Castles of Steel

247 “to keep an eye on Charlie”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 124.

  247 “that damned fool”: Bennett, Naval Battles, 105.

  247 “one of the most brilliant”: Hough, Great War, 105.

  247 “pedantic ass”: Tarrant, Invincible, 44.

  248 “Never such utter rot”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 77.

  248 “The destruction of the German [Spee’s] Squadron”: Bennett, Naval Battles, 105.

  248 “Very well, we sail”: Ibid., 58.

  248 “Your main and most important duty”: Ibid., 59.

  248 “small flocks”: Tarrant, Invincible, 46.

  250 “In some trepidation”: Hickling, 66.

  250 “Very well, Luce, we’ll sail tomorrow”: Ibid.

  253 “1. Little result”: The Naval Staff guidelines for Spee appear in Hirst, 156–58.

  253 “proposed to put”: Tirpitz, II, 83–84.

  254 “to encroach in any way”: Ibid., 84.

  254 “What are your intentions”: Hirst, 159.

  254 “The cruiser squadron intends to break through”: Pitt, 72.

  254 “German if possible”: Ibid., 73.

  255 “The seas were huge”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 134.

  255 “Rain clouds hung over the jagged peak”: Pochhammer, 191.

  CHAPTER 14: THE BATTLE OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

  258 “A four-funnel and a two-funnel”: Hirst, 171.

  258 “Enemy in sight”: Ibid.

  258 “Well, for God’s sake, do something”: Hickling, 74.

  258 “Mr. Hirst, go to the masthead”: Hirst, 173.

  259 “Send the men to breakfast”: Pitt, 103.

  259 “He came at a very convenient hour”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 140.

  259 “engage the enemy”: Ibid., 142.

  259 “As we got near the harbor entrance”: Dixon, 26.

  260 “Admiral Spee arrived at daylight this morning”: Churchill, I, 436.

  260 “As we approached”: Pochhammer, 201.

  261 “Do not accept action”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 143.

  262 “The visibility of the fresh, calm atmosphere”: Pochhammer, 202.

  262 “It was a perfect day”: Hough, Great War, 113.

  262 “struck by the magnificent weather”: Tarrant, Invincible, 56.

  262 “No more glorious moment”: Hirst, 177.

  263 “Two vessels soon detached themselves”: Pochhammer, 202–3.

  263 “ships’ companies have time”: Tarrant, Invincible, 57.

  263 “Picnic lunch”: Ibid.

  264 “transports or colliers”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 144.

  264 “Towards noon”: Pochhammer, 203–4.

  264 “to get along with the work”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 145.

  264 “Engage the enemy”: Hirst, 179.

  264 Fidgety Phill: Tarrant, Invincible, 58.

  264 “the roar from the forward turret guns”: Verner, 8.

  265 “Gneisenau will accept action”: Pitt, 110.

  266 “The German firing was magnificent”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 147.

  266 “It is certainly damned bad shooting”: Hickling, 82.

  267 “we did not seem to be hitting”: Tarrant, Invincible, 61.

  267 “At this rate”: Hickling, 82.

  267 “With the sun still shining on them”: Pitt, 112.

  267 “A shell grazed”: Pochhammer, 206.

  268 “Every minute we gained”: Ibid., 208.

  268 “The thick clouds of smoke”: Ibid., 209.

  269 “for the first time, I experienced the luxury”: Verner, 10–11.

  270 “a truly lovely sight”: Hough, Pursuit, 155.

  270 “She was being torn apart”: Tarrant, Invincible, 67.

  270 “rapid independent”: Pitt, 118.

  270 “We were most obviously hitting”: Verner, 11.

  270 For the signals between Spee and Maerker, see Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 149–50.

  270 “Endeavor to escape”: Pitt, 128.

  271 “the men with their powder-blackened faces”: Pochhammer, 210.

  272 “All men overboard”: Ibid., 217.

  273 “We cast overboard”: Spencer-Cooper, 104–5.

  273 “Lower all your boats”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 154.

  273 “The ship inclined”: Pochhammer, 217–22.

  274 “Flag to Inflexible”: Ibid., 227.

  274 “In the name of all our officers”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 155–56.

  276 “Am anxious to save life”: Hirst, 191.

  276 “If anyone can reach the ensign”: Ibid., 194.

  277 “We are a crippled old ship”: Dixon, 19.

  277 “Our shooting was rotten”: Ibid., 22.

  279 “outrageous” and “an overwhelming desire”: Pochhammer, 240.

  279 “emphatic and unanimous”: Verner, 25.

  279 “There is nothing at all to show”: Copplestone, 169.

  280 “Well, Beamish”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 154.

  281 “It really is a spanking victory”: Ibid., 166–67.

  281 “It has done us all”: Beatty Papers, I, 174.

  281 “like an armadillo”: FGDN, III, 77.

  281 “the only substantial victory”: Fisher, Records, 221.

  281 “We cannot but be overjoyed”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 91.

  281 “This was your show”: Churchill, I, 452.

  282 “Your letter pleasant”: Ibid.

  282 “criminal ineptitude”: FGDN, III, 101.

  282 “report fully reason”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 171.

  282 “Their Lordships selected me”: Marder, II, 125–26.

  282 “Last paragraph”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 173.

  283 “dilatory and theatrical”: Tarrant, Invincible, 71.

  283 It was “an irony”: Marder, II, 124.

  283 “No one in history”: Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 137.

  284 “at the head of some magnificent gorge”: Hirst, 219.

  285 “villainous-looking face” and “pendulous nose”: Dixon, 60.

  CHAPTER 15: FISHER RETURNS TO THE ADMIRALTY

  287 “He is a wonderful creature”: Asquith, Letters to Venetia, 266–67.

  287 “We talked all day”: Churchill, I, 73.

  287 “fell desperately in love”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 397.

  288 “My dear Winston”: Randolph Churchill, Young Statesman, 530.

  288 “My dear Fisher”: Ibid.

  288 “My beloved Winston”: Churchill, I, 79.

  288 “I want to see you very much”: Randolph Churchill, Young Statesman, 532.

  288 “I plied him with questions”: Churchill, I, 77.

  288 “I began our conversations”: Ibid., 78.

  288 “I think Winston Churchill”: Mackay, 432.

  288 “betrayed the navy”: Randolph Churchill, Young Statesman, 565.

  289 “The liquid fuel problem”: Churchill, I, 132–33.

  289 “Contact with you”: Mackay, 454.

  289 “Winston is quite cross”: Ibid.

  289 “Tomorrow old Fisher comes down”: Gilbert, I, 216.

  289 “[Watching] him narrowly to judge”: Churchill, I, 401–02.

  289 “make our country feel”: Gilbert, I, 215.

  289 “that I could work”: Churchill, I, 402.

  290 “with some reluctance”: Marder, II, 90.

  290 “He seems as young as ever”: Ibid.

  290 “He is already a Court Favorite”: Gilbert, I, 226.

  290 “Undoubtedly the country will benefit”: Ibid., 227.

  290 “They have resurrected old Fisher”: Chalmers, 160–61.

  291 “horrible appointment”: Wemyss, Life and Letters, 186.

  291 “Everything began to move”: Bacon, Fisher, II, 161–62.

  292 “a genius without a doubt”: Fisher, FGDN, II, 409.

  292 “I was ne
ver in the least afraid”: Churchill, I, 402.

  292 “Lord Fisher was the most distinguished”: Ibid., 403.

  292 “the formidable energy”: Ibid., 405.

  292 “I can’t dine out”: Gilbert, I, 264.

  292 “Once, I remember”: Gretton, 198.

  293 “extraordinary spectacle”: Hough, Great War, 145.

  293 “an almost unsleeping watch”: Churchill, I, 405.

  293 “we made an agreement”: Ibid.

  293 “Port and starboard lights”: Ibid., 406.

  294 “everything that can be finished”: Ibid., 454.

  294 “make his wife a widow”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 130.

  295 “large light cruisers”: Marder, II, 96.

  295 “They were an old man’s children”: Churchill, I, 459.

  295 “Lord Fisher hurled himself”: Ibid., 456.

  295 “order to his subordinates”: Gilbert, I, 228.

  295 “I backed him up”: Churchill, I, 460.

  296 “a projectile”: Fisher, FGDN, I, 291.

  296 “criminal folly”: Marder, II, 192.

  296 “a million Russian soldiers . . . within eighty-two miles”: Bacon, Fisher, II, 188.

  296 “on that 14 miles”: FGDN, II, 455.

  296 “convoy and land”: James, A Great Seaman, 138.

  296 “We gratefully accept”: Churchill, II, 39.

  297 “storm and seize”: Marder, II, 186.

  297 “a palpable reluctance”: Churchill, II, 42.

  297 “Churchill would often look in”: James, A Great Seaman, 144.

  297 “I am wholly with you”: Churchill, II, 43.

  297 “Although the First Sea Lord’s strategic conceptions”: Ibid., 41–42.

  298 “how an attack on Borkum”: Marder, II, 190.

  298 “Welcome back”: Gilbert, I, 264.

  298 “We one and all”: Ibid., 184.

  298 “First Sea Lord to see”: Churchill, II, 358.

  298 “Winston has so monopolized”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 99–100.

  299 “The situation is very curious”: Beatty Papers, I, 173.

  299 “inkling that he was”: Bonham Carter, 321.

  CHAPTER 16: “ THE REQUIREMENTSOF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF WEREHARD TO MEE T ”

  300 “weakening the Grand Fleet”: Winton, 154.

  300 “Is Princess Royal to go”: Goldrick, 172.

  300 “Princess Royal’s coal expenditure”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 81.

  301 “Princess Royal should have proceeded”: Goldrick, 172.

  301 “The Tiger is absolutely unfit” and “a present for the Germans”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 68.

  301 “We cannot rely”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 97.

  301 “The inferiority”: Ibid., 99.

  301 “I admit the force”: Fisher, FGDN, III, 82.

  303 “we must always be ready”: Ibid., 443.

  303 “The requirements”: Churchill, I, 443.

  304 “Since war began”: Ibid., 445.

  304 “We cannot reinforce you”: Ibid., 447.

  304 “I think we have to stand fast”: Ibid.

  304 “As A. K. Wilson observed”: Ibid., 448.

  305 “The coast has been so denuded”: Ibid., 445.

  305 “The Admiralty have in mind”: Ibid.

  305 “I regret to appear importunate”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 94.

  305 “as I am directed to use this base”: Churchill, I, 447.

  305 “I know perfectly well”: Ibid.

  305 “have five torpedoes each”: Churchill, I, 447.

  305 “You know the difficulty”: Jellicoe Papers, I, 103.

  305 “wearing”: Churchill, I, 448.

  305 “No one can blame”: Ibid., 447–48.

  306 “It is necessary to construct”: Ibid., 527–28.

  306 “The next day”: Scott, 272.

  307 “The ships could not accompany the fleet”: Jellicoe, Grand Fleet, 173.

  308 “mislead the Germans”: Churchill, II, 299.

  308 “astonished to see”: Denham, 50.

  CHAPTER 17: THE YARMOUTH RAID AND ROOM 40

  310 “the battle fleet must avoid”: Scheer, 68.

  310 “escort the cruisers”: Goldrick, 159.

  310 “I don’t want”: Waldeyer-Hartz, 127.

  311 “Two battle cruisers”: Groos, II, 265.

  312 “Early in the morning”: Churchill, I, 440–42.

  313 “I won’t wear it”: Waldeyer-Hartz, 129.

  313 “It appeared that the risk”: Groos, II, 267.

  313 “One could not assume”: Ibid.

  314 “short, thick-set man with keen blue eyes”: Beesly, 9.

  314 “a mauve shirt”: Ibid., 10.

  315 “The fuses are lit”: Kahn, Enigma, 19.

  316 “the German light cruiser Magdeburg”: Churchill, I, 462.

  316 number 151: Beesly, 5.

  317 “drying before Ewing’s fire”: Kahn, Enigma, 24.

  317 “Some days earlier”: Ibid.

  317 “SKM key”: Beesly, 24.

  317 “No fears”: Ibid.

  318 “virtual certainty”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 18: THE SCARBOROUGH RAID: “WITHIN OUR CLAWS”

  319 Queen of Watering Places: Daily Mail, Dec. 17, 1914, 8.

  319 “greatness, vastness of enterprise”: Perrett, introduction.

  320 “I could see in the mist”: Daily Mail, Dec. 17, 1914, 6.

  320 “Just before eight o’clock”: Ibid.

  320 “resolutely in bed”: Roskill, Beatty, 105.

  321 “was killed”: Daily Telegraph, Dec. 19, 1914, 10.

  322 “a special lookout”: Ward, 7.

  324 “deplorable” and “which was stationed”: Keyes, Memoirs, 151.

  324 “1,150 shells”: Groos, III, 82.

  324 “The Germans have come”: Daily Chronicle, Dec. 17, 1914, 7.

  325 “I must get that medal”: Daily Mail, Dec. 18, 1914, 5.

  325 “Look, there’s my teddy bear”: Ibid.

  325 “assassin squadron” and “Scarborough bandits”: Marder, II, 149.

  325 “the stigma of the baby-killers”: The Times, Dec. 21, 1914, 8.

  325 “a colossal act of murder”: Ibid.

  325 “The bombardment . . . was”: Daily Chronicle, Dec. 17, 1914, 8.

  326 “So far as the Hartlepools”: Ibid.

  326 “Demonstrations of this character”: Ward, 28.

  326 “The best police force”: Marder, II, 148.

  326 “It would no doubt”: The Times, Dec. 18, 1914, 9.

  326 “The purpose of the Royal Navy”: Ibid., Dec. 17, 1914, 9.

  326 “We hope that the authorities”: Ward, 28–29.

  327 “There has been”: Daily Telegraph, Dec. 18, 1914, 10.

  327 “Cannot we use”: Ibid., Dec. 19, 1914, 10.

  327 “This does not, however, prevent”: Scheer, 68.

  329 “Have lost touch”: Waldeyer-Hartz, 133.

  329 “Bombardment off shore”: Ibid.

  330 For the conversation between Hipper and Raeder, see ibid., 134.

  330 “decided in favor”: Groos, III, 77.

  330 “with remarkable coolness”: Ibid., 78.

  331 “Operation completed”: Goldrick, 202.

  331 “Where is the main fleet”: Waldeyer-Hartz, 136.

  332 “flying raid” and “insult bombardment”: Marder, II, 130.

  332 “They can never again”: Goldrick, 191.

  332 “Good information just received”: Churchill, I, 465.

  333 “before daylight tomorrow”: Ibid.

  333 “were precisely the sort”: Goldrick, 192.

  334 “A great deal of cruising”: Churchill, I, 464.

  334 “was only thirty miles south”: Groos, III, 63.

  335 “an imperturbability”: Goodenough, 86.

  335 “never spoke”: Goldrick, 215.

  335 “passed in the dark”: Young, 90.

  336 “I think raid”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 19: T
HE SCARBOROUGH RAID: HIPPER ESCAPES

  338 “fairly turned tail”: Corbett, II, 28.

  339 “Here at last”: Marder, II, 136.

  339 “Our premature turning”: Scheer, 71.

  339 “Never again”: Goldrick, 195.

  339 the one heaven-sent opportunity: Churchill, I, 472–73.

  339 “On December 16”: Tirpitz, II, 285.

  339 “There was . . . no compulsion”: Churchill, I, 473.

  341 “Am keeping in touch”: Young, 93.

  341 “I am being chased”: Ibid.

  342 “if I might lead around”: Chatfield, 129.

  342 “The fine sunrise”: Young, 92.

  342 “Are you going after Roon”: Corbett, II, 29.

  342 “Have heard nothing of Roon”: Goldrick, 197.

  343 “Scarborough being shelled”: Young, 94.

  343 For the exchange of signals between Warrender and Beatty, see Young, 94.

  343 “I was in my bath”: Churchill, I, 466.

  343 “The bombardment of open towns”: Ibid., 467–68.

  345 “Light cruisers must go in”: Goldrick, 202.

  345 “Enemy will in all probability”: Corbett, II, 36.

  345 “Enemy is probably returning”: Churchill, I, 468.

  345 “At eleven o’clock”: Ibid., 475.

  346 “Engaged with enemy cruisers”: Young, 97.

  347 “Tell that light cruiser”: Ibid., 98.

  347 “Light cruiser resume station”: Corbett, II, 38.

  347 “Enemy’s cruisers bearing south by east”: Goldrick, 206.

  348 For the signals exchanged between Beatty and Goodenough, see Chalmers, 171, and Goldrick, 206.

  348 “Enemy in sight”: Goldrick, 207.

  348 “No, not until the Vice Admiral signals”: Dreyer, 103.

  349 “Our golden moment”: Ibid., 103–4.

  349 “He never spoke to me”: Ibid., 103.

  349 “Enemy cruisers and destroyers in sight”: Corbett, II, 40.

  349 “Enemy’s course east”: Goldrick, 208.

  350 “Relinquish chase”: Ibid., 209.

  351 “Am being chased”: Groos, III, 256.

  351 “five enemy battleships”: Ibid., 257.

  351 “Enemy is out of sight”: Ibid.

  351 “Are you in danger”: Ibid., 258.

  351 “No”: Ibid.

  352 “Telegraph and telephone”: Churchill, I, 468–69.

  353 “Twenty destroyers”: Goldrick, 209.

  353 “Certainly not advisable” and “It is too late”: Ibid.

  353 “I had a most trying day”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 145.

  353 “The High Seas Fleet is at sea”: Ibid.

  353 In the Admiralty War Room: For the discussion, see Churchill, I, 470.

  354 “We sent you a terrible message”: Keyes, Memoirs, I, 148–49.