The central theme of this chapter is the 1909 naval scare, sometimes known as the acceleration crisis. At the very moment at which Captain Herbert Heath arrived in Berlin, news began to break that the German Navy was secretly ordering its capital ships ahead of the published schedule [66, 67]. The strong suspicion this created was that the Reich leadership was undertaking a covert attempt to match or even overtake the Royal Navy in the number of its Dreadnought battleships. Heath reported extensively on this apparent ‘acceleration’, incurring in the process the wrath of Admiral Tirpitz, who blamed him for what he considered ‘false’ statements made by British ministers in Parliament on the German shipbuilding programme. In consequence, Heath was gradually ostracized by the German naval authorities, a process that he much resented [90]. However, far from cowing the attaché, Tirpitz's actions made Heath even more certain that his deductions about German shipbuilding were correct and he continued to report in this vein. In the end relations between Heath and the German government became so strained that virtually all facilities were denied to him. Heath left his post for a sea-going command in 1910, a mere two years into his (nominally three-year) appointment.

58. Herbert Heath, Germany N.A. Report 38/08

Berlin, 13 August 1908

Visit to Danzig

I have the honour to submit the following report of my visit to Danzig on Tuesday last.

I called on Rear Adml Schimmelman [sic] in command of the Imperial Dockyard at 10 A.M. The Admiral was very cordial in his welcome but the interview was short and the Flag Captain then took me over the dockyard. The average number of workmen employed is [2000?], the work consisting of repairs and completion of vessels up to 3rd class cruisers, there are also older vessels of a larger class in reserve.

The Ersatz Pfeil was alongside but lying very light in the water; she is due for completion by the end of this year.

My guide informed me that he was not allowed to speak about German submarines.

After lunch I went down the river in a ‘penny steamer’ accompanied by a local Englishman, but an inspection of the yards from this position did not reveal anything of importance except that Schichau appear to have completed a new large ship.