‘... Throughout the engagement the conduct of officers and men was entirely admirable. Perfect discipline and coolness prevailed under trying circumstances of receiving considerable volume of fire without being able to make adequate return. The men behaved exactly as though at battle practice; there were no signs of wild fire, and when the target was invisible the gunlayers ceased firing of their own accord. Spirit of officers and ship’s company of Glasgow is entirely unimpaired by serious reverse in which they took part, and that the ship may be quickly restored to a condition in which she can take part in further operations against the same enemy is the unanimous wish of us all.’
This as it happened they were not to be denied.
Surveying this tragic episode in the light of after knowledge, the official historian has blamed the Admiralty on various grounds: first, for dividing the available force into two inadequate squadrons under Admiral Cradock and Admiral Stoddart; secondly, for a lack of explicitness in the wording of the Staff telegrams. I cannot admit that the first charge is in any way justified. It would, of course, have been much simpler to have concentrated the squadrons of Admiral Cradock and Admiral Stoddart in the Straits of Magellan and awaited events. But until we knew for certain that the German cruisers were coming to South America, there was a great disadvantage in denuding the main trade route from Rio of all protection. Suppose we had done this and Admiral von Spee had remained, as he could easily have done, for many weeks at Easter Island, or anywhere else in the Pacific, the whole of the Plate trade would then, for all we knew, have been at the mercy of the Karlsruhe or of any other German commerce destroyer. At least six different courses were open to von Spee, and we had, while our resources were at the fullest strain, to meet every one of them. Suppose for instance he had gone northward to the Panama Canal and, passing swiftly through, had entered the West Indies: of what use would be our concentration in the Straits of Magellan? The reasoning and state of mind which would have led to such a concentration would have involved a virtual suspension of our enterprises all over the world. We could not afford to do that. We decided deliberately in October to carry on our protection of trade in every theatre in spite of the menace of the unlocated Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and to do this by means of squadrons which, though they would not be homogeneous in speed and class, were in every case if held together capable of fighting the enemy with good prospects of success. This was true of the Anglo-Japanese squadron. It was true of the escort of the Australian convoy. It was true of Admiral Stoddart. Most of all was it true of Admiral Cradock. The last word in such an argument was surely spoken by Admiral von Spee. ‘The English,’ he wrote the day after the battle, ‘have here another ship like the Monmouth; and also it seems a battleship of the Queen type, with 12–inch guns. Against this last-named we can hardly do anything. If they had kept their forces together we should, I suppose, have got the worst of it.’
So far as the clarity of the Staff telegrams is concerned, no doubt here and there the wording of naval messages had not been sufficiently precise, and this fault ran through much of the Naval Staff work in those early days; but on the main point nothing could have been more emphatic, nor, indeed, should any emphasis have been needed. It ought not to be necessary to tell an experienced Admiral to keep concentrated and not to be brought to action in circumstances of great disadvantage by superior forces. Still, even this was done, and in telegram after telegram the importance of not being separated from the Canopus, especially sent him for his protection, was emphasised.
Lastly, the official historian has represented the new decision to reinforce Cradock by the Defence as a reversal by Lord Fisher of the mistaken policy hitherto pursued.
‘By the time it (Admiral Cradock’s telegram of 31st) reached the Admiralty the new Board was installed with Lord Fisher as First Sea Lord, and one of their first acts was an effort to improve the precarious position in which Admiral Cradock found himself. The Defence was immediately ordered to join him.’[[84]]
This is unjust both to Prince Louis and to Admiral Sturdee. It was not possible to order the superior concentration until the enemy had been located, and such concentration would have been ordered by any Board the moment the uncertainty was cleared up. The official historian would not have fallen into this error in a work distinguished for its care and industry, if he had mentioned the telegram from the Consul-General, Valparaiso, which was received on the morning of the 3rd, or if he had noticed that although the position in South American waters was known to Lord Fisher on the 30th October, no fresh dispositions were made or could be made until the whereabouts of the enemy was clearly ascertained. Then and not till then could we strip Admiral Stoddart or inform Admiral Cradock that the Defence was hurrying to join him.
So far as Admiral Cradock is concerned, I cannot do better than repeat the words which I wrote at the time and which commanded the recorded assent both of Lord Fisher and of Sir Arthur Wilson.
Draft of an answer to a Parliamentary question not subsequently put.
Sir,—As I have already said, I did not think it convenient to go into this matter, but since it is pressed I will state that the Canopus was sent from St. Vincent to join Admiral Cradock’s flag on September 4th, as soon as the possibility of the arrival of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on the West Coast of South America could be taken into account. On October 12th Admiral Cradock telegraphed to the Admiralty that the indications showed the possibility of Dresden, Leipzig, and Nürnberg joining Scharnhorst and Gneisenau; and that he had ordered Canopus to Falkland Islands, where he intended to concentrate and avoid division of forces; and on October 14th the Admiralty approved specifically by telegram Admiral Cradock’s proposed concentration of Good Hope, Monmouth, Canopus, Glasgow, and Otranto for combined operations. The squadron thus formed was amply strong enough to defeat the enemy if attacked by them. It was not fast enough to force an engagement; but in view of the uncertainty as to which part of the world the enemy’s squadron would appear in, it was not possible at that time to provide another strong fast ship at that particular point.