N I A T R I AND THE B MI NE, 1900–1915 Culture, Strategy and International Law Richard Dunley Britain and the Mine, 1900–1915 Richard Dunley Britain and the Mine, 1900–1915 Culture, Strategy and International Law Richard Dunley The National Archives Kew, London, UK ISBN 978-3-319-72819-3 ISBN 978-3-319-72820-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72820-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934854 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Getty Images Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Bun and Andrea A cknowledgements This project has its origins in a short conversation that took place following a seminar at King’s College, London in 2008. Since then it has grown out of all recognition, but at every stage this has only been possi- ble due to the help and support of colleagues and friends. I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for supporting my PhD research from which this book has developed. I am indebted to the staff of the numerous archives, libraries and other institutions I have visited whilst conducting this research. Knowing the extreme pressures felt at present across this sector makes me all the more grateful for the many archivists and librarians who have gone out of their way to share their knowledge and expertise of the collec- tions they hold. Special thanks must go to Andrew Choong and Jeremy Michell at the Brass Foundry in Woolwich, who are not only an inval- uable mine of information, but also provided me with a near constant stream of mince pies no matter the time of year I visited. I am grateful to my friends and colleagues at The National Archives for their insight and support, as I have sought to broaden out the project from my original doctoral research. Working surrounded by colleagues with such an extraordinary knowledge of the archival collections opens up many new avenues for research, and has led me to numerous discov- eries I would never have made on my own. Particular thanks must go to James Cronan, Janet Dempsey, Juliette Desplat, George Hay and Laura Tompkins. vii viii ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS Throughout my time researching for and writing this book I have benefited from a supportive network of fellow researchers. The PhD and wider naval history community at King’s College, London proved to be an essential group for discussing ideas, sharing experiences and bemoaning the ‘struggles’ of PhD life. I would particularly like to thank Andrew Breer, Stephen Cobb, Jennifer Daley, Marcus Faulkner and Catherine Scheybeler. Special mention must also go to Alan Anderson, a fellow traveller on this path. He has provided important feedback, ideas and more than occasional good humour over the course of a number of years, and I am very grateful. My PhD examiners, Matthew Seligmann and Jan Rüger, gave me extremely useful feedback, and Matthew has continued to prove a mine of information, especially on Admiralty records. I am grateful to Rear-Admiral James Goldrick and Brigadier Michael Clemmesen for their comments on the thesis, and to Palgrave’s manuscript reviewers for their helpful remarks. This book began life as a PhD project, and a special debt of grati- tude is owed to Andrew Lambert, who not only was willing to take on a troublesome student with an obscure project, but has provided essential guidance and support ever since. Finally I would like to thank my parents, and most especially Gwen, without whose support and forbearance this work would never have come to fruition. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Mining in a Cultural Context 9 3 British Attitudes to Mining Before 1904 23 4 Mine Warfare in the Russo-Japanese War: The Royal Navy Perspective 45 5 The Russo-Japanese War: Outrage and Reaction 73 6 Mining and International Law: Britain and the Hague Conference 97 7 The Strategic Shift: The Origins of British Mine Warfare 131 8 Development and Institutionalisation: Offensive Mining 1906–1909 165 9 Strategic Flux and Technical Failure 193 ix x CoNTENTS 10 The Test of Conflict 225 11 War, Law and Diplomacy 267 12 Conclusion 297 Archival Sources 305 Index 309 A bbreviAtions ADNI Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence ADT Assistant Director of Torpedoes CID Committee of Imperial Defence CoS Chief of the Admiralty War Staff DID Director Intelligence Division (Admiralty War Staff) DMo Director of Military operations DNC Director of Naval Construction DNI Director of Naval Intelligence DNo Director of Naval ordnance DoD Director operations Division (Admiralty War Staff) EC Electro-Contact (Mine) EM Electro-Mechanical (Mine) FGDN Arthur J. Mardar, ed., Fear God and Dread Nought: The Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States LWoS Low Water ordinary Springs (Tide) NID Naval Intelligence Department PP Parliamentary Papers RE Royal Engineers RMA Royal Marine Artillery RMLI Royal Marine Light Infantry SoS Superintendent of ordnance Stores xi