FIRST SEA LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2296, 2 November 1914, Page 6

FIRST SEA LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY

LORD FISHER APPOINTED • PRINCE LOUIS'S RESIGNATION London, October 30. It is officially announced that Admiral Lord Kilverstone (better known as Sir John Fisher) will succeed Pnnco Louis of'Battouberg (resigned) as First Sea Lord of tho Admiralty. The'newspapers pay a. tribute to Prince Louis of Battonberg's chualroua decision. THE PRINCE AND MR. CHI'RCHILL , r FIRST LORD'S EULOGY. Tho following telegram has been tccened from tho High Commissioner — ' '' London, October 30 Official—Prince Louis of Battenborg has rnbjioiuslied hi 3 position as Lord

Commissioner of the Admiralty. Prince Louis' resignation was in the following terms: "Dear Churchill,—l have lately been driven to tho painful conclusion that at this juncture my birth and parentage liav6 the eftcct of impairing in some respects my usefulness on tho Board of Admiralty In these circumstances I feel it my duty as a loyal subject of His Majesty to resign my office as First Sea Lord, hoping thereby to facilitate the administration of the great service to which I have devoted my life, and to ease tho burden laid upon Ministers " Mr Churchill replied- "Dear Prince Louis,—This.is no ordinary war, but a struggle between nations for life and death It raises passions between races,of the most terrible kind and effaces old landmaiks and iiontiefs of our civilisation. I cannot further oppose the wish yon lme during the last few weeks expressed to mo to be relieved from tho burden of a responsibility which you have borne thus iar with so much honour and success. The anxieties and toils which rest upon the Naval Administration , of our country are themsehes enough to tiy a man : s spirit, but when to them arc added the ineradicable difficulties of which you speak, I could not at this juncture in fairness ask jou to- support them, The

''. Navy of to-morrow bears the imprin of your work. The enormous impend ing influx of capital ships—a score- o thirty-knot" cruisers, destroyers, am submarines, unequalled in modem con struction, which are coming now t< hand are:the results of labours whicl wo had in common, and in which tin Board of Admiralty owe so_ much ti your aid. The first step which securei tho timely concentration of the Flee was taken by you. I nnist expres publicly my deep indebtedness to yoi and the pain I feel at ,the severance- o our three years' official association. Ii all the circumstances you are right ii your decision, and-the spirit in- (vti.'ci ' you have acted is.tho same'in'vMel Prince. Maurice of Battenberg has.givei his life to our cause, and in which you gallant son is now, serving in the Fleet I'ixsg ; you to accept, my profound :"j . 'pect .'and that of my colleagues on tin Board." . ...•-.'.-.. THE KITCHENER OF THE NAVY. SKETCH OF THE FIRST SEA LORD v ._ ': Admiral of the Fleetj Sir John Fishei is fkriown as" "the Kitchener of the Navy." He retired at tho beginning oi 1911, and his recall 'to office.after s period of comparative seclusion chimef almdst. .-coinoidentally with. "K.'s" re- , turn to tho Army. He was known af "the' scrapper," from the ruthlessnesi with;..which, he condemned.■• out-of-dats ", ships to.the scrap-heap. When Lore •Fisher -was appointed First Sea Lore in, 1904, he inaugurated his appointment with a series of sweeping changes in naval organisation and distribution ■ which aroused a etorin'of criticism. -His administration nill be remembered for the "courageous stroke of the pen"'by which 150 warships were removed from the effective list of the fleet. Several of these ships have since been returned to active service, euch as the Bramble, Britomart,; Philomel, and Medea, all ol .which, though,struck off the list more than six years ago, are now. in full .commission. .Several-others have'been .converted inter auxiliaries. '. : ; ; :..Two'other notable products of Lord .;' Fisher's -regime. were the. Dreadnought arid the Home Fleet.. The principles to be embodied in the Dreadnought were outlined by Sir. John Fisher—as he then were elaborated and put into ' concrete form .by" a committee which comprised Lord Kelvin, Professor Biles, Sir- Philip Watts, and Sir John Thornycroft, lhe. ship became the standard of naval construction, and every armoured ship built 6ince has been based upon it. The Home Fleet - was/perhaps, ,the most criticised of all Lord Fisher's works. '.It: was , first, instituted in 'a memorandum of October 1906, and came into, being in the following January : with, a single '.fully commissioned division at-the-Nore. .\ Since then the force i has developed apace. It sucked in ships from the: Mediterranean,, Far • Eastern, and Fleets. . Fisher redistributed the British. Fleet, concentrating the greater part of, it in British waters; sind, in Captain Mahan's words,-he stationed 86 per cent, of its battleship force m or near Home waters. He reorganised the reserve.and accelerated the imobiltsation by the institution of nucleus crewe, the admirable working of'. which has' been -witnessed in mobiP isatioii. He discarded and recalled from stations the ships which were of no serious value, and sent them mercilessly to the scrapheap, reserving all his attention for the effective vessels. He instituted d Naval War College at Portsmouth to examine and teat plans for naval war. He improved tho shooting of the British 'Navy to 'such an extent that hits on the target became twice as frequent as in the days before his rule. THE LATE PRINCE MAURICE. OF • BATTENBERG. KILLED,BY BURSTING SHRAPNEL. -London, October 30. Prince Maurice of Battenberg . was leading his company in attack when he was struck by a shrapnel shell; and died almost immediately. Ho. was buried at Ypres to-day.