British naval construction and the danger of false war lessons

In his 1919 response to the construction papers, Reginald Custance asks for displacement percentages showing how much weight went to hull, armour, armament, and speed. He praises the wartime building programme and notes that Britain's superiority over Germany in tonnage and heavy guns increased, although shortages of smaller craft had to be corrected after fighting began. His recollection includes a prewar warning that Germany would attack merchant shipping with submarines and the dismissive reply that American opposition would prevent it. He also recalls predicting a struggle between torpedo-armed submarines and small gun-armed surface vessels. These forecasts support his case for historical study, while his warning about mistaken postwar inferences calls for careful scrutiny of the evidence. John Biles treats the war's results as a test of earlier naval-design work and credits the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors with carrying the building programme through.