The British Periodical Press and the Discourse on Naval Reform, 1900-1910

SELLING 'THE SCHEME': THE BRITISH PERIODICAL PRESS AND THE DISCOURSE ON NAVAL REFORM, 1900-1910 by Iain O'Shea Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate Academic Unit of History Supervisor(s): Dr. Marc Milner, History Examining Board: Dr. Gary Waite, History, Chair Dr. Sean Kennedy, History Dr. Larry Wisnewski, Sociology This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK August, 2010 © Iain O'Shea, 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87628-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87628-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT The first decade of the twentieth century marks the genesis of the modern Royal Navy that fought, and won, two world wars. This period was the climax of two dynamic processes: a century of dramatic change in naval technology and the advent of the new mass print media, which facilitated an era of unprecedented public interest and involvement in naval affairs. The press acted as a national think tank for the navy. The 1902 Selbome Scheme and 1904 Fisher reforms reoriented naval personnel, material and organization to modern conditions. Historians have provided very intricate and exhaustive analyses of the development of naval policy and thought at the governmental or Admiralty level, but less attention has been paid to the important intellectual discourse in the press. This thesis will examine the elite, intellectual discussion which occurred in the periodical press from 1900 to 1910, in order to describe the detail and sophistication of the information available to the public, and the impact of public opinion on Admiralty policy. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT As with any project extending over the course of years, there are a host of people who have helped in the production of this thesis. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Marc Milner, for all of his time and effort. His wisdom and good humour made the project much easier. Dr. Sean Kennedy and the faculty of the History Department at the University of New Brunswick provided much encouragement and a fantastic scholarly atmosphere. I would like to thank the Brigadier Milton F. Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society for their generous support for my research, and the other graduate students of the Gregg Centre for the valuable hours of discussion and commentary. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided crucial funding for the first year of this project, and the University of New Brunswick graciously provided useful teaching experience with a TA-ship in the second year. My research was aided by the helpful library staffs at the New York Public Library, Seattle Public Library, University of Victoria Library, University of British Columbia Library, and Vancouver Public Library. A special thanks to the people who helpted for hours, collecting the rare periodicals: Darcy O'Shea, Valerie O'Shea and Stephanie DiTomaso. For my father, who has read every word it took to make this. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABBREVIATIONS vi 1.0 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The Late Nineteenth Century Media Explosion 3 1.2 Factors Driving Naval Reform 13 2.0 CHAPTER 2: TRAINING UNITY 28 2.1 The Naval Engineers 30 2.2 The Development of Mechanical Training 38 2.3 The Selborne Scheme 46 2.4 The Cawdor Revision and Conclusions 56 3.0 CHAPTER 3: THE BIRTH OF MINERVA 61 3.1 Fleet Distribution 63 3.2 The Scrapping Policy 78 3.3 Implementing Nucleus Crews 90 3.4 Conclusion 99 4.0 CHAPTER 4: THE QUESTION OF DREADNOUGHT. 102 4.1 Early Design Debates 106 4.2 The Response to the Dreadnought 116 4.3 Conclusion 136 5.0 CHAPTER 5: EPILOGUE 138 5.1 The End of the Fisher Era 138 5.2 Concluding Remarks 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY 146 APPENDIX I: THE PERIODICALS 152 iv CURRICULUM VTTAE v ABBREVIATIONS Army and Navy Gazette ANG Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine £EM The (Brassey's) Naval Annual BNA Fear God and Dread Nought FGDN The Fleet Annual and Naval Yearbook FANY Fortnightly Review FR Journal of the Royal United Service Institution JRUSI Navy and Army Illustrated NAI Navy League Journal NLJ Nineteenth Century {and After) NCA Quarterly Review QR Royal United Service Institution RUSI St. James Gazette SJG United Service Magazine USM vi 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The Confluence of the Press and the Royal Navy at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century So we must have no tinkering! No pandering to sentiment! No regard for susceptibilities! No pity for any one! We must be ruthless, relentless, and remorseless! And we must therefore have The Scheme! The Whole Scheme!! And Nothing but The Scheme!!!' Admiral Sir John Fisher, 1904 Admiral Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher's confident words emphatically declared the necessity for his brand of naval reform. The power and showmanship is obvious, but policy-making cannot be viewed in such autocratic, all-or-nothing terms. British naval policy in the 'Fisher Era,' so termed by pioneering historian Arthur J. Marder, was influenced by the increasing political involvement of the growing intellectual middle class, acting through an expanding system of national media. The contemporary r>f»Nodical press in Britain provided educated elites, including naval officers, politicians - ians, with a discursive avenue to pose problems, propose solutions, and critique policy. In an age of rapidly changing technology the requirements of naval war had to be theoretically developed, and reform proposals measured against this in both theoretical literature and practical manoeuvres. Public discourse allowed non-official or dissenting ideas to be voiced and debated in full view of the nation and the government, making naval reform partially the product of this national 'think-tank.' With no hands- on experience of modern naval combat to shape policy, the complex intellectual interactions of the periodical press provide useful insight into the development of theoretical conceptions of war which formed the foundation of naval thought. 1 Arthur J. Marder, The Anatomy of British Sea Power: A History of British Naval Policy in the Pre- Dreadnought Era, 1880-1905, (London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd., 1972), 488. 2 The common development of defence thought follows the principles laid out by John A. Lynn in Battle: A History of Combat and Culture (2003), as a feedback loop between the 'Discourse on War' and the 'Reality of War.' Building on the idea that "the way militaries think is the most fundamental element of their effectiveness," Lynn shows that defence thought is built upon the interaction between the discourse, created through cultural mechanisms like literature, art and politics, and the reality, or practical experience of combat.2 While this successfully describes most situations, it is insufficient when considering turn-of-the-century British naval thought. In times of extreme technological change, and in the absence of any practical experience, the 'Reality of War' can be divorced from the equation. Instead, there is a subsidiary loop within the discourse itself, using theoretical discussion and tested with experiments and manoeuvres, that attempts to predict the 'Reality of War' in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of defence forces. Only by developing a more accurate and sophisticated 'Discourse on War' could the Royal Navy ensure its supremacy in the face of growing European and worldwide challenges. This conception of war is developed as a conversation between civilian and military intellectual elites and, because of the increased literacy of the population and availability of news-media, was of unprecedented size and complexity in Britain by the turn of the century. Periodicals, unlike daily papers, offered a more in-depth and reflective means of exploring in intricate detail the combinations of technology, strategy and training that would provide the most efficient and effective force structure. Consensus was not the objective, because periodical authors realized that only the Admiralty could and should 2 John A.

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