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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on oil fired battleships. [See CHAR 13/16/93-94 for typescript copy].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on oil fired ships. [See CHAR 13/16/95-96 for typescript copy].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the work of the Commission, particularly the possibility of distilling oil from coal. Encloses a cutting on a 15,000 ton oil-fired vessel being built in Germany. [See CHAR 13/16/97-98 for typescript copy].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel], (Kilverstone Hall, Thetford, Norfolk) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the proposed oil-fired battleship "The Incomparable", which would be able to go around the earth without refuelling. [See CHAR 13/16/99 for typescript copy].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] criticising the Admiralty's shipbuilding programme for failing to match Germany, advocating 15-inch gun, lightly armoured battle cruisers and submarines. Fisher also mentions the harm done by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford and his "scare revelations" in Germany and the Navy's oil supply. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/14/1-6 for original].

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] offering congratulations on his "splendid memorandum", which was "Napoleonic in its audacity and Cromwellian in its thoroughness". Fisher advises WSC not to spend money on major repairs to ships, as they went out of date so quickly, but to build new; he states that he once told the German Naval Attache that he could arrange for him to steal plans for ships more than a year old, and alleges that the Attache...

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on warship design, criticising proposals from Sir William White [former Director of Naval Construction] for small battleships: Fisher states that "Size gives Safety", and that size also shortened the battle line, increasing the power of gun concentration. Fisher adds that he had been invited to meet Andrew Bonar Law [Leader of the Conservative Party], and that the Conservative opposition were very confident...

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on warship design and construction, advocating the use of the three classes: the "Super Lion" [Battle Cruiser], the "Super Swift" [Scout] and the "Super Submarine", stating that aviation had knocked out all intermediate types. Fisher also criticises Arthur Lee, [former Civil Lord of the Admiralty], "a sneak of the lowest type", and Sir George Armstrong "a Royal pimp". [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/14/18-24...

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Notes and aphorisms by Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher on subjects including ship design, the Marconi wireless system, ship armour and gun size, the "Super-Swift" and "Super-Active" classes, and submarines. [Typescript copies; see CHAR 13/14/25-43 for originals].

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on anti-British sentiments in Germany, stating that his source of information was much better than "anything the Foreign Office gets". Fisher presses WSC to adopt the "two keels to one" standard over the German navy, enclosing a letter from Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Eardley-Wilmot about the "Big Gun" and the need to develop a 16 inch gun following the production of 14 and 15 inch guns in Germany and the...

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] with congratulations on his speech [to the Clyde Navigation Trustees, 9 February] on the Navy in Glasgow [Scotland]; Fisher comments on warship design and construction, advising strongly against announcing building programmes two years ahead, and building ships known to be obsolete; includes report of a press cutting from the Times on ship design. [Typescript copy; originals at CHAR 13/14/53-58].

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel], to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the naval construction programme, particularly urging the building of big submarines, and the re-appointment of Captain Sydney Hall as Commander of the Submarine Service. Fisher also sends a "secret and private note" on the Home Fleet, which was being "worked to death": he states that it was necessary to have some relaxation, and suggests that ships be sent to...

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher (Hotel Excelsior, Naples [Italy]) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on subjects including: relations with Germany; praising WSC's speech in Glasgow [Scotland] on Naval Defence [to the Clyde Navigation Trustees, 9 February]; criticising the visit by 1st Lord Haldane [Secretary of State for War] to Germany; warship design and construction, particularly of the "Super-Swift" and "Super-Active" classes; the importance of aircraft and submarines;...

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher, (Hotel Excelsior, Naples [Italy]), to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] criticising him for appointments of Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux [earlier Hedworth Lambton], [as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth], Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne [as Commander-in- Chief, Mediterranean], and Admiral Sir Reginald Custance. Fisher states that WSC had betrayed the Royal Navy with these three appointments, that Milne was unfitted to be Senior Admiral afloat, and...

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Letter from Engineer Lieutenant Charles Hawkes, Joint Secretary, Royal Commission on Fuel and Engines, to Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher, enclosing a report on a meeting with William Reavell, on the manufacture of internal combustion engines in Europe. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/14/155-159 for original].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on oil fired battleships. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/15/49-51 for original].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on oil fired ships. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/15/52-55 for original].

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the work of the Commission, particularly the possibility of distilling oil from coal. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/15/56-57 for original].

Scope and Contents

Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [Chairman, Royal Commission on Oil Fuel], (Kilverstone Hall, Thetford, Norfolk) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the proposed oil-fired battleship "The Incomparable", which would be able to go around the earth without refuelling. [Typescript copy; see CHAR 13/15/58 for original].

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Minute by Rear-Admiral Ernest Troubridge, Chief of War Staff, Admiralty, on conditional requirements for naval superiority over Austria and Italy in the Mediterranean, 1913-15.

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Memorandum from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Chancellor of the Exchequer [David Lloyd George] on the naval estimates. [Printed, annotated "Not circulated"].

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Memorandum by WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the naval estimates, 1912-13 and the sketch navy estimates for 1913-18. [Printed].

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Letter from Admiral Sir Percy Scott (Murren [Switzerland]) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on naval gunnery and the credit due to WSC for improving targeting.

Scope and Contents Letter from unknown correspondent to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] with a report of an inspection of the dockyards at Sheerness and Chatham [Kent] and increased pressure on the yards; he also mentions the possibility of being chosen to replace the retiring 1st Lord Knollys [as Private Secretary to King George V], the construction of Scout ships and the problems of changes in the duties of the 3rd Sea Lord, such as putting contract and dockyard administration into purely civilian...

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Letter from John Seely [Secretary of State for War, later 1st Lord Mottistone] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on criticism of the Navy Estimates by Sir John Simon [Attorney-General].