Telegram from Admiralty to the Admiral of Patrols [? Rear-Admiral John de Robeck], ordering 12 destroyers to be sent to Scapa Flow [Orkney Islands, Scotland] to come under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe]; also for patrols to revert to the earlier system of keeping ships concentrated in divisions. Initialled by Vice-Admiral Henry Oliver [Chief of Staff].

Telegram from the French Naval Attache, London, to the French Ministry of Marine, (Bordeaux [France]), on a Franco-British cruiser squadron suggested by the Admiralty to help oppose a German force coming from the Pacific, and on other Anglo-Japanese forces already in place. [Carbon].

Telegram from the French Ministry of Marine (Bordeaux [France]), to the French Naval Attache, London, on a Franco-British cruiser squadron suggested by the Admiralty for service against a German cruiser squadron coming from the Pacific: the French suggest that forces should be concentrated off the south coast of South America, rather than the African coast. [Carbon].

Telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe], to Admiralty, on short refits for ships of the Grand Fleet, as the work was taking too long and weakening the fleet. [Carbon].

Telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe] to the Admiralty, objecting to the decision to send HMS Princess Royal [to the United States], weakening the Battle Cruiser squadron to below the German strength: Jellicoe gives details on the state of the squadron, and suggests other ships that could be sent instead. [Carbon].

Telegram from the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher], to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe], on British ship movements to counter the squadron of the [German cruiser] Scharnhorst. [Carbon].

Telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe] to Admiralty, on the concentration of the German High Seas Fleet, stating that it was essential that the Grand Fleet did likewise. Jellicoe asks for the 3rd Battle Squadron to rejoin him at once, before the Channel Fleet was blocked from entering the North Sea. [Carbon].

Note from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC, First Lord of the Admiralty, stating that the influence and authority of the Mediterranean Fleet had ceased, as the development of the submarine had made it impossible for heavy ships to be in that sea. Fisher advocates strengthening the forces at Alexandria [Egypt] instead, and states that the enemy must be beaten in the main theatre of war, the North Sea. [Hand-written, with typescript copy].

Admiralty account of the battles of Coronel [Chile] and the Falklands. [Typescript, with hand-written annotations by WSC].

Letter from Admiral Sir Reginald Custance (Half Moon Street, Piccadilly [London]), to WSC, outlining his strategical plan for the North Sea.

Letter from Admiral Sir Reginald Custance (Half Moon Street, Piccadilly [London]), to WSC, advising against the formation of a Naval Brigade for service in France and Belgium.

Letter from Admiral Sir Reginald Custance, (Half Moon Street, Piccadilly [London]), to WSC, pointing out that the system of patrol on a fixed position, or line or area, was "radically unsound, dangerous and totally unnecessary". Custance goes on to state that successful operations to the south needed to be controlled by officers on the spot, not from London, and that the Navy needed to go on the offensive, rather than wait to be attacked.

Minute from Admiral Sir Henry Jackson [Chief of Staff] to WSC, First Lord of the Admiralty, commenting on a paper [not present] by Major-General Sir William Birdwood [Secretary to the Government of India in the Army Department], on protecting troop convoys, and defending the Admiralty's measures.

Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], to the Secretary [Sir (William) Graham Greene], and Naval Secretary [Rear-Admiral Horace Hood], Admiralty, ordering that Acting Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty was to be promoted to Vice- Admiral, and appointed Acting Admiral to command the Grand Fleet during the temporary absence of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. [Hand-written copy, initialled by WSC].

Draft telegram from Admiralty to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet] on the appointment of Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty as acting Admiral to command the Fleet during Jellicoe's absence. Also includes covering note to WSC, suggesting that Beatty should shift to HMS Iron Duke, as his own flagship was out of action. [Hand-written, initialled by WSC].

Notes between James Masterton-Smith [Private Secretary to WSC] and Charles Walker [Principal Clerk, Admiralty], on the question of Russian decorations for submarine officers.

Submission from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to King George V, reporting that the Emperor of Russia wished to confer the Order of St Vladimir (4th Class) on two British submarine commanders, Lieutenant-Commander Noel Laurence and Lieutenant-Commander Max Horton, for their skill in navigating their vessels into the Baltic, where they were now operating. WSC asks for the decorations to be approved, but not made public, to preserve secrecy. [Initialled by WSC and King George V].

Notes between Ronald Campbell, Foreign Office, James Masterton-Smith [Private Secretary to WSC] and Charles Walker [Principal Clerk, Admiralty], reporting that the Russian Ambassador had been told that King George V had approved the award of Russian decorations to the two submarine captains in the Baltic, and had been informed of the need for secrecy.

Submission from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to King George V, reporting that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia wished to award decorations to Commander Max Horton and the crew of submarine E9, for sinking a German destroyer in the Baltic on 29 January [signed by WSC, and approved by the King].

Draft letter from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to Victor Augagneur [French Minister of Marine], on co-operation between the two departments, particularly on establishing personal communication between himself and Augagneur, and delaying a declaration of war against Austria until the French Fleet was in position at Malta, to help in the Adriatic. [Hand-written copy, unsigned].