sir Stanley Colville, who suggested that he should waive his seniority in order to serve as my junior officer, was appointed Vice-Admiral Commanding the Orkneys and Shetlands. This left Rear-Admiral Miller free to devote himself to the increasingly heavy work of base organisation proper, relieved me of a mass of work outside the Fleet, and was of the greatest possible benefit in every way. Under Sir Stanley Colville’s most able direction, the completion of the organisation for the general defences of the Islands, the work of patrol craft and mine-sweepers, and the provision of submarine obstructions was effected, and the work pushed forward. Captain Stanley Dean Pitt, R.N., an officer of very wide experience, was appointed to superintend the work of laying the submarine obstructions, and under his able direction, in the face of the greatest difficulties due to bad weather and strong tides, the entrances to Scapa Flow were either blocked by sunken ships or obstructed by nets, mines, and other devices.
The gun defences at Scapa, which at the beginning of the War consisted of 12-pounder and 3-pounder guns landed from the Fleet, were gradually reinforced by four-inch and six-inch guns obtained from abroad, the whole being manned by Royal Marine pensioners under Lieut.-Colonel Gerald N. A. Harris, R.M.A. The garrison was housed in huts, erected temporarily for the purpose, and although with the handiness which characterises a Royal Marine in all circumstances, the officers and men eventually made themselves comfortable even under such weather conditions as are experienced at Scapa Flow, they endured a very considerable amount of hardship in the early days with their accustomed cheerfulness.
And here I cannot fail to mention the endurance and staying qualities of the crews of the trawlers that supported the submarine obstructions, particularly those at Scapa Flow. These trawlers were moored in positions in which they were exposed to the whole fury of northerly and southerly gales; in many cases they were within a few yards of a rocky coast, heavy seas breaking over them and bringing on board tons of water. The skippers knew that they had to stick it out for the sake of the safety of the Fleet and the maintenance of the obstruction, and under these conditions they did their duty in a manner which calls for the highest praise.
Meanwhile the development of the base proper proceeded apace. One of the earlier arrivals was the old cruiser Impérieuse, which was used as a post office, depot, and general overflow ship to the Cyclops. The number of trawlers and drifters, which had their home at Scapa Flow and which were engaged on patrol or mine-sweeping work, attendance on the Fleet, garrison, or on the mass of Fleet auxiliaries, increased with great rapidity during the winter of 1914–15; on September 1st, 1914, the number was nil, and it reached a total of some four yachts, eighty-five trawlers, and twenty-seven drifters by the summer of 1915. These vessels all looked to the Cyclops, Assistance and Impérieuse for refit, pay, food, and for every conceivable want. Gradually the number of base ships was increased, culminating in the arrival of the old battleship Victorious about March 6, 1916, as the “home” of some 500 dockyard workmen working in the Fleet, fitting the Director System, increasing the protection to decks and magazines, carrying out minor repairs, retubing condensers, and many other urgent tasks.
Mention has been made of the large number of colliers, oilers, store ships, ammunition ships, etc., that were used by the Fleet. At one time this caused some criticism, based principally on the time spent by the colliers at the Fleet Base. It may be as well to explain the necessity for this. There were no facilities at the base for the storage of coal, either in lighters or on shore. Consequently, the whole of the coal required at the base was necessarily kept on board the colliers. The actual number of colliers which I deemed it necessary to keep at the base during the first two years of war was determined by the necessity for coaling the Fleet and getting it to sea again with the utmost possible rapidity. We could not contemplate such a situation as the Fleet arriving short of fuel, and being delayed in completing owing to shortage of colliers, with the possibility of information being received simultaneously that the High Sea Fleet was at sea and covering a landing raid on our coast! Rapidity of fuelling was of vital importance to the Empire.
Therefore, in stating my requirements of colliers, I gave the number necessary to enable almost the whole Fleet to be fuelled simultaneously; in other words, the number of colliers was dependent on the number of coal-burning ships in the Fleet. Some slight reduction was found possible, to allow for the probable case of some ships requiring less coal than others, thus admitting of two such ships using one collier in succession; but, broadly speaking, the requirements were as stated. When the cargo of colliers fell below a certain minimum, they return to Cardiff to refill to economise tonnage.
At Rosyth the situation was eased by the transport of coal by rail to Grangemouth and its transshipment to colliers there. As we needed colliers as coal-storing ships, so also we required ammunition ships to carry a proportion of the reserve ammunition for the Fleet. There were no facilities at Scapa or Cromarty for storage on shore. The number of ships required for this service was, however, much smaller.
Floating storage of all sorts possesses one great advantage over shore storage; should strategic conditions necessitate a change of base, the coal, ammunition and other auxiliaries can move with the Fleet. The same argument applies in a lesser degree to floating docks.
A consideration of all these facts connected with the development of fleet bases will show that this question necessarily required a good deal of attention on the part of my Staff and myself, and was incidental to the development of the Grand Fleet.