The Admiralty had taken steps to make some preparations at Cromarty, in so far as the provision of gun defences against attack by surface vessels was concerned, but nothing had been done for the upkeep of a fleet beyond a decision to transfer to Cromarty, during war, one of the floating docks at southern yards. In fact, the situation was that, whilst we had shifted our Fleet to the north, all the conveniences for the maintenance of that fleet were still in the Channel ports. The first step was the transference of the large floating dock from Portsmouth to Invergordon, in the Cromarty Firth, together with a staff of dockyard workmen, who were housed in a merchant ship captured from the Germans. Workshops were fitted up on shore under the energetic superintendence of Rear-Admiral Edmund R. Pears and his able staff of dockyard officers. It can be said with great emphasis that this floating dock was simply invaluable to the Grand Fleet. Invergordon gradually developed into a great repairing base. A second and smaller floating dock was purchased early in 1916 at my request and placed there, and by the middle of that year the base had attained large proportions; work of all kinds was carried out with rapidity and success, including the repairs of battleships after the Jutland battle, and the great extension in armoured-deck protection fitted to ships after the same action. Ordinary refits of battleships had been carried out at Invergordon since the autumn of 1914. At Scapa Flow the same possibilities as a repairing base did not exist, although a floating dock for destroyers, for which many requests had been made, was eventually obtained and placed there. But the base at Scapa Flow had extended out of all knowledge in other directions. In August, 1914, the base organisation consisted only of the seagoing Fleet repair ships _Cyclops_ and _Assistance_. At an early stage the _Cyclops_ was connected to a shore telegraph cable off the village of Scapa, and she became at the same time a floating post office and a base for the auxiliary vessels (a few drifters) which were first requisitioned. Rear-Admiral Francis S. Miller was appointed to her as the Senior Naval Officer at the base. The manner in which the great demands on her accommodation were met was a standing wonder to me. In the early part of the War, officers on Admiral Miller’s staff and others were obliged to make their sleeping berths, as best they could, on the deck or on top of their writing-tables, and it was surprising that the overcrowding in all directions did not affect health. But the work went on very successfully in the most inconvenient circumstances.