Bisbee Daily Review

Personnel Not Changed Much of Admiralty Board

LONDON, Feb. 13.-(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-Speculation in certain quarters as to any disturbance of the main lines of British naval policy has been dissipated with the announcement of the constitution of the new board of admiralty. The list, which appeared in the London Gazette, is as follows:

Sir Eric C. Geddes, first lord.
Acting Admiral Sir R. E. Wemyss, first sea lord and chief of staff.
Vice Admiral Sir H. L. Heath, second sea lord.
Rear Admiral L. Halsey, C. B., third sea lord.
Rear Admiral H. H. D. Tothill, fourth sea lord.
Rear Admiral S. R. Fremantle, chief of staff.
Rear Admiral Sir A. L. Duff, assistant chief of staff.
E. G. Pretyman, civil lord.
Rear Admiral G. P. W. Hope, deputy first sea lord.
Sir Alan G. Anderson, controller.
Arthur F. Pease, second civil lord.

"There is nothing sensational or dramatic in the list of names," says the Daily Telegraph. "The patent will set at rest any fears that a violent change in the main lines of naval policy is contemplated. There is only one member of the new board who was not serving at the admiralty when Sir John Jellicoe was in office, and that one exception is Rear Admiral Sydney Fremantle.

For the rest, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss steps up, as already announced, from deputy first sea lord to first sea lord, and is succeeded by Rear Admiral George Hope, who for some time past has been director of the operations division of the naval staff, in which position he has done conspicuous service.

The second, third and fourth sea lords, responsible for personnel, material and supplies respectively, retain their seats, but the position of fifth sea lord, responsible for aerial policy, is abolished in view of the creation of the air council.

"It may be recalled that the naval members of the former board who came to Whitehall a year ago and still remain had all served in the grand fleet since the opening of the war, and that Admiral Fremantle, who belongs to a naval family with high traditions, has been employed in a variety of spheres in the North Sea, as well as in southern waters, and everywhere with success. He returns to the admiralty with the advantage of having served on the naval staff in the early days of the war.

"Consequently there is nothing in the constitution of the board to undermine public confidence or to suggest that there is any intention to embark upon any such adventures with the grand fleet as Sir Eric Geddes referred to in his speech of November 1."

Sir Eric Geddes, in a speech in the house of commons on November 1, explained why he did not regard as feasible the suggestion that the British grand fleet should have invaded the Baltic Sea to attack the German fleet operating against Russian ports on the Baltic.