CONVOYS DURING WAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 222, 20 August 1931, Page 8

CONVOYS DURING WAR.

ADMIRALS AT VARIANCE. STATEMENT BY LORD JELLIOOE. Recently the London Morning Post published an interview with Admiral Sir Reginald Custance, who stated that, at a meeting at which Mr Lloyd George was present, Lord Jellicoe and Sir Alexander Duff, as members of the Board of Admiralty, opposed convoy as impracticable. He stated that Mr Lloyd George expressed a wish to know if a junior officer who was present shared these views, and on learning that he did not, and being convinced by his arguments, Mr Lloyd George ordered that the institution of convoy should be immediately proceeded with.

Lord Jellicoe writes to the Morning Post a letter of denial. In the course of this he states:—“l look upon it usually as a waste of time to attempt to correct the numerous mis-state-ments that are made on the subject of the conduct of the war and I do not propose to deal with all the assertions made by Sir Reginald. But he-is reported to have said that, at a meeting between Mr Lloyd George, Sir Alexander Duff and myself, Mr Lloyd George ordered that ‘the institution of convoy should be immediately proceeded with.’ Sir Reginald Custance should surely know that a Prime Minister does not issue orders on technical matters to the Board of Admiralty, and, as the institution of Convoy was entirely dependent on the provision of an adequate escorting force of fast vessels as an anti-submarine protection, the matter was entirely technical. The statement is absolutely incorrect.” When Lord Jellicoe’s letter was shown to Admiral Custance he made the following observations :—“That Mr Lloyd George did not give the actual orders for the institution of convoy is, no doubt, technically correct. But this is not the point raised, and is really only a side-issue. Does Lord Jellicoe deny that at the meeting both he and Sir Alexander Duff opposed convoy as impracticable P And, further, does he deny that reference was made to a junior officer who was present and who expressed views favourable to convoy ; that those views were accepted by Mr Lloyd George; and that action was taken accordingly ?”