• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

The Royal Navy - Naval Estimates - 1903

Lord Brassey and his son, Mr. T. A. Brassey for so many years had been largely responsible for the revival of interest in the Navy, and for creating that frame of mind which has made the public so long indifferent to the cost. As a result, the flood-gates of expenditure had been opened, and the civilian element in the Government lost all control over the demands of naval officers. It appeared, however, that the yearly growth of the Navy Estimates had at last reached a point which has alarmed even these naval critics, and as a result the Naval Annual for 1903 was one long protest against extravagant expenditure and a most forcible plea for economy.

In the preface to the work Mr. T. A. Brassey writes as follows : "The large and continued increase in the Estimates of the Navy, accompanied, as it is, by a heavy increase in the Army Estimates, will, we fear, produce a reaction which will have most serious consequences on the future defence of the Empire. The results of the recent by-elections may be taken as some indication that such a reaction has begun, and that the electorate does not approve the unchecked growth of public expenditure.

"Great Britain is practically maintaining her Fleet on a war footing in time of peace.

"Nearly all our effective battleships are in commission. Additions have been recently made to the battleship strength of the British Mediterranean Fleet, which are not justified by the increased preparation of our possible enemies in the Mediterranean, for the French have a smaller force in commission and in reserve than they had a few years ago.

"For many years the manning requirements of the Navy have been met by additions to the permanent force, and no serious attempt has been made to increase the Reserves. Our manning policy compels us to keep a large number of ships in commission in time of peace in order to give the necessary training to the increased personnel. It has thrown a heavy burthen on the resources of the country, the financial effects of which in the charge for pensions are as yet hardly felt.

"In another direction our policy is equally extravagant. Immense sums of money are lavished on naval works, and while at Portsmouth and Chatham obsolete ships crowd the basins, and building slips are empty, it is proposed to establish another dockyard in the Firth of Forth."

Lord Brassey developed in detail this charge of extravagance and waste. He complained that the Estimates for 1903 had increased, as compared with last year, by over £3,000,000, in spite of the fact that peace had been achieved in the interval, and that there was no longer any fear of the intervention of other European Powers in the war in South Africa, which was the main justification for the large increase of naval estimates in the previous two years:

"Heavy increases of expenditure," he says, " for warlike preparations are a strange sequel to the restoration of peace."

"Our present expenditure is increasing beyond all precedent."

"Can these charges be borne without detriment to national progress and prosperity ? "

He pointed out that the naval expenditure of the Empire, including about half a million by the Indian Government and £200,000 by the Commonwealth of Australia, and including, also, the expenditure in naval works provided for out of loans, will amount in the present year to £38,143,000, or nearly four millions in excess of the aggregate expenditure of France, Russia, and Germany combined. That of France is estimated at £12,524,000, at which point it has been stationary for the last three or four years. In comparing the estimates of this country with those of France and Russia he pointed out that ws build ships in this country at a very much lower cost.

It was, however, in respect of the personnel of the Navy that Lord Brassey's remarks on the extravagance of the past few years were most pointed and significant. In the previous ten years there had been a continuous yearly increase of numbers from 70,000 to 125,000, at an additional cost of £4,000,000 a year. This addition would eventually double the amount of the vote for pensions and retired pay, which already amounted to £2,320,000. While this enormous increase was made of the active service, the reserves had been neglected, and stood at much the same numbers they were.

Lord Brassey suggested that exactly the opposite course should have been taken, and that the reserves should have been largely increased and the active service reduced. "The policy of training men for a few years, and then passing them into the reserve, has been adopted by all naval Powers except Great Britain. It is based on a consideration of the numerous unskilled duties which have to be performed on board modern ships of war. . . . It is a ruinous policy to train up skilled men for the performance of unskilled duties."