‘_You had better adopt 2 keels to 1! You have it now._ It will be safe; it will be popular; it will head off the approaching German naval increase. Above all remember Keble in _The Christian Year_. ‘“The dusky hues of glorious War!” ‘There is always the risk of a (bad Admiral) before a second A. K. Wilson comes along to supersede him! How that picture of old _‘ard ‘eart_ (as the sailors call him) rises before me now!... Three big fleets that had never seen each other came from three different quarters to meet him off Cape St. Vincent—in sight of Trafalgar. When each was many hundreds of miles away from him he ordered them by “wireless” exactly what to do, and that huge phalanx met together at his prescribed second of time without a signal or a sound and steamed a solid mass at 14 knots and dropped their anchors with one splash! Are we going to look at his like again? ‘So you had better have 2 keels to 1! ‘“The dusky hues of glorious War.” What a hymn for _The Christian Year_ by a Saint like Keble!’ On the 14th January he wrote:— ‘I yesterday had an illuminating letter from Jellicoe.... He has all the Nelsonic attributes.... He writes to me of new designs. His _one, one, one_ cry is SPEED! _Do lay that to heart!_ Do remember the receipt for jugged hare in Mrs. Glasse’s Cookery Book! “_First catch your hare!_”... Also he advocates the “improved” gun and the far bigger ship and (it) will COST LESS. ‘“_It’s your money we want_,” as those Tariff Reform asses say!... Take my advice—_2 keels to 1!_’ The Cruiser Admirals however plumped for the Super-_Blonde_. Meanwhile, between the hammer and the anvil, Sir Philip Watts had scraped together another inch of armour, making 3 inches in all, and Sir Henry Oram guaranteed 30 or even 31 knots of speed. Now for the guns. The proverbial three alternatives presented themselves. We could have ten 4–inch (32–lb. shell) or five 6–inch (100–lb. shell), or we could compromise on a blend of the two. The Cruiser Admirals’ Committee finally agreed on a compromise. Six 4–inch guns were to be mounted on the superstructure forward and two 6–inch on the main deck aft. It was denied that this arrangement was a compromise. It must be judged in relation to what the ship would have to do. When advancing to attack destroyers she could fire a large number of 32–lb. shots, each sufficient to wound them grievously; when retreating from a larger cruiser she could strike back with her two 6–inch guns. I personally insisted upon the two 6–inch. The Navy would never recognise these vessels as cruisers if they did not carry metal of that weight. The ultimate evolution of this type in subsequent years was to a uniform armament of five 6–inch.