Letter from Admiral Lord Fisher (First Sea Lord) to Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty), 5 April 1915.
(Reference: Churchill Papers, CHAR 13/57/2. Crown copyright).
"From Maginess' report the Inflexible is far worse than Lion so will be quite 3 months hors-de-combat! The war may be over by then if Holland comes in! I dont think you are sufficiently impressed by Cambon's warning as to Holland! We ought to have every detail organized to move in a moment to Texel! [island off the coast of the Netherlands]. You are just simply eaten up with the Dardanelles and cant [sic] think of anything else!
D-m the Dardanelles! they'll be our grave! A.K.W. says Texel not Terschelling [island off the coast of the Netherlands] - that ought to be settled - Kitchener ought to have some good troops told off - transports ready - Every one told off -! We shall be as usual "Too late"!
We could have had the Greeks & everyone else at the right time but we are "too late" ALWAYS! This war might be described as "Procrastinations - vacilliations - Antwerps"* (That's copyright!)."
* Reference to Churchill's unsuccessful attempt to defend Antwerp in 1914