No account of the British battle fleet would be complete without reference to the various auxiliary navies. Though none of them possesses any very serious fighting value, yet all possess potentialities for the future which can with difficulty be computed.

The auxiliary navies may be divided into two main sections—(1) those which are direct branches of the British Navy, and (2) those which belong to the semi-independent colonies.

Of the former, the principal is the Royal Indian Marine, which consists of a number of armed troopships. Of these the chief are the Northbrook, launched at Clydebank in 1907, 5,820 tons, 16 knot speed, and an armament of six 4-inch and six 3-pounders. The Dufferin, which was launched in 1904, is of 7,457 tons, has a speed of 19 knots, and an armament of eight 4-inch and eight 3-pounders. The Hardinge, launched 1900, is of 6,520 tons, 18 knots speed, and carries six 4.7-inch guns as well as six 3-pounders and 4 Maxims.

There are three older troopships, the Minto (1893), the Elphinstone (1887), and the Dalhousie (1886). These are supplemented by ten small steamers and nine small mining vessels.

The germ of this fleet was created in the early seventies when the breastwork monitors Abyssinia and Magdala were sent out for the defence of Indian harbours. These were small predecessors of the Devastation, very similar to the home coast-defence monitors of the Cyclops class, and carried four 18-ton muzzle-loading guns.

About the year 1888 some new torpedo boats (Nos. 100–106) were lent for the Indian Marine service. These, with their names and numbers, were as follows:—Baluch (100), Ghurka (101), Kahren (102), Pathan (103), Maharatta (104), Sikh (105), and Rajput (106). The two earliest numbers were built by Thornycroft, and were of 92 tons; the others were built by White, of Cowes, and were of 95 tons displacement.

In the years 1890–91 two torpedo gunboats, Plassy and Assaye, of the Sharpshooter class, were launched at Elswick for the Indian Marine, in which they remained until withdrawn in the early years of the present century.

On a similar footing to the Royal Indian Marine are the flotillas, mostly consisting of river gunboats, maintained in North and South Nigeria and in Central Africa, and the gunboats on the Nile under the Egyptian Government.

The Colonial Navies are on a different standing. First place in their formation belongs to Australia. The monitor Cerberus, practically a sister of the Abyssinia and Magdala already mentioned, was launched at Jarrow in 1868 for Victoria. This vessel (which still exists as a drill ship) is of 3,480 tons, armed with four 18-ton muzzle-loaders, and protected with an 8-inch belt.

In 1884 Australia’s local defence was re-inforced with four gunboats as follows:—The Protector, of 920 tons, carrying one 8-inch and five 6-inch guns, for South Australia. She, as well as the others, was built at Elswick. For Western Australia a similar vessel of 530 tons, named the Victoria, was built, armed with one 18-ton muzzle-loader. The Gayundah and Paluma, also of the same type, carrying one old 8-inch and one 6-inch, were built for Queensland. Their displacement is 360 tons each.

From that time onward the Australian Navy occasionally sent a few officers and men for training in the British Navy.

Towards the end of the eighties interest began to be taken in Australian naval defence, and five cruisers and two torpedo gunboats were ordered for local Australian service while borne on the Royal Navy List. Of these vessels the five cruisers were the Katoomba (ex Pandora), Mildura (ex Pelorus), Ringarooma (ex Psyche), Tauranga (ex Phœnix), and the Wallaroo (ex Persian), all 2,575 vessels of the old Pallas class, of which at the time of writing the Philomel still exists. These ships had a designed speed of 16.5 knots, a protective deck, and an armament of eight 4.7-inch and some smaller guns.

The torpedo gunboat Boomerang (ex Whiting) and Karrakatta (ex Wizard) belonged to the Sharpshooter class, and were lent under the same conditions as the cruisers.

In the course of time all of them wore out and were eventually recalled.

Coincident with this the Australians commenced to have a revived interest in Imperial defence, and in the year 1905–6 Australia and New Zealand contributed £240,000 to Imperial naval defence, and a project was put forward for the building of eight destroyers and four torpedo gunboats for Colonial Defence purposes.

A few years later this project took a more definite shape, and about the year 1910 the battle-cruiser Australia, a sister of the Indefatigable, was ordered. As part of the same programme, three protected cruisers of the Dartmouth type, the Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, were also ordered. Previously to this, three destroyers of the Paramatta type had been commenced, and in 1911 three more were ordered, thus forming a nucleus of a serious Australian Navy.40

New Zealand’s interest in the Imperial Navy may be said to have commenced about the year 1900. It eventuated in paying for the battleship New Zealand41 of the King Edward class, which was laid down in September, 1903. An old gunboat of the Magpie class was purchased, re-christened the Amokoura, and used for training purposes, while to replace some old torpedo boats, which had been sent to New Zealand about the same time as similar boats went to Australia, three destroyers of the Paramatta type were ordered. Finally, an offer from the New Zealand Premier to supplement the Dreadnought efficiency of the British Navy culminated in the battle-cruiser New Zealand, which was offered to be provided about the same time or a little before Australia offered a similar vessel.42

The Dominion of Canada has always maintained a certain number of small vessels for Customs duties or fishery protection, also for service on the Great Lakes. In 1909 the question of a Canadian Navy became insistent, and two old British cruisers—the Niobe of the Diadem class and the Rainbow of the Apollo class—were purchased as training ships for the Canadian Navy. A project was also brought forward for the creation of Canadian dockyards and building therein four second-class cruisers of the Dartmouth class and six destroyers, though up to the time of writing none of these ships have materialised, and the Canadian Navy is still very much a project in the air.

Newfoundland has a naval reserve, trained over many years in the drill-ship, which is ex H.M.S. Calypso.

The whole subject of Colonial Navies is somewhat involved, owing to the question as to how far they should be under the orders of and part of the British Navy, liable to be used when and where required for Imperial needs, and how far they should be regarded as merely for local defence. It has been argued from one point of view that Colonial Navies acting on their own responsibility might create undesirable Imperial complications—as for instance, Australia with Japan, or Canada with the United States. On the other hand it is argued that it would not be possible to arouse Colonial enthusiasm for a Colonial fleet which was not always on the spot, despite any strategical grounds that might exist for its being elsewhere. New Zealand, in May, 1912, negatived this by presenting her battle-cruiser to the Imperial Navy for use where most needed, but generally speaking Colonials think first of local defence.

These two divergent points of view, which are certainly extremely delicate, may be said to be still subjudice, but in the year 1911 the following agreement, which is of the nature of a very judicious compromise, was drawn up:—

1. The naval services and forces of the Dominions of Canada and Australia will be exclusively under the control of their respective Governments.

2. The training and discipline of the naval forces of the Dominions will be generally uniform with the training and discipline of the fleet of the United Kingdom, and by arrangement, officers and men of the said forces will be interchangeable with those under the control of the British Admiralty.

3. The ships of each Dominion naval force will hoist at the stern the white ensign as the symbol of the authority of the Crown, and at the jack-staff the distinctive flag of the Dominion.

4. The Canadian and Australian Governments will have their own naval stations as agreed upon and from time to time. The limits of the stations are described in Schedule A (Canada) and Schedule B (Australia).

5. In the event of the Canadian or Australian Government desiring to send ships to a part of the British Empire outside of their own respective stations, they will notify the British Admiralty.

6. In the event of the Canadian or Australian Government desiring to send ships to a foreign port, they will obtain the concurrence of the Imperial Government, in order that the necessary arrangements with the Foreign Office may be made, as in the case of ships of the British Fleet, in such time and manner as is usual between the British Admiralty and the Foreign Office.

7. While ships of the Dominions are at a foreign port a report of their proceedings will be forwarded by the officer in command to the Commander-in-Chief on the station or to the British Admiralty. The officer in command of a Dominion ship so long as he remains in the foreign port will obey any instructions he may receive from the Government of the United Kingdom as to the conduct of any international matters that may arise, the Dominion Government being informed.

8. The commanding officer of a Dominion ship having to put into a foreign port without previous arrangement on account of stress of weather, damage, or any unforeseen emergency, will report his arrival and reason for calling to the Commander-in-Chief of the station or to the Admiralty, and will obey, so long as he remains in the foreign port, any instructions he may receive from the Government of the United Kingdom as to his relations with the authorities, the Dominion Government being informed.

9. When a ship of the British Admiralty meets a ship of the Dominions, the senior officer will have the right to command in matters of ceremony or international intercourse, or where united action is agreed upon, but will have no power to direct the movements of ships of the other service unless the ships are ordered to co-operate by mutual arrangement.

10. In foreign ports the senior officer will take command, but not so as to interfere with the orders that the junior may have received from his Government.

11. When a court-martial has to be ordered by a Dominion and a sufficient number of officers are not available in the Dominion service at the time, the British Admiralty, if requested, will make the necessary arrangements to enable a court to be formed. Provision will be made by order of his Majesty in Council and by the Dominion Governments respectively to define the conditions under which officers of the different services are to sit on joint courts-martial.

12. The British Admiralty undertakes to lend to the Dominions during the period of development of their services, under conditions to be agreed upon, such flag officers and other officers and men as may be needed. In their selection preference will be given to officers and men coming from, or connected with, the Dominions, but they should all be volunteers for the service.

13. The service of officers of the British Fleet in the Dominion naval forces or of officers of those forces in the British Fleet will count in all respects for promotion, pay, retirement, etc., as service in their respective forces.

14. In order to determine all questions of seniority that may arise, the names of all officers will be shown in the Navy List, and their seniority determined by the date of their commissions, whichever is the earlier, in the British, Canadian, or Australian services.

15. It is desirable in the interests of efficiency and co-operation that arrangements should be made from time to time between the British Admiralty and the Dominion for the ships of the Dominions to take part in fleet exercises or for any other joint training considered necessary under the Senior Naval Officer. While so employed the ships will be under the command of that officer, who would not, however, interfere in the internal economy of ships of another service further than is absolutely necessary.

16. In time of war, when the naval service of a Dominion or any part thereof has been put at the disposal of the Imperial Government by the Dominion authorities, the ships will form an integral part of the British Fleet, and will remain under the control of the British Admiralty during the continuance of the war.

17. The Dominions having applied to their naval forces the King’s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions and the Naval Discipline Act, the British Admiralty and Dominion Governments will communicate to each other any changes which they propose to make in these Regulations or that Act.

The Schedules A and B defined the stations of Canadian and Australian ships respectively. These stations cover the territorial and contiguous waters in each case. The agreement generally seems framed in an exceedingly able and statesmanlike spirit, designed so far as may be to avoid any possible friction or misunderstanding in the future, and in preparation for the day when the Imperial British Fleet shall be something very much more than a dream or just a fancy.

This chapter merely records the birth of something the end of which none can foretell. It may be the first hint of a great world-wide English-speaking confederation: it may be the swan song of the British Empire. But it is probably one or the other in full measure.