(2) Do you know the _Active_? She is a _Blonde_. The super-_Active_, or _Frenzy_, _Mania_, and _Delirium_ type, now in question, will be 3,500 tons, 30 knots, 40,000 h.p., ten 4–inch guns and 290 tons of armour distributed in 2–inch plates round vitals. She is therefore much smaller than the _Dartmouths_, £65,000 cheaper (£285,000 as against £350,000), about the same price or size as the _Actives_, but 4·7 knots faster (? in smooth water) and with 2–inch protection as against nothing. Now if all this bears test, how about chucking the two _Dartmouths_ and the _Blonde_ in the programme, and substituting four _Frenzies_, all of a kind, the gain being one additional ship, four 30–knot cruiserlets or cruiserkins, and the cost being an extra £170,000. What is your view? Fisher wrote on the 16th January:— ‘Of course there can be no moment’s doubt that you ought to chuck the two _Dartmouths_ and the _Blonde_ and take four _Frenzies_ in lieu. I hope you won’t hesitate!’ He did not approve of them, however. ‘You are forced,’ he said, ‘by the general consensus of opinion to have these useless warships and this therefore is your wisest choice. I say to you deliberately that _aviation_ has entirely dispensed with the necessity for this type. What you do want is the super-_Swift_—all oil—and don’t fiddle about armour; it really is so VERY silly! There is only ONE defence and that is SPEED! for all small vessels (_except those_ who go under water). ‘The super-_Swift_ is MAINLY wanted for the submarine. The submarine has no horizon. The _Swift_ tells her where the enemy is and then flees for her life with 40 knots speed! ‘The super-_Lion_, the super-_Swift_ and the super-Submarine—_all else is wasted money_! ‘The luxuries of the present are the necessities of the future. Our grandfathers never had a bath-room.... _You have got to plunge for three years ahead!_ And _THE ONE_ thing is to keep Foreign Admiralties running after you! It’s Hell for _them_! ‘The Germans are going to have a motor battleship before us and a cruiser that will make the circuit of the world without having to replenish her fuel! ‘_What an Alabama!_ ‘The most damnable person for you to have any dealings with is a Naval Expert! Sea fighting is pure common sense. The first of all its necessities is _SPEED_, so as to be able to fight— _When_ you like _Where_ you like and _How_ you like. Therefore the super-_Lion_, the super-_Swift_ and the super-_Submarine_ are the only three types for fighting (_speed_ being THE characteristic of each of these types). AVIATION has wiped out the intermediate types. No armour for anything but the super-_Lion_ _and there restricted_! Cost £1,995,000; speed _over 30 knots_; all oil; 10 “_improved_” guns; and you’ll make the Germans “_squirm_”! And again: