Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax Papers at Cambridge Archives Centre

A list of the papers of Admiral THE HONOURABLE SIR Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax in the possession of Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.

DRAX/1

DRAX/1/1

Notes on filing and list of files. 1 file. 1917–1966.

DRAX/1/2

Documents relating to battle cruisers. Including reports, remarks and notes on exercises, memoranda, and correspondence. 1 file. 1913–1916.

DRAX/1/3

Battle Cruiser Orders and Battle Cruiser Fleet Memoranda. Series of printed orders and memoranda issued by Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty [later Admiral of the Fleet the Earl Beatty] for information and guidance. 1 file. 1915–1916.

DRAX/1/4

Intelligence reports. On subjects including the German use of torpedoes and report of an interview with Admiral Shach of the German Navy [c. 15 July 1914]. 1 file. 1912–1915.

DRAX/1/5

Detailed notes on 'lessons of the war', for future text books or manuals. Including confidential monthly order, 'strategical and tactical lessons of war - embodiment in manuals and text books'. 1 file. 1914–1918.

DRAX/1/6

Signal log of HMS Lion, notes on the events of the day, and proposed letter to Commander-in-Chief. Text of notes on the events of the day includes comments by another author. 1 file. 16 Dec 1914.

DRAX/1/7

Appreciations and submissions to senior command, with related documents. Including reports on the naval situation, remarks on operation orders, notes on how to defend the Firth of Forth, and translation of a German memorandum from the operations department to the German Admiralty, with notes on how to respond. 1 file. 1914–1915.

DRAX/1/8

Appreciations and submissions to senior command with related documents. Including notes on the naval situation, naval signals, considerations for supporting the Battle Cruiser Fleet, letter to Drax from Commander-in-Chief, Roger Bellairs, documents on 'Operation XX', and reports by other officers. 1 file. 21 Jan 1916–17 Dec 1916.

DRAX/1/9

Gunnery orders, memoranda, and related documents. Including memoranda; reports, including one by Lieutenant Chalmers; remarks on operations; letters and submissions, and naval signals. 1 file. 1913–1916.

DRAX/1/10

Torpedoes. Including notes on torpedo lectures; notes on torpedo battle practices; reports; memoranda; letters with correspondents including Roger Bellairs, and naval signals. 1 file. 1907–1916.

DRAX/1/11

Mines and minesweeping. Including maps showing position of minefields around the British Isles in 1915; notes on subjects including the use of submarines, including notes by other officers; memoranda enclosing data, and letters. 1 file. 1912–1916.

DRAX/1/12

Submarines. Including reports, letters, notes, naval signals and memoranda. Includes reports on methods of attacking enemy submarines. 1 file. 1912–1916.

DRAX/1/13

Aircraft and balloons. Including reports and comments on reports, letters, notes, including notes from minutes of air committee meeting, and memoranda. On subjects including kite balloons and towing airships. 1 file. 1912–1916.

DRAX/1/14

Staff work. Including memoranda, lecture notes, circular letter on the organisation and training of war staff [1912], and letters from H. B. Vesey and from Hereward Wake. 1 file. 1909–1913.

DRAX/1/15

Staff work. Including list of points on which flag officers at sea and the Admiralty disagree; notes on Admiralty conference and controversies with the Admiralty; charts of command structure and duties of the staff on various ships; staff order; notes from staff conferences; chart of BCF [British Command Fleet] state. 1 file. 1914–1916.

DRAX/1/16

Staff work and war policy. Including correspondence and papers regarding Drax's concerns about the naval situation and the Admiralty, with correspondents including Horace Plunkett. Also includes newspaper cuttings, draft of a paper on 'a naval offensive', letters from correspondents including Admiral Beatty, and a paper making recommendations about the Commander-in-Chief's staff. 1 file. 1917.

DRAX/1/17

Strategy and war policy. Notes and papers on naval strategy, including remarks on the strategical value of wireless telegraphy, lecture notes, memorandum on general principles of staff work, and letter to Lord Esher. Papers on war policy include letter by Captain [later Admiral Sir] Herbert Richmond and papers by Lieutenant-Commander R. F. Seymour. 1 file. 1908–1916.

DRAX/1/18

Battle tactics. Including notes and papers on Grand Fleet battle tactics, lessons learnt from war games, and reports on exercises. 1 file. 1913–1917.

DRAX/6

DRAX/6/1

Draft of lecture by Admiral Drax: 'Battle Tactics'. Lecture for the Mediterranean Fleet. 1 file. 1929.

DRAX/6/2

Draft article by Drax: 'Your foreign relations' and letter about Abraham Lincoln. Article or lecture, 'Your foreign relations', addressed to Americans and setting out the case for U.S. involvement in European affairs [12 April 1936]. Draft letter from Drax to Professor R. S. McCordack of Lincoln Memorial University, in response to McCormack's request that Drax write a tribute to Abraham Lincoln [29 December 1939]. 1 file. 12 Apr 1936–29 Dec 1939.

DRAX/6/3

Draft articles and memorandum by Admiral Drax. Articles: 'Generalship', notes on General Wavell's published lectures [Sept. 1941]; 'Combined operations' [11 Jan. 1942]; 'How are we to win the Cold War?' [29 March 1949]. Memorandum to Admiralty: 'Air offensive against war and merchant ships at sea' [02 March 1941]. 1 file. 1941–1949.

DRAX/6/4

Draft of book by Admiral Drax: 'The Preservation of Peace'. 189-page volume, bound. Chapters include 'The causes of war', 'The principles of peace', 'Remedies, internal' and 'Remedies, external'. 1 volume. 1951.

DRAX/6/5

Draft article by Admiral Drax: 'Mission to Moscow'. 48-page volume with enclosures, bound. Account of mission to Moscow in August 1939. Including copy of report to Lord Chatfield [16 August 1939]. 1 volume.

DRAX/6/6

Drafts of various articles by Admiral Drax. Comprising: 'Britain's most urgent need'; 'Unconditional surrender, or what?'; 'Criticism, history and Jutland'; 'Some political aspects of national defence'; 'Notes for a businessman in the U.S.A.'; 'Night fighting'; 'Training the young'; 'Admiral Richmond'; a comment piece in the Naval Review to follow an article by Admiral Sir William H. Henderson, written at the request of Admiral Sir Gerald Dickens. 1 file. 1954–1959.

DRAX/6/7

Drafts of various articles by Admiral Drax. Comprising: 'Fifty years in search of ideas (a fragment of autobiography)'; 'Seven papers on preserving peace'; 'Looking back (1963)'. 1 file. 1961–1966.

DRAX/6/8

Admiral Drax's meetings with Winston Churchill. 8-page volume of recollections of meetings with Churchill, composed for Churchill College. 1 volume. 1966.

DRAX/6/9

Proofs of articles by Admiral Drax. Including 'Advice to young officers'; 'Naval efficiency and discipline'; 'The principles of war', and 'Lord Beatty's Battle Cruiser Orders'. All for the Naval Review, with the exception of 'The British war effort', for the RUSI [Royal United Services Institute] Journal. 1 file. 1926–1953.

DRAX/6/10

Article by Admiral Drax, 'Battle Cruiser Reminiscences'. Written for HMS Lion's 'Searchlight' magazine. 1 file. 1915.

DRAX/6/11

Offprints of articles by Admiral Drax concerning events of the First World War. Comprising: 'A week-end in the North Sea, being a fragment from a diary of the Great War', concerning events of 16-18 November 1917; 'Jutland or Trafalgar?', and 'The battle of Jemimaville'. All published in the Naval Review. 1 file. 1924–1927.

DRAX/6/12

Offprints of articles by Admiral Drax. Some with duplicate or multiple copies, and some reprints of earlier articles. Most published in the Naval Review. Comprising: 'England's last chance' [1938]; 'Prayers for the fighting services'; 'Five foreign policies'; 'Readiness for war' [1931]; 'The principles of war'; 'Initiative'; '"An imaginary disease", a reply', and 'Battle tactics'. Also including a compilation of 'examples from history' concerning peace, compiled for Drax by Admiral Hankey, and a booklet of articles remembering Admiral the Earl [David] Beatty, including a contribution by Drax. 1 file. 1931–1939.

DRAX/6/13

Offprints of articles and book by Admiral Drax, with unpublished collection of excerpts from letters to Drax. Comprising: 'The art of war, twentieth century version', with separate unpublished appendix containing extracts from letters to Drax expressing approval of the book; 'Some problems of the next war'; 'The British war effort'; 'Combined Operations'; 'Then and now'. 1 file. 1942–1949.

DRAX/6/14

Offprints and proofs of articles by Admiral Drax. Including: 'Mission to Moscow, August 1939'; 'Air strategy'; 'World War III. Some pros and cons'; 'Suez 1956'; 'The prevention of war', and 'Deterring future aggression'. Also including letter published in the Naval Review on the subject of night fighting, and two articles by Quincy Wright, 'The prospects of international law' and 'The prevention of aggression'. 1 volume. 1952–1957.

DRAX/6/15

Offprints and proofs of articles by Admiral Drax. Comprising: 'Quotes and notes (some grains of wisdom from the anthologies)'; 'Health, happiness and wisdom'; 'The uncertain future'; 'World War III. Some pros and cons'; 'Principles of war'; 'Principles of peace'; 'A ten year forecast. 1960-1970'; 'Tactical nuclear weapons', and letter to the RUSI [Royal United Services Institute] Journal concerning world events in the first six months of 1960. [Also includes bundle of duplicates of 'World War III']. 1 file. 1960–1965.

DRAX/6/16

Lists of articles. Lists of articles by Drax. Also includes letters to Mansergh [probably Vice-Admiral Sir Aubrey Mansergh, editor of the Naval Review], suggesting that he prints articles by Carlyon Bellairs [1919] and V. W. Germains [1924], of which Drax has copies. 1 file.

DRAX/6/17

Queries about Jutland. Drax's paper on 'Jutland in retrospect' [Feb. 1962], sent to readers for comment, with three particular queries he has for the readers. With responses from Lord Chatfield and Peter Chalmers. Also includes draft of letter to [Vice-Admiral Sir Aubrey] Mansergh responding to Mansergh's comments on the article. 1 file. 1962.

DRAX/6/18

Correspondence with Professor Arthur J. Marder. Correspondence with Professor Marder concerning a three-volume book he was writing [probably 'Fear God and dread nought], with Drax's detailed comments. Also includes letters from Lord Chatfield, Captain Stephen Roskill, and Peter Chalmers. 1 file. 1959–1965.