August 22, 2013

Finest Hour 110, Spring 2001

Page 21

“The spectacle which the naval armaments of Christendom afford at the present time will no doubt excite the curiosity and the wonder of future generations.”
—Commons, 18 March 1912

“I have always thought that the union of these two great forces [the British and American navies], not for purposes of aggression or narrow selfish interests, but in an honourable cause, constitutes what I may call the sheet-anchor of human freedom and progress.”
—Cambridge, 19 May 1939

“The ultimate strategy of the navy consists in basing contented sailors upon prosperous and healthy homes from which the children, generation after generation, can return to the ships which their fathers have taught them to honour.”
—WSC, Commons, 26 March 1913

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“Kindly explain the reasons which debar individuals in certain branches from rising by merit to commissioned rank? If a cook may rise, or a steward, why not an ordnance rating? If a telegraphist may rise, why not a painter? Apparently there is no difficulty about painters rising in Germany!”
—The Gathering Storm, 1948

“The homely old tale of the bundle of sticks, each of which could be snapped separately, but which bound together were unbreakable, is the last word in the naval strategy.”
—Commons, 26 March 1913

“The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backward so that he can breathe without letting go!”
—After sinking six German cruisers at Heligoland Bight in 1914

Captain J. W. Cuthbert:
“I hope, Sir, that while you are with us we shan’t have to open fire…if we are asked to give supporting fire I must do so.” WSC: “Pray remember, Captain, that I came here as a cooing dove of peace, bearing a sprig of mistletoe in my beak—but far be it from me to stand in the way of military necessity.” Aboard HMS Ajax, Athens, December 1944

“I should like the word ‘destroyer’ to cover ships formerly described as ‘fast escort vessels’….the word ‘whaler’ is an entire misnomer, as they are not going to catch whales….What is, in fact, the distinction between an ‘escorter,’ ‘patroller’ and a ‘whaler’ as now specified?”
—The Gathering Storm, 1948

“If we assert our claim…to the supreme position on the seas, it is also our duty so to conduct ourselves so that other nations will feel that great power and that great responsibility which are a necessity to us shall be used in such a manner as to be a menace to none, and a trust held for all.”
—Commons, 20 March 1912

“The more we force ourselves to picture the hideous course of a modern naval engagement, the more one is inclined to believe that it will resemble the contest between Mamilius and Herminius at the battle of Lake Regillus, or the still more homely conflict of the Kilkenny cats. That is a very satisfactory reflection for the stronger naval power.”
—Commons 18 March 1912

“It would have been better for us to have said to the United States, ‘Build whatever you will; your navy is absolutely ruled out of our calculations, except as a potential friend.'”
—WSC, Commons, 13 May 1932

“The spirit of all our forces serving on the salt water has never been more strong and high than now.”
—Guildhall, 23 February 1940