Forces War Records recently went to the National Archives, Kew to study some of the Telegrams sent just before the start of the Great War.
We will be posting the transcription of the telegrams as they happened 100 years ago.
From Archive Reference: ADM137-11 Telegrams between Admiralty and C-in-C China.
To C-in-C China, H.M.S Minotaur, Hong Kong.
Date: 4.8.1914
Sent by land wire 3pm
To all Ships.
The British ultimatum to Germany will expire at midnight G.M.T. August 4th. No act of war should be committed before that hour at which time the telegram to commence hostilities against Germany will be dispatched from the Admiralty.
HMS Minotaur was the lead ship of the Minotaur-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy. Launched in 1906, she served as the flagship of the China Station before the First World War. Shortly after the war began, the ship searched unsuccessfully for the German East Asia Squadron and was transferred to the Grand Fleet at the end of 1914. During the rest of the war Minotaur served as the flagship of the 7th and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons and spent most of her time assigned to the Northern Patrol. In mid-1916 she participated in the Battle of Jutland but did not fire her weapons during the battle. The ship was paid off in 1919 and sold for scrap the following year. - Wiki
