The new cruiser detachment was to join the two ships of the "County" class already at Kirkwall, move cautiously south, with six ocean-going destroyers and six of the older destroyers, along the Scotch coast, establish its base at Aberdeen or Rosyth, and raid the German line of communications.
It was to be known as the Northern Squadron, and was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Jeffries, an able and enterprising officer. In case the Germans moved against it in force, it was to retire northwards, but its commander was given to understand that on September 17 the main British Fleet would advance from the north and south into the North Sea and deliver its attack upon the massed force of the German Navy.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the great movement, assiduous drill and target practice proceeded in the neighbourhood of Portland. The British battleships daily put to sea to fire and execute evolutions. The most serious difficulty, however, was to provide the ample supplies of ammunition needed, now that the Germans were in possession of so much of England, that the railway service was disorganised, and that an enormous consumption of cordite by the British land forces was taking place. The coal question was also serious, as the South Wales miners had struck for higher wages, and had only been induced to return to their work by the promise of great concessions. The officers and men of the Navy could not but be painfully struck by the strange want of zeal and national spirit in this great emergency shown by the British people.
On the 11th two of the "County" cruisers steamed south from Dingwall to replace the two ships which had, earlier in the operations against the Shetlands, been despatched to Aberdeen, and which were now to rejoin the Channel cruisers and concentrate in the Dornoch Firth. They reported that the German cruiser off Aberdeen had made good her escape, and that they had scouted so far south as the entrance of the Forth without discovering any trace of German vessels.
