Our superiority _in capital ships_ at the outbreak of war was due to the efforts of the Boards presided over by Lord Selborne and his successors from 1904 onwards, and Lord Fisher held the post of First Sea Lord for five and a half years of that period. At the beginning of 1909, during Mr. McKenna’s tenure of office as First Lord, great efforts were necessary to ensure the maintenance of a sufficient standard of superiority in capital ships over Germany, and to make good our deficiencies in destroyers. The nation has good reason for the most profound gratitude to Mr. McKenna for the very strong attitude he assumed at this highly critical period. Reference to the table on page 31 will show the position that would have arisen if the four additional “Dreadnoughts” had not been included in the 1909–10 building programme. In the later Administration, presided over by Mr. Churchill, continued efforts were necessary, and were made, and steps were also taken with a view to meeting the crying need for modern light cruisers; Lord Beresford had for some years been pointing out how essential it was to add largely to our programmes of light cruisers and destroyers. So much for construction in pre-War days when the Germans were carrying out their Navy Acts, one following the other in rapid succession. It is also of interest to note the part which Lord Fisher took in building up the Fleet organisation that existed in 1914. He introduced the system of manning the older ships, not in the first line, with nucleus crews composed of the principal officers and ratings. These ships were thus rendered capable of being put, in a very short time, into a condition in which they were fit to fight. This system superseded the old arrangement, by which ships not in full commission were not manned at all. Although it naturally led to a reduction in the total number of fully-manned ships, a disadvantage which was minimised by reducing squadrons abroad, it is probably accepted now that in the circumstances existing at the time the nucleus crew system is far preferable; it raised the general standard of the whole Navy in British waters, and facilitated the use of the Royal Fleet and Naval Reserves on the outbreak of war. I.--THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAND FLEET In the organisation existing before the War, the Home Fleets comprised the First, Second and Third Fleets--in fact, practically all ships in home waters which it was intended to mobilise on the outbreak of war. The war organisation, as carried out, divided the Home Fleets into two parts. The _First_, the Grand Fleet, included the First Fleet, comprising the latest-built ships; the force stationed at Harwich; four ships of the 6th Battle Squadron; the 6th and 10th Cruiser Squadrons from the Second and Third Fleets respectively; and the mine-laying Squadron from the Second Fleet.