Excerpt from Battle Sketches: 1914-15

Towards the end of July, 1914, H.M.S. Cumberland was lying at Cowes, in readiness for the Spithead review. She was a cruiser of 9,800 tons, with a primary armament of fourteen 6 in. guns and a speed of twenty-three knots, and was then engaged in the practical training of naval cadets. One evening, when all were settling down to repose, a slip of paper was taken from the wireless office to the captain. It was a coded telegram: Austria had declared war upon Serbia. Immediately everybody was astir. The cadets, who, after cricket at Osborne, had turned in, their hammocks slung on the upper deck, were unfortunate enough to be sent below to be out of the way. Steam was raised, and the Cumberland at once weighed, and left for Devonport. Guns were prepared, lyddite shells were fused, warheads were put on the torpedoes. At Devonport coaling was hastily completed, extra men were taken on, and all except twelve of the cadets, shortly to be gazetted as midshipmen, were sent away to their war stations. The cruiser proceeded to Gibraltar immediately. On the night of August 4, officers and men were drawn up before the captain on the quarterdeck: he read out, amid tense silence, Great Britain's declaration of war against Germany.

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