Developments in the intelligence system at the Admiralty, initiated at the outbreak of war by Rear-Admiral Henry F. Oliver, the Director of the Intelligence Division, and an improvement in the efficiency of our directional wireless stations and of wireless telegraphy generally, led to our being able to obtain more reliable knowledge of the movements of enemy vessels. The result was that it had become unnecessary towards the end of 1914 to keep the Fleet so constantly at sea in anticipation of enemy movements. It was very desirable to spare the ships to some extent since it was increasingly evident that the War would be prolonged, and we had already had several warnings that the strain of constant sea work was telling on the efficiency of the machinery. Two very disquieting examples of this were the failure of condenser tubes on a large scale, particularly in the battleships, and the trouble developing in the boilers of a very considerable number of light cruisers. The problem of training personnel was also beginning to prove serious. In order to commission the large number of new ships which had been laid down since Lord Fisher, full of energy and ideas, had taken up the office of First Sea Lord (the number, of all sorts, building and projected, being more than 600), it became evident that it would be necessary to remove trained men from the Grand Fleet and to replace them with boys or untrained landsmen. Under these conditions the individual efficiency of the ships in gunnery and torpedo work, as well as in such matters as signalling (visual and wireless) and the other factors which are essential in a fighting ship, could only be maintained if we could spend sufficient time in harbour, during which regular instruction could be given; this instruction to be followed by frequent practices under way, in conditions where the ships would not be liable to attack by enemy submarines, and need not, therefore, be screened by the overworked destroyers. The organisation for carrying out this work at Scapa Flow was, therefore, greatly elaborated.