After studying the reports of Sir Berkeley Milne and other officers concerned, the First Sea Lord recorded the opinion that Admiral Milne had taken the best measures with the force at his disposal, that his dispositions were the proper ones, and that they were successful inasmuch as they prevented the Germans from carrying out their primary rôle of interrupting French troops crossing from Africa. On this I find that my sole comment was (August 27): ‘The explanation is satisfactory; the result unsatisfactory.’ Thereafter on August 30, 1914, the Admiralty issued a statement that: ‘The conduct and dispositions of Sir Berkeley Milne in regard to the German vessels _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ have been the subject of the careful examination of the Board of Admiralty with the result that their Lordships have approved the measures taken by him in all respects.’ In all this story of the escape of the _Goeben_ one seems to see the influence of that sinister fatality which at a later stage and on a far larger scale was to dog the enterprise against the Dardanelles. The terrible ‘Ifs’ accumulate. If my first thoughts on July 27 of sending the _New Zealand_ to the Mediterranean had materialised; if we could have opened fire on the _Goeben_ during the afternoon of August 4; if we had been less solicitous for Italian neutrality; if Sir Berkeley Milne had sent the _Indomitable_ to coal at Malta instead of Biserta; if the Admiralty had sent him direct instructions when on the night of the 5th they learned where the _Goeben_ was; if Rear-Admiral Troubridge in the small hours of August 7 had not changed his mind; if the _Dublin_ and her two destroyers had intercepted the enemy during the night of the 6th–7th—the story of the _Goeben_ would have ended here. There was, however, as it turned out, one more chance of annulling the doom of which she was the bearer. That chance, remote though it was, the Fates were vigilant to destroy. [Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF THE “GOEBEN”] EXPLANATION M MILNE WITH TWO BATTLE-CRUISERS, TWO LIGHT CRUISERS. T TROUBRIDGE WITH FOUR ARMOURED CRUISERS, EIGHT DESTROYERS. D LIGHT CRUISER DUBLIN AND TWO DESTROYERS JOINING TROUBRIDGE. G GOEBEN AND BRESLAU SHADOWED BY GLOUCESTER. X POSITIONS AT MIDNIGHT, AUGUST 6TH–7TH. TIME TABLE 0.8 A.M., 5th. MILNE LEAVES MALTA FOR MERIDIAN OF 10°E. 1.15 A.M., 5th. ORDERS RECEIVED TO COMMENCE HOSTILITIES AGAINST GERMANY 5.0 A.M., 5th. GOEBEN ARRIVED MESSINA.