Scope and Contents Letter from Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] (Foreign Office) to WSC on the Admiralty's wish to make a draft of 1,000 pounds on the Secret Service Fund; he adds that Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell [Director of Naval Intelligence] has been told of the limited amount of the Fund and that further expenditure has to be agreed with the Foreign Office. Grey asks WSC not to commit them to any further expenditure until Bethell has arranged matters, and in a postscript, explains that he does not...

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Letter from WSC (Admiralty), to 1st Lord Haldane [Secretary of State for War], on evidence collected by Captain Vernon Kell, [of MO5, later MI5] of German espionage in Britain, suggesting that it should be submitted to the legal authorities, as he might be required to make public statements about it, and about the arming of merchant ships. [Hand-written copy, in pencil, initialled by WSC].

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Minute from WSC, to [Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell], Director of Naval Intelligence, asking for his views on the establishment of a wireless station in the Shetland Islands; also asking if it would be worth putting a small torpedo base there and about German influence in the islands. [Hand-written, initialled by WSC].

Scope and Contents Minute from Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell, Director of Naval Intelligence, to WSC stating that there was no real necessity for a wireless station in the Shetland Islands, as it would be the wartime base of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, which was equipped with wireless; also stating that a base would cost around 9,000 pounds and require a force of 25 men to defend it. Bethell adds that German influence was not very marked in the islands, and that very few German ships had visited there since...

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Admiralty memorandum on movements of the German High Seas Fleet, July - November 1911. [Typescript].

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Admiralty memorandum on the movements of the German High Seas Fleet during the Moroccan negotiations, September - November 1911 [over Agadir]. [unsigned manuscript].

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Admiralty memorandum on German naval construction, particularly the new Navy Law, allowing for three capital ships, 15,000 men and 13,000,000 pounds spending. [Typescript, with ms annotations].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Director of the Intelligence Division, Admiralty [Captain (William) Reginald Hall], asking for a comparison of expenditure on the first instalments of the British and German 1914-15 naval programmes. [Carbon].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Director of the Intelligence Division, Admiralty [Captain (William) Reginald Hall], correcting a paper on the strengths of the British [? and German] fleets. [Carbon].

Scope and Contents Letter from Rear-Admiral David Beatty [Commander, 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron], on the situation in the North Sea and defences for the naval bases, suggesting that Rear- Admiral John de Robeck [Admiral of Patrols] should be put in charge of countering the submarine and mine menace, with more disciplined forces; he also suggests that if the Scapa Flow [Orkney, Scotland] anchorage were to be used again, steps should be taken to deal with the spies there, with the introduction of martial law....

Scope and Contents Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], to the Secretary, Admiralty [Sir (William) Graham Greene], the 1st Sea Lord [Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Lord Milford Haven], the Chief of Staff [Sir Henry Jackson] and the Director of the Intelligence Division [Captain (William) Reginald Hall], on the likelihood that German land pressure on the Netherlands would be irresistible in a war, and that the country would be "compelled to go with Germany openly or covertly". WSC states that...

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Letter from Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne [Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean], (HMS Inflexible, Mediterranean Station), to WSC, enclosing an extract from a report by one of his captains, on a conversation with a German naval captain on a possible naval agreement between Germany and Austria on combined action against Russia.

Scope and Contents Minute from WSC [(Admiralty)], to the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman], on training of Greek naval officers in Britain. WSC states that Rear-Admiral Mark Kerr [Vice-Admiral Commanding the Greek Navy] should be warned that the instruction and assistance being given to the Greek Navy was not intended to place them on the same level of naval science as Britain, and that the refinements of British gunnery, torpedo and submarine courses should not be disclosed, as information imparted...

Scope and Contents Minute from WSC [(Admiralty)], to the 1st Sea Lord, [Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman], on training of Greek naval officers in Britain: stating that Rear-Admiral Mark Kerr [Vice- Admiral Commanding the Greek Navy] should be warned that the instruction and assistance being given to the Greek Navy was not intended to place them on the same level of naval science as Britain, and that the refinements of British gunnery, torpedo and submarine courses should not be disclosed, as information imparted...

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Minute by WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], to an unknown correspondent, enclosing a memorandum by the Chief of Staff, Admiralty [? Sir Henry Jackson], on the importance of developing the Territorial Forces in the Orkney and Shetland Isles [Scotland], to counter German influence and protect a naval wireless station on the Shetlands. WSC requests that the memorandum be shown to General Sir John French [Chief of Imperial General Staff, later 1st Lord Ypres]. [Carbon].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Director of the Intelligence Division, Admiralty [Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell], asking for comment on a letter from "Captain" Tupper, one of the most violent and competent of the strike leaders in the ports in 1912, who had written to WSC about espionage in the ports. WSC asks Bethell to meet Tupper and not to hand him over to Commander Mansfield Cumming [of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6]. [Carbon].

Scope and Contents Letter from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe] on the need to rest the fleets and flotillas to conserve strength, and stressing the great importance of capturing the island of Borkum [Germany] to provide an overseas base for British submarines. WSC also comments on using "priceless information" [intercepted and decoded German naval signals; these comments were deleted before the letter was sent]. [Hand-written copy, with typed...

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Letter from Lewis Harcourt [Secretary of State for the Colonies], to WSC, on Admiralty allegations of laxity regarding the supervision of enemy subjects in Ceylon [later Sri Lanka]. Includes copy of a minute from Sir [William] Graham Greene [Secretary to the Admiralty] to the Colonial Office on the original allegations (1914).

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Telegram from Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleets [Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe], to Admiralty, on his suspicions of a German base in either the Hebrides or Skye [Inverness-shire, Scotland]: Jellicoe requests a thorough search, reporting that he had given orders that no telegrams detailing movements of ships be accepted.

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Telegram from British Naval Attache (Petrograd), to Admiralty, reporting that the Russian Admiralty had acquired several German signal books and cyphers: he suggests that a British cruiser or destroyer be sent to Russia to collect copies; includes Admiralty responses. [Carbon].

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Telegram from Captain MacIlwaine, fitting out ships at Harland and Wolff, Belfast [Northern Ireland] to Admiralty, reporting that Sir Otto Jaffe, a prominent German Jew, was a suspected spy. MacIlwaine alleges that Jaffe had made an exhaustive report to the German Government on Belfast, and that he had been seen spying on ships fitting out "from an unusual place of observation". [Carbon].

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Telegram from Admiralty to Various Intelligence Officers, reporting that experience of the first two months of war showed that no increase in loss of merchant shipping was incurred by keeping trade routes open, and stressing the importance of keeping trade going. Initialled by Edward Heaton-Ellis [Assistant Director of Intelligence Division], Richard Webb [Director of Trade Division] and Vice- Admiral Sir [Frederick] Doveton Sturdee [Chief of Staff]. [Carbon].

Scope and Contents Telegram from the Intelligence Department, Cairo War Office [Egypt], to Admiralty, reporting an interview with a Greek doctor, who had served as a Turkish officer in the Mosul Army Corps, giving the views of German officers as imparted to Turkish officers, on the British bombardment of the Dardanelles, a possible Turkish attack on Egypt, and fears of a British attack at Alexandretta [Iraq]. Includes telegrams between Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, Vice-Admiral Henry Oliver, Chief of Staff, and...

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Telegram from Admiralty to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe], on a report from [Sir Henry Lowther], British Minister at Copenhagen [Denmark], on enemy ships and news that the Germans intended to conduct a long and strenuous submarine campaign in the North Sea.

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Telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe] to Admiralty, stating that the Grand Fleet may use an anchorage in the Hebrides [Scotland], giving "grave suspicions" of a German base in Hebrides or Skye, requesting a thorough search, and the establishment of censorship of telegrams and letters. [Carbon].