Re: Books on British Battlecruisers?
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:39 am
Report of the Committee on Mercantile Cruisers
Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty
LONDON
Printed for His Majesty’s Stationery Office
By Eyre and Spottiswoode,
Printers to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty
1902
This article is a detailed presentation of the huge costs involved in providing subsidies to Cunard and White Star for construction and operation of liners capable, in wartime, of operating as high-speed merchant cruisers; the cost of construction plus subsidy expenses over the standard ten year contractual subvention period for a single high-speed liner capable of traversing the Atlantic at a sustained 26 knots was approximately 2x the cost of building an Invincible-class battlecruiser.
- - - - -
From the following essay, also by Professor Matthew Seligmann, come quotes directly from qualified contemporary personalities either giving testimony before Parliament or presenting facts and recommendations in official reports.
"New Weapons for New Targets:
Sir John Fisher, the Threat from Germany,
and the building of HMS Dreadnought and
HMS Invincible, 1902-1907"
> Beresford testimony before Parliamentary committee, 22 July 1902:
“We are third on the list of speedy ships, and we ought to be first.” He was echoed by Lord Brassey, who explained that of the eleven ships built since 1895 capably of steaming at twenty knots or more, only one, the Oceanic, flew the British flag. Britain’s merchant navy, however impressive, lacked the ‘ocean greyhounds’ Germany was building.
> Beresford, asked by committee whether he could name ‘any company which requires to work steamers at a 23-knot speed’, replied: ”No, I cannot tell you any company in England; I can tell you one or two in Germany, which is a matter of great consideration for us.”
> Lord Brassey added that in the Deutschland, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the Kronprinz Wilhelm, Germany had three of the fastest vessels afloat. The Deutschland, which could exceed twenty-three knots, could evade every British warship – “no vessel of war has ever yet crossed the Atlantic at any speed approaching the speed of the Deutschland – [ which ] even ‘lightly armed” - would be a very formidable assailant to our own defenceless merchant steamers.”
> Extracted from the final report of the Dreadnought/Invincible Design Committee –
”The speed of modern cruisers absolutely precludes the use of any vessels for trade protection or destruction not possessed of very high speed.
The only ships with the necessary speed are the two new Cunarders. But as the Admiralty is liable to the extent of one million pound in the event of the loss of either, it appears uneconomical to use for this purpose vessels not designed to fight, provided men of war have sufficient speed to undertake the duties.
When the Invincible-class armoured cruisers are completed, this will be the case, but, for the present moment, no other vessels are capable of overtaking the German armed mercantile cruisers.
We therefore recommend that until the Invincible class are completed, these two ships be fitted as armed cruisers … but that after the Invincibles are ready, their retention in the capacity of armed merchant cruisers should be reconsidered.”
- - -
> A further Admiralty report from Feb 1906, addressing the use of civilian vessels as fleet auxiliaries, supported the above as follows –
“We do not consider that the general use of armed merchant steamers is advisable. Until the Invincible-class cruisers are ready, however, we shall have no war-vessels capable of overtaking the fast German armed mercantile cruisers, and, therefore in the meantime, it is imperative that the two new Cunarders should be retained as armed auxiliaries.”
Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions.
B
Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty
LONDON
Printed for His Majesty’s Stationery Office
By Eyre and Spottiswoode,
Printers to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty
1902
This article is a detailed presentation of the huge costs involved in providing subsidies to Cunard and White Star for construction and operation of liners capable, in wartime, of operating as high-speed merchant cruisers; the cost of construction plus subsidy expenses over the standard ten year contractual subvention period for a single high-speed liner capable of traversing the Atlantic at a sustained 26 knots was approximately 2x the cost of building an Invincible-class battlecruiser.
- - - - -
From the following essay, also by Professor Matthew Seligmann, come quotes directly from qualified contemporary personalities either giving testimony before Parliament or presenting facts and recommendations in official reports.
"New Weapons for New Targets:
Sir John Fisher, the Threat from Germany,
and the building of HMS Dreadnought and
HMS Invincible, 1902-1907"
> Beresford testimony before Parliamentary committee, 22 July 1902:
“We are third on the list of speedy ships, and we ought to be first.” He was echoed by Lord Brassey, who explained that of the eleven ships built since 1895 capably of steaming at twenty knots or more, only one, the Oceanic, flew the British flag. Britain’s merchant navy, however impressive, lacked the ‘ocean greyhounds’ Germany was building.
> Beresford, asked by committee whether he could name ‘any company which requires to work steamers at a 23-knot speed’, replied: ”No, I cannot tell you any company in England; I can tell you one or two in Germany, which is a matter of great consideration for us.”
> Lord Brassey added that in the Deutschland, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the Kronprinz Wilhelm, Germany had three of the fastest vessels afloat. The Deutschland, which could exceed twenty-three knots, could evade every British warship – “no vessel of war has ever yet crossed the Atlantic at any speed approaching the speed of the Deutschland – [ which ] even ‘lightly armed” - would be a very formidable assailant to our own defenceless merchant steamers.”
> Extracted from the final report of the Dreadnought/Invincible Design Committee –
”The speed of modern cruisers absolutely precludes the use of any vessels for trade protection or destruction not possessed of very high speed.
The only ships with the necessary speed are the two new Cunarders. But as the Admiralty is liable to the extent of one million pound in the event of the loss of either, it appears uneconomical to use for this purpose vessels not designed to fight, provided men of war have sufficient speed to undertake the duties.
When the Invincible-class armoured cruisers are completed, this will be the case, but, for the present moment, no other vessels are capable of overtaking the German armed mercantile cruisers.
We therefore recommend that until the Invincible class are completed, these two ships be fitted as armed cruisers … but that after the Invincibles are ready, their retention in the capacity of armed merchant cruisers should be reconsidered.”
- - -
> A further Admiralty report from Feb 1906, addressing the use of civilian vessels as fleet auxiliaries, supported the above as follows –
“We do not consider that the general use of armed merchant steamers is advisable. Until the Invincible-class cruisers are ready, however, we shall have no war-vessels capable of overtaking the fast German armed mercantile cruisers, and, therefore in the meantime, it is imperative that the two new Cunarders should be retained as armed auxiliaries.”
Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions.
B