Certainly the war proved that Lord Fisher's obsession had allowed
the numbers of our smaller craft, destroyers and submarines, to run dangerously low, and during the war there had to be feverish construction to make good the defect. No one could help liking and admiring points in Lord Fisher's person- ality, however much they may have differed from his opinions, for he displayed a truly extraordinary passion for what he believed to be efficiency, and he had wondrous vitality, en- thusiasm, and joy of life. He was undoubtedly a very consider- able personality, who will not be forgotten for many genera- tion.s. But it would be ridiculous in these brief notes upon his career to avoid saying that the Navy went through many experiences under his autocratic rule for which it could not thank him. He was himself above all things a plain-spoken man, and he always regarded sugary insincerity as a kind ol insult.
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