THE BRITISH NAVY

Otago Witness, Issue 3017, 10 January 1912, Page 26

THE BRITISH NAVY

OFFICIAL CHANGES. WARSHIP SLIGHTLY DAMAGED. LONDON, January 2. The Orion, which is the first vessel to carry 13.5-inch guns, was commissioned at Portsmouth to-day. January 5. The Lords of the Admiralty have ordered the construction at Greenock of a new submarine of the Laurenti type, with a double hull. January 7. The Admiralty is forming a war staff. Rear-admiral E. Troubridge, private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, has been appointed Chief of the Staff, Sir Francis Hopwood an additional Civil Lord, and Captains George Ballard and Thomas Jackson Directors of the Operations Division and the Intelligence Division respectively. Rear-admiral David Beatty succeeds Rear-admiral Troubridge under the new title of Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. January 8. Mr Churchill, in an official memorandum, explains the necessity for the First Lord of the Admiralty possessing a war staff like a general in the field. He proposes to have three divisions—namely, one dealing with intelligence, the second with operations, and the third with mobilisation. Each will have an equal status under a captain of standing, and the whole will be controlled by a chief of staff responsible to the First Sea Lord. The staff will be purely advisory, and

T will have no administrative functions. The personnel will represent most of the ' grades, and every specialist branch will ' be filled by men fresh from the sea and returning to sea fairly frequently, j The staff will be specially charged with the training of officers, while special training at the war college will be an essential i feature. The scheme will enable the First Sea Lord to advise on grand issues without being burdened under details. An additional Civil Lord will be appointed to take up business and commercial transactions, enabling the Third Sea Lord to attend solely to naval construction and equipment. The cost of the war staff will be met by the abolition of four Admiralty yachts, effecting an annual economy of £34,850. Admiral Bethel has been appointed to the command of the East Indies station, and Captain Alexander Duff (President and Director of Mobilisation) joins the war staff fh a similar capacity. A strong tide at Portsmouth drove the battleship Revenge against the port quarter of the battleship Orion. The Orion is apparently undamaged, but the Revenge is leaking slightly.