Allan Macfarlane PhD thesis

269 Pages·2014·1.27 MB·English

A NAVAL TRAVESTY: THE DISMISSAL OF ADMIRAL
SIR JOHN JELLICOE, 1917
J. Allan C. Macfarlane
A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD
at the
University of St Andrews
2014
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J Allan C Macfarlane

A Naval Travesty: The Dismissal of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, 1917

PhD Dissertation

Submitted January 2014
DECLARATIONS

1. Candidate’s declaration
I, J Allan C Macfarlane, certify that this thesis, which is approximately 79,700
words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by
me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree.
I was admitted as a research student in September 2008 and as a candidate for
the degree of PhD in September 2008; the higher study for which this is a record was
carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2008 and 2014.

Date

Signature

2. Supervisors declaration
I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the
Resolutions and Regulations appropriate to the degree of PhD in the University of St
Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that
degree.

Date

Signature

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3. Permission for electronic publication

In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am
giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the
regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any
copyright in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and
the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied
to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically
accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as
requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new
electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to my thesis. I have obtained
any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such
access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The
following is an agreed request by the candidate and supervisor regarding the
electronic publication of this thesis:
Access to printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the University of
St Andrews.

Date Date

Signature of Candidate Signature of Supervisor

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements Page 5

Abstract page 6

Abbreviations page 8

Chapter I Introduction page 9

Chapter II A Difficult Inheritance page 37

Chapter III The Convoy Controversy page 65

Chapter IV Justified or Unjustified Cause page 96

Chapter V Conspiracies page 126

Chapter VI The Dismissal and its Aftermath page 171

Chapter VII For Better or for Worse page 206

Chapter VIII Conclusions page 247

Bibliography page 263

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Gerard De Groot. A
few years have passed since his inspirational teaching on the First World War in my
final undergraduate year led me to the path that has ended in this dissertation. He has
been encouraging when doubt was apparent and indulgent and supportive when other
commitments have interfered with progress. His perceptive comments on the drafts
of chapters submitted to him have been extraordinarily helpful and his response times
in returning work quite remarkable.
Secondly, I would like to thank my wife, Susan. With little interest in the
subject, she has persevered in reading early drafts and pointing out the more glaring
typographical errors occasioned by my ineptness on the keyboard. More importantly,
I owe much to her forbearance and equanimity over my frequent and at times lengthy
absences from home that has allowed me to complete this work.

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ABSTRACT

This dissertation relates to the dismissal of Admiral Jellicoe, First Sea Lord
from November 1916 to December 1917, by Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the
Admiralty, at the behest of the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. The dismissal
was peremptory and effected without rational explanation, despite Jellicoe having
largely fulfilled his primary mission of combating the German U-boat threat to British
merchant shipping. The outcome of the war may well have been affected if the level
of shipping losses sustained through U-boat attack in April 1917 had continued
unabated.
The central argument of the dissertation is that the dismissal was unjustified.
As an adjunct, it argues that the received view of certain historians that Jellicoe was
not successful as First Sea Lord is unwarranted and originates from severe post war
critism of Jellicoe by those with a vested interest in justifying the dismissal, notably
Lloyd George.
Supporting these arguments, the following assertions are made. Firstly, given
the legacy Jellicoe inherited when joining the Admiralty, through the strategies
adopted, organisational changes made and initiatives undertaken in anti-submarine
weapons development, the progress made in countering the U-boat threat was notable.
Secondly, the universal criticism directed at the Admiralty over the perceived delay in
introducing a general convoy system for merchant shipping is not sustainable having
regard to primary source documentation. Thirdly, incidents that occurred during the
latter part of 1917, and suggested as being factors which contributed to the dismissal,
can be discounted. Fourthly, Lloyd George conspired to involve General Haig,
Commander of the British Forces in France, and the press baron, Lord Northcliffe, in
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his efforts to mitigate any potential controversy that might result from Jellicoe’s
removal from office. Finally, the arguments made by a number of commentators that
the Admiralty performed better under Jellicoe’s successor, Admiral Wemyss, is
misconceived.

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ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations are used throughout:

BL British Library, London
CA Churchill Archives, Cambridge
NA National Archives, London
NLS National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
NMM National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
PA Parliamentary Archives, London
PRONI Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast

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Chapter I

Introduction

Background

It has been said of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe that ‘he was the only man on
either side who could lose the war in an afternoon.’1 That remark proffers no
exaggeration. When Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, its standing
army was about one tenth of the size of Germany’s army. It has been described by
one historian as an ‘antique fire engine: spotless, shining and in perfect working
order, but not good at putting out big fires’.2 In economic terms Germany’s industrial
output had outstripped Britain’s since before the turn of the century. More
significantly, in the context of this dissertation, Britain imported almost two thirds of
its food and, usually, did not maintain a stock of more than four to six weeks supply
of raw materials for its manufacturing industries.3 Maintenance of Britain’s naval
supremacy was therefore imperative to its survival. Not only had the Royal Navy to
protect Britain’s vital ocean trade routes, it had to deter any attempted invasion,
blockade Germany’s sea trade, and, as the British Government had decided to provide
military support to France and Belgium, prevent enemy interference with the

1 Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, (London, 1927), III, 112.
2 Gerard de Groot, Blighty, British Society in the Great War, (London, 1996), 14.
3 Arthur Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, (London, 1961), 1, 358. (References to this
work in footnotes are hereafter abbreviated to FDSF).
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