May 10, iyi7 
LAND & WATER 
Admiralty Reform 
To the Editor of Land lS; Wati k. 
Sir, — You do me the honour of asking for my opinion on 
the subject of the letter signed" FhigOfificer." which you pub- 
lished on April 26th. I agree with " Flag Officer" in thinking 
flat the action of the navy has been liampered by the in- 
mence of officers in authority whose attention was concen- 
.Tated on the tools rather than on the art of using them. 
The theory of war taught in recent years at the Naval War 
College is the contrary of the theory and practice of all the 
great masters of war. This false doctrine was at the time 
of its publication denounced by teachers and students of war, 
both in England and abroad, who pointed out then that it 
must lead, m case of war, in the direction opposite to that of 
victory. 
" We must distinguish absolutely," says "Flag Offtcer," 
" between the authority responsible for the mihtary handling 
of tlie niivy. and the authority responsible for its material 
.supply. Unless tiiis is done it is hopeless to think that the 
fighting instinct of the navy can be given its full e.xpression 
or scope." This is the truth, but it is not the whole truth. 
The art of war, of directing forces against those of an enemy, 
can be mastered only by a man who gives his life to it. A 
man who has paid that price for knowledge must be given 
authority to direct the militarj' action of the navy, and, 
unless and until that 'step has been taken, common sense 
bids us rather fear defeat than hope for victory. Is there 
any need for the Government to go round, like Diogenes 
with a lantern, looking for an admiral who answers the 
description. 
The proper place for the admiral whose effort has been to 
master the arts of warfare is at the head of the navy. He 
should be First Lord of the Admiralty and be given power 
to organise the Admiralty in his own way. 
If the members of the Government beheve that victory 
depends upon their own tenure of the offices which they hold, 
they may prefer to retain one of themselves as First Lord of 
the Admiralty. In that case the First Lord's task would be, 
first, to see that tlie military action of tiie fleet was directed 
by the judgment of the admiral and not by that of the states- 
men, for while the statesman's business is to make good use of 
victory if and when it has been obtained, the winning of 
victory is an admiral's business, not a statesman's. Secondly, 
the statesman as First Lord would take care that the officer 
or officers charged witli tlie manning and material supply of 
the navy should meet the demands of the directing Admiral, 
instead of attempting to dictate to him what implements he 
should use. 
If the office of First Lord lie reserved for a statesman, the 
chosen admiral would be ai)i)ointed I'irst Sea Lord. The 
other Sea Lords would remain char^'ed with the duty of . 
supplying liim witli officers and men, ships, guns and supplies, 
all according to the First Sea Lord's requirements. 
I am unable to follow "Flag Officer" in his suggestion of a 
list of Boards to be formed at the Admiralty. An admiral 
able to direct the mihtary action of the na\'y will know how 
to organise the Admiralty for the purpose of victory. 
O.xford, May 8th, igi;. Spe.nser Wilkinson. 
To the Editor of Land & Waikk. 
Sir,— While fully concurring with the views expressed 
by " I'lag-Officer " in your issue of April 26th, I think they 
are amplilied by the letters of Professor Spenser Wilkinsoii 
in the Times of May 4th and 5th, especially the latter, and bv 
the views held by such men as Sir John Sinclair (whose name 
is to be found in the Dictionary of National Biograpliv) and 
Ind Barhamat the end of the iSth Centur\-, whicli 1 was able 
to give in the Times of the 3th. 
WJiile the first basic principle of all administrations is 
tlie separation of command from supplv. it is essential 
that the former body should be the constitutionally authorita- 
tive body ; not as is now the case, a self constituted group. 
We shall not get full v^alue for any Admiralty reorganisation 
if the men who are responsible for'operations are sought out 
from among tliose who have only been accustomed to technical 
and administrative work ; they must and can l)e found among 
those who have devoted their time to the study of war. 
These have so far been " tabooed " by the false assumption 
of the value of the so-called practical man, and the erroneous 
application of the behef — neglecting aptitudes— " that any 
peg can fit any hole," if only it gets sufficient experience in it. 
Whilst the sharpest brains in Europe ha\e built up from 
historical sources a scientific system of command aqd organisa- 
tion which have enormously improved the standard of 
operational work, the British Navy has remained content 
with rule of thumb methods which were based neither on 
war experience nor the study of war. The French General 
Staff continually practices and appht's the ideas introduced 
by Napoleon and Moltke, but the British Naw has never 
taken the trouble to analyse much less apply Nelson's doctrines. 
The (fetish of formal and centralised command and the 
strictly defensive formations which he did so much to break 
down were characteristic features of the Battle of Jutland. 
An essential factor in modern war organisation is the 
especial training and employment of the officers who are to 
be eventually responsible for operations ; we have failed to do 
it, but there are some who have voluntarily undertaken it and 
their services should be utilised. 
W. H. Hexderso.v, Admiral (Retired). 
3, Onslow Avenue, S.W.7. May 7th, 1917. 
Drafts 
By Centurion 
THE O.C. who accompanied me in the tour of in- 
.spe(!-tion was as proud of his Base Training Camp as 
though it were tlic family estate entailed on him and 
the heirs male of his "body lawfully begotten. I 
told liim so. ' 
" Hum ! " he said reflectively, " I hope I'm not tenant for 
life of this place. I'd like to "get back to mv old regiment 
some time. Still, it's a pretty place, eh what ?"" 
I looked round. I'^ar as the eye could reach was a wilderness 
of sand-dunes among which clumps of elder, sea-nettle, and 
couch-grass maintained a desperate struggle "for existence. 
Occasionally a light wind played over it, changing its con- 
tours in a second, and depositing a thousand grains in our eves 
and nostrils so tliat I sneezed and winked alternately. Our 
walk reminded me of the Walrus and the Carpenter. 
" It inakes me wee])," I said, with a handkerchief to my 
eyes, " to .see such (|uaiitities of sand." 
The O.C. regarded this as a reflection on the capita! value 
of the estate. " It's dry." he said argumentatively. 
" I'm sure it is," I hastened to agree. " 1 am not crabbing 
it. You've done wonders." Aiul he had. " \\V've got our 
])Ians for deniiibilization well in hand ; we might do worse than 
begin to consider the realisation of these assets. Only an 
ad\ertiscment would express all I feel. ' I'or sale by private 
treaty, a highly desirable sporting estate with mine craters, 
strong-posts, a^isault-courses, bombing-trenches, hutments, 
and an op<^**-air tWatie witii oil drum fauteuils-tlic whole in 
an c><;ciieiit ^tatc ol preservation. Inspected and thoroughly 
recommended.' A Cinema film manufacturer would make a 
fortune out of it." 
" Well, G.H.O. might do worse than take an official film 
of this show. It might convince the people at home that the 
Army knows how to organise. We've several ' stunts ' 
on — we're rehearsing the Somme battle next week with ten 
thousand ' drafts^' as supers and no end of black powder. 
Unfortunately G.H.Q won't lend us any live Huns." 
But there api)eared to be a multitude of inanimate ones, 
'rhere must have been a " Kadiver " factory somewhere 
in tJut camp, for in c^'ery trench for bayonet and bombing 
])ractice there lurked an obscene figure of straw and sackcloth 
individualized as " Hindenburg," or " FTitz," or " Kamerad." 
according to the taste of the artist. The illusion was a trifle 
f)b\ivus, but it seemed adequate to a i)arty of dismounted 
Bengal Lancers at bayonet drill on our right, who, as they 
lunged. ga\e a homicidal grunt of satisfaction and showed 
their teeth. 
The OC. suggested a gas inspection, and we climbe<l a slope 
of saud. swei^t smooth as a glacier by the wind. 1 stopped for 
a moment as I came to a party of men reclining on their 
elbows on the .sand, chewing bents of grass with bovine content 
while a sergeant discoursed colloquially on the art of taking 
a trench. 
' When you goes along a trench, don't pass any one. 
It ain't good manners to cut a Hun dead — not in a trojich. 
If there's a German lying there, stick him. If lie's dead, he 
won't feel it. If he's alive he's 110 business to be there. And 
