Nineteen hundred and thirteen was a very busy year for Sir John Jellicoe. On May 16th he left England for Germany to attend the wedding festivities of the Emperor’s only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, who was to be married to Prince Ernest of Cumberland.

Sir John and Lady Jellicoe were, curiously enough, the first English guests to reach Berlin. The King and Queen of England left Sheerness on the 20th on board the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, the Duchess of Devonshire accompanying Her Majesty and Sir Frederick Ponsonby and Sir Colin Keppel being Equerries in Waiting to the King.

Berlin was en fÊte for over a week, and among those present at Princess Victoria’s wedding, besides our own Royal Family, were the Czar of Russia, the Grand Duchess of Baden, the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, the Grand Duke of Hesse and ambassadors from nearly every country in the world.

Festivities commenced with a gala dinner given the day the Czar of Russia arrived in Berlin. The following morning there was a luncheon at the British Embassy in honour of King George and Queen Mary, at which the Imperial Chancellor, the Ambassador in Berlin and Sir John and Lady Jellicoe were among the principal guests. That same evening there was a gala performance at the Opera. “Lohengrin” was performed at the special request of Princess Victoria.

The Opera House presented a wonderful appearance; from foyer to ceiling it was decorated with red and white carnations, the outsides of all the loges being turned into great banks of these flowers. Sir John and Lady Jellicoe occupied one of the loges near the stage, where the ambassadors, ministers and distinguished officers were seated. The royal party not only filled the vast court box but overflowed into the boxes at the back of the dress circle. There was, of course, a brilliant display of uniforms and decorations, and against the background of red and white carnations the colour scheme was extraordinarily effective.

Earlier in the day King George and Queen Mary entertained the English Colony in Berlin, and the King made a short speech which is worth quoting:

“We are exceedingly happy to be the guests of the Sovereign of this great nation in order to celebrate the marriage of two young people which we pray may be fraught with every blessing. Fostering and maintaining friendly relations between yourselves and the people of this your adopted home you will help to insure the peace of the world, the preservation of which is my ardent desire as it was the principal aim of my dear father’s life.”

Sir John Jellicoe spent some little time in Berlin, where he made himself exceedingly popular, being entertained by all the great officers of State, the Army and Navy, including Admiral Von Tirpitz—fated just a year later to be his great rival. But the meeting between these two great men must have been interesting as we may rest assured it was friendly.

Jellicoe had the honour of dining with the Emperor at Potsdam, and on May 20th he cruised for two hours in the Zeppelin airship Hansa accompanied by Captain Watson, the British Naval AttachÉ in Berlin.

Jellicoe returned to England in time to prepare for the naval manoeuvres which commenced early in July. No manoeuvres which the British Fleet has undertaken attracted so much attention or were fraught with such vital issues as those of 1913. At the same time there has never been so much mystery attached to the movements of the ships or to the result of the mimic warfare which took place.

There were six squadrons of battleships involved, two of them, the Fourth and Sixth squadrons, being much below strength. There were ten squadrons of cruisers and torpedo destroyers and submarine flotillas. There were also mine layers and mine sweepers, and three aeroplanes actively employed.

Tests of fuel and its conveyance to any point necessary and its quick transference to ships in action were carried out.

By far the most important part of the manoeuvres was an attempt to invade these shores and land a large force of men on them. For this purpose the Fleet was divided into two parts. The Red or hostile Fleet being under the command of Jellicoe and the Blue or defending Fleet under Callaghan.

The Red Fleet had not only to contend against a superior force, but supposing her ships were able to defeat or avoid the defenders, she still had the battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines waiting for her at Sheerness, Harwich, Rosyth, Dundee and Cromarty. And supposing she escaped the attentions of all these forces, the East Coast from the North to the South was guarded by forces of Infantry and mounted troops with their machine gun sections. Large forces drawn from the Territorials were also said to be held in reserve further inland.

Criticising these manoeuvres before they took place, which is obviously a dangerous thing to do, the critic in the Evening Standard of July 10th made the following announcement:

“If Sir John Jellicoe, heavily handicapped, fails, as no doubt he is meant to fail, we shall be told that this only proves how safe we are against a raid in force or an invasion. Of course all it will prove is that if you are allowed to arrange the terms beforehand, load the dice in your own favour, you can win the game—especially when it is only a game and the elements of accident, luck and human personality are rigorously excluded. It will show that a raid might fail in certain conditions ... and then no doubt we shall be informed by Ministers that Britain is invulnerable against all assault; that we can all sleep quietly in our beds under the protection of a sham Territorial Army and a Navy proved to be of overwhelming superiority to any possible foe. It is not a game of strategy that is being played, but a game of politics. The German Admiralty will not be deceived, but perhaps the British Electorate may be.”

Now what really happened when the manoeuvres commenced was a very successful raid by the enemy on the Norfolk coast in which a portion of the Blue Fleet was defeated. Jellicoe’s next move was an attack on the Humber and the capture of Grimsby and Immingham. Nearly 3,000 men with their guns were landed. They seized the railway, and commandeering trains they sent troops inland. The docks and wireless stations were seized and Cleethorpes and New Holland were also taken. This raid on the Humber was evidently a complete surprise to the defenders.

While this was taking place, the Red Fleet was scoring other successes elsewhere. A cruiser and destroyers appeared off Sunderland with two troopships from which over a thousand men were landed at the docks. Blyth was also captured on the Northumberland coast, and a force of infantry with a battery of 12-prs. was landed.

Now these raids by the Red Fleet under Jellicoe were not just ordinary manoeuvres. He struck just where he knew our enemies would try to strike. He landed men and guns, captured railways, docks and wireless stations; held the position which he captured and, when discovered by the defending fleet, he either eluded or kept their ships at bay. Perhaps the landing at Blyth was the most important, and the transport Rohilla was congratulated for the excellent work she did.

Whatever those manoeuvres proved they undoubtedly proved that men are greater than warships—and that Jellicoe is a very great man. It was practically admitted that the defence had failed and had failed through the brilliant strategy of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.

The full history of the naval manoeuvres of 1913 was never written. The Press of course indulged in a wordy warfare, and the battles of the Red and Blue were—on paper—fought over and over again.

The men who knew most said nothing, and Jellicoe, a silent man, having done his job, slipped out of the limelight, which he hates so keenly, as quickly as possible.

But very probably his successful raid on the Humber was responsible for the crisis which occurred in the Cabinet when the Naval Estimates came up for discussion early in the New Year. Mr. Winston Churchill, who had been accused of not spending enough money on the Navy, was now accused of wanting to spend too much. As a matter of fact Mr. Churchill did not on behalf of the Admiralty put forward any new proposals, but simply wished to carry out the policy which had already been adopted by the Cabinet. The Admiralty had long ago decided that it was necessary to have 60 per cent. superiority in Dreadnoughts over the next greatest naval power to ours in place of the former two-power standard.

It was as early as February, 1914, that the name of Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was mentioned as being the probable successor to Sir George Callaghan as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleets. It was on March 17th that Mr. Winston Churchill fought his battle in the Cabinet on the Navy Estimates. The Board of Admiralty was with him, and he received authority to ask Parliament to devote over £15,000,000 to new naval construction—the largest sum that has ever been devoted to that purpose.

In July the test mobilization of our Fleets was carried out, the ships passing His Majesty the King off the Nab lightship, seaplanes and aeroplanes hovering high above them in the air, while submarines slipped beneath the waters underneath. After the Review was over our ships steamed up the Channel in order to carry out certain peace exercises in manoeuvres, while a patrol flotilla was actively employed in testing a scheme for sealing the exit which the Channel makes to the North Sea. Less than a fortnight later the incredible thing happened.

Rumours of war, sudden, by the majority unexpected.

Then war.

It could not have happened at a more auspicious moment as far as the British Navy was concerned. Sir John Jellicoe was appointed supreme Admiral of the Home Fleets. Two destroyers building for Chile were compulsorily purchased by the Admiralty as well as two battleships just completed for Turkey.

Drake’s drums had rattled.

England in her hour of need had found two great leaders—Jellicoe and French at the head of her Navy and Army. And behind them two brilliant Statesmen—Asquith and Churchill at the head of her people.

What these four men have already done is history. What remains to be done, and what they will do unflinchingly, no matter the cost, will, we all know, make history.

But it is only natural that we, the sons and daughters of the greatest Empire the world has ever seen, who are left in our little sea-girt isle, and strain our eyes through the mist and foam to those seas beyond the North toward one man in whose keeping more than that of any other man lies the destiny of our race; the fate perhaps not only of our great Empire but of the world.

Never before has silence spoken so eloquently as it spoke from the North Sea when Jellicoe led our ships into her mists and storms.

That we shall prove worthy among the nations it is almost impossible to doubt. With such leaders how could a people fail?

With an Empire on which the sun never sets, and which has given men, gold and even food to the Mother Country with a lavish hand, will not her rich merchants as well as her poorer sons of the Mother Country make as great sacrifices and show as much heroism as the sons of France, of Russia and Belgium?

We cannot doubt it. Though, after three months of the bloodiest warfare the world has ever seen, several million young Englishmen were still listening unmoved to the Drums of Drake—to the call of England, their England, for men to defend her in her hour of danger yet we know that, though slow to understand and hard to move, Englishmen, once they have understood and once they have been moved, will be true to themselves, their inheritance and their beloved little island. With Henley they will cry with one voice and one soul:

And they will follow their devoted leaders into battle—French on the land and Jellicoe on the wild North seas.

And those who are left at home to carry on “business as usual,” will not they make some sacrifices too?

Miller, Son, & Compy., Ltd., Printers, Fakenham and London.