To turn from manœuvre experience; during the years 1911–14, covering the period of Sir George Callaghan’s command of the Home Fleets, destroyer attacks were practised in the smaller Fleet exercises that were constantly being carried out, and officers were impressed with the supreme importance of the whole matter. This was the position when I took over the command of the Grand Fleet on the outbreak of War, and the matter immediately engaged my attention. The “counter” which had usually been favoured by flag officers commanding Fleets up to the date named, had been the obvious one of an attack by our own light cruisers’ torpedo craft on those of the enemy, as the latter advanced to attack. It was difficult to forecast how far such a “counter” would be successful in preventing the destroyers from firing their torpedoes. Much depended on the distance the torpedo could be relied upon to run with accuracy, and on its speed, both constantly increasing figures. The great number of destroyers possessed by the enemy, the largely increased range of torpedoes, the difficulty which our light cruisers and flotillas might experience in reaching a favourable position for meeting and disposing of the enemy destroyers before the latter could discharge their torpedoes, together with the danger attendant on meeting the enemy’s fleet in weather of low visibility, when a destroyer attack could be instantly and effectively launched before such a “counter” could take place, made it essential to consider other means for dealing with the situation. Some German documents which came into our possession early in the War proved the importance which the enemy attached to this form of attack, and emphasised the gravity of the question. It was, of course, fully realised that the question had two sides, and that if our own Battle Fleet was open to this form of attack, that of the enemy was equally so, but as against this there were important considerations to which it was necessary to devote attention. The first was that the element of chance enters very largely into torpedo warfare of this nature. A flotilla of destroyers attacking a Battle Fleet at long range does so with the idea that a certain percentage of the torpedoes fired will take effect on the ships, the remainder passing between the ships.