LORD FISHER DEAD.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170267, 12 July 1920, Page 7

LORD FISHER DEAD.

MAKER OF THE MODERN NAVY. A GREAT NATIONAL FIGURE. By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. Received 5.5 p m., July ll.tli LONDON, July 10. a The death is.announced of Admiral Lord _ Fisher., alter an internal operation. ' Admiral Fisher suffered a long ill—uesii". During the winter he went to the Riviera. He returned to London apparently in improved health, and resumed his correspondence in the Press with great vigour. His fatal illness was brief,'but its seriousness was evident from the outset. An' operation was performed last night. Lord Fisher was conscious to "the end. A memorial service will be held in the Abbey on Tuesday. The newspapers unanimously acclaim Lord ■ Fisher ns a great national hero. His relatives are receiving enormous numbers of messages of sympathy, including telegrams from the King and Queen and Mr Lloyd George..

LORD FISHER'S CAREER. The late Lord Fisher. G.C.B.j G.C.V.0.. 0".M., to founder of the British Navy in its modern form; was horn in 1841 a son of Captain William Fisher, of the 78th _ Highlanders, and entered the Navy m 1854. Ho took part in the capture of tho Canton and Peiho forts, ana served in tho American, China- and Egyptian wars, having.command of the Inflexible in the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882. After that ho hold almost all the official positions possible, including those of First Lord of tho Admiralty (1904-1910 and 1914-15). He was chairman of the Inventions Board during J Jic greater' part of the war. THE DREADNOUGHT POLICY. It was at the end of 1904, when Lord (then Sir John) Fisher received his first appointment; as First S:;a. Lord, that a new era for the British Navy was begun. The new head had been convinced for years that, in his own words, "the only thing in the world that England has- to fear, is Germany, and nono else." The 'Germans had commenced to "ouild their great fleet in 1898, and Lord Fisher was convinced that they vcro not building it for nothing. He took with' him to the Admiralty Captain Reginald Bacon as his Naval. Assistant, Captain John Jellicoe ns Director of Naval Ordnance, and Captain Percy Scott a* Inspector of Target Practice, a position- specially created. He determined to build a new Navy, and decided" tin; fc the naval -organisation on shore- and the' strategy and tactics at sea should bo moulded on the Dreadnought pattern. The first Dreadnought was laid down in October. "1905. In 1907 Lord Fisher wrote to King Edward an explanation of his policy:— "In March this year, it is an absolute fact that Germany had not laid down a single 'Dreadnought,' nor had E:he commenced building a single battleship or big cruiser for eighteen months. Germany lias been paralysed by the 'Dreadnought.' The more'the German Admiralty looked into her qualities the more convinced they became that they must ■ follow suit, and the more convinced they were that the whole of their existing Battle Fleet was utterly useless because utterly wanting in. gun power. For instance, half of the whole Gorman Battle Fleet is only about equal to the English armoured cruisers. The German Admiralty wrestled with the 'Dreadnought' 'problem for eighteen months, and did nothing. AVhy? Because it meant their spending twelve and a half'millions sterling on widening and deepening the Kiel Canal, and in dredging all their harbours and all the approaches to their .■harbours, because if they did not do so it would be no use building German Dreadnoughts because they could not'float! It was'indeed a Machiavellian interference of Providence on our behalf that brought about tho evolution of the Dreadnought."

LORD FISHER'S REFORMS.

The Naval defence of the Empire up to this time had been pivoted on the .'Mediterranean The Fleet in Commission was; distributed over t;ho world's seas unmanned mainly in little groups, and nearly half the Navy was in tho Home ports. Lord Fisher caused it to be concentrated in the North Sea. and by methods which he himself described as "ruthless, relentless., remorseless, ' set himsoll, .against great opposition, to bring efficiency and modernity'into every part after a hundred years of peace. Water-tune boilers, this -'courageous stroke of the pen" whereby ships which could neither; fight nor run away were ruthlessly scrapped, nucleus crews, the turbine engine, tho employment of oil and oil engines—these and many other reforms w.cre due largely to Lord Usher. He was convinced that any month after Ihc completion of the enlargement of the Kiel Canal, war might break out. That gigantic task could be completed, he estimated, by_ the-summer of 1914, and then the British people would enter the danger era. It wa f , a forecast as remarkable as that which he made in 1868, when the pending disappearance of masts and sails was foretold-by him. In WU9 occurred the great ■ naval crisis. Lord Fisher was firm in his demand, and was suoportcd bv hk< colleagups, including Sir John " Jcliicoe. ■Mr iMcKenua, tlic First Lord, was adamant, though many of hU partv -attacked him, and the Cabinet was divided At length tho whole Board resigned, the Cabinet gave way. the programme was agreed to, and" tho ■-■'[taction saved. . " '

"THE KITCHENER OF THE) NAVY." Lord Fisher's organisation reforms well earned for him the title of "the Kitchener of the Navy." When war broke out he did not" co-operate well with others, but he despatched the squadron which destroyed Von Spee's off the Falkland Islands. A scheme which he cherished for landing a great the Baltic coast, under cover of a tremendous artillery, was not thought practicable by authorities, and his ideas could be astonishingly crude outside purely .naval, affairs. An egoist of the first water, he thought little of the. administrators who succeeded him, and his less amiable traits, as well as the amazing vigour of' his character, were displayed in the volumes of "Memories" and "Records," as well as in controversial letters to tho Press, which he wrote when the war was ended. "Tho man who wrote this book," said a reviewer of "Memories," may seem to be a boaster, ruthless, a monster of iron; but Jie is a great man, that is manifest on every page, and men of his stamp love to exaggerate their own defects. His countrymen will like hinv none the worse" for Having been scrupulous not to mako the best of Inmsel'-. His work speaks for liim. . . .Did'any other great seaman of his time look so far ahead as he did?".