Hankey (Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence), 1915 -->
The Churchill Era: An Educational Resource
Extracts from the diary of Maurice Hankey (Secretary of the
Committee of Imperial Defence), 1915.
(Reference: Hankey Papers, HNKY 1/1. Reproduced with the permission of the
Master and Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge.)
"
April 18 . . . News of loss of submarine in Dardanelles.
This reminds me that Lord Fisher told me he had protested
against sending our new submarines to Dardanelles.
Feel very anxious about the attack on the Dardanelles.
The plan in my opinion is a most hazardous one.
April 19. . . . Found Winston Churchill extraordinarily optimistic
about Dardanelles operation. I think he counts too much on covering
fire of ships.
May 11. Sent for by Lord Fisher on arriving at office. Found
him in great state of mind about a telegram from Admiral de
Robeck at Dardanelles, saying army had failed, and asking
if he should now try to free Straits with ships; Churchill
had wished to send private telegram which Fisher interpreted
as leaving de Robeck an option to try if he thought fit.
Fisher had declined to agree & there had been a terrible row.
At Fisher's request I prepared Memo for him to give the
First Lord, setting forth his objections to separate naval
action and declining to be a party to it. At Fisher's
request saw PM just before lunch and told him Fisher would
resign if such action were taken. PM said it was a very
foolish message, but authorised me to say separate
naval action would not be taken without F's concurrence.
May 12. In afternoon Fisher sent for me to say that he had
had it out with Churchill, who had apparently agreed not
to attempt naval attack . . . Masterton Smith
(Churchill's secretary) . . . confirmed [this] in
the main, though apparently Churchill did not think
he had promised to abandon naval attack.
May 14. Everyone seemed terribly depressed except me
- but there is a possible muddle with all this bickering
and intreaguing [sic] between Churchill and Fisher.
Why cannot all work honestly for their country only?
I am sick of them."
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12 March 2009