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Letter from WSC to Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] on replacing Sir Hugh Sinclair as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service with Captain [Gerald] Muirhead-Gould RN; also the need to improve Admiralty intelligence services, with note to Private Secretary on distribution. [carbon and draft].

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Letter from Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] to Sir Archibald Carter [Permanent Secretary of Admiralty] asking for nominations from WSC and [Admiral of the Fleet Sir] Dudley Pound [1st Sea Lord] for Admiral [Sir Hugh] Sinclair's replacement as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Scope and Contents First Lord of the Admiralty's printed minutes, November 1939.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (sometimes annotated with additional printed information) to: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips]; [Permanent] Secretary [Sir Archibald Carter]; the Sea Lords, particularly [3rd Sea Lord and] Controller [Rear-Admiral Bruce Fraser] and 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound]; various naval directors; Professor [F A] Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] and Major...

Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, April 1942.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff.Subjects covered by the minutes include: the Japanese threat to the Falkland Islands; discussion of operation "Ironclad" [code name for British occupation of Diego Suarez, Madagascar]; the British naval...

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [1st Sea Lord] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on his meeting with an Italian officer, recently in Berlin [Germany], who reported that the Germans were planning a series of raids on the coast, similar to the raid on Scarborough [Yorkshire]. Fisher also comments on the escape of the German cruiser Dresden following the Battle of the Falkland Islands. [Hand-written, with typescript copy].

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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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Report by Hugh Miller, paymaster of HMS Arethusa, on information obtained from a German officer on the action off Heligoland [Germany]: sent on by Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. [Printed for circulation to the Cabinet, Dec 1914].

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

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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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].

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 Summary of events including: attempted landing at Dakar by General [Charles] de Gaulle; U boat activity in the North Atlantic and shipping losses; operations by German raiders; information about the disposition of German and Italian troops; events in Greece, Yugoslavia [later Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia], Bulgaria, the Mediterranean and the Middle East; air attacks on Germany (including Berlin) and on invasion ports in France and...