“This test is one of the most important that could possibly be made, and it is really surprising to me that it has never been undertaken before. The cost, including the bounty of £1, will be about £50,000. Having no grand manœuvres yields a saving of £230,000, so there is a net saving on the substitution of £180,000.”
[4] The Third Fleet consists of the oldest ships of the Navy maintained in peace with skeleton crews.
It was hardly surprising in the circumstances that many persons thought the Admiralty was bent merely upon economy. If the naval authorities had had foreknowledge of the course of events they could not, in fact, have adopted a wiser course. From March onwards, week by week down to the middle of July, the elaborate and complicated drafting arrangements were examined and readjusted. Then, after the assassinations at Sarajevo and on the eve of the final developments on the Continent, which were to make war inevitable, the test mobilisation was carried out. The principal ships passed before the King off the Nab Lightship, a column of seaplanes and aeroplanes circling high above the ships, and then disappeared in the Channel to carry out what were believed to be peace exercises, but were, in fact, to prove the manœuvres preliminary to war. Later in the same week, the vessels of the Patrol Flotillas were engaged in testing a new scheme for sealing this narrow exit to the North Sea.
H.M.S. Neptune. Photo: Sport & General.
NEPTUNE CLASS.
COLOSSUS, NEPTUNE, HERCULES (slight differences).
Displacement: 19,200 to 20,000 tons.
Speed: 22 knots; Guns: 10 12in., 16 4in.; Torpedo tubes: 3.
