FISHER'S REFORMS, 1904-10

• THE TWO POWER STANDARD

  • 1889 Naval Defence Act- formally adopted the two power standard.
  • Britain’s naval strength should be at least equal to its two biggest rivals.
  • As the 20th century began, Germany, only unified in 1871, posed a new threat to British naval supremacy.
• JACKIE FISHER

  • Fisher was a career naval officer.
  • Supervised the construction of the latest warships and as Third Sea Lord, he was responsible for the building of the first modern destroyers in the late 1890s.
  • His major achievement as Second Sea Lord was a reform of officer training.
  • Brought in officers whose technical expertise he valued.
• BALANCING THE BUDGET

  • Fisher sold off 90 ships and put a further 64 in reserve.
  • Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve- Britain would have the largest reserve to call on in times of war.
  • Royal Fleet Auxiliary- supplied the fighting ships with coal and supplies.
  • The strength of the Mediterranean Fleet was reduced from 18 battleships to 12.
  • This reorganisation saved some money but it also revealed the strategic priority for the Royal Navy – keeping Germany in check.
• THE EFFECT OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

  • Believed that the way to ensure naval supremacy was with submarines.
  • The building programme also included battlecruisers, often as large as battleships and as heavily armoured but much faster
• HMS DREADNOUGHT

  • First new breed of modern battleship.
  • 20,000 tons.
  • Armed with 10 12-inch guns.
  • First battleship to be powered by steam turbines- top speed of 21.6 knots.
  • New devices for calculating gunnery.
  • Once launched in 1906, HMS Dreadnought made every other warship in the world obsolete.
• THE NAVAL ARMS RACE

  • In 1908, the Germans began the construction of nine dreadnoughts
  • By 1914, Germany would have 17 dreadnoughts to Britain’s 29.
  • The Orion class of super-dreadnought displaced 22,000 tons and was armed with 13.5-inch guns.