Paris named
one of her squares in his honour, _Place Edouard Sept_; and there the
wise king's statue stands to remind the world of what he did to save it
from the German fury.
Next year Lord Fisher went to London as First Sea Lord (1904-10) to get
the Navy ready for the coming war. He struck off the list of fighting
ships every single one that would not be fit for battle in the near
future. He put "nucleus crews" on board all ships fit for service that
were not in sea-going squadrons for the time being; so that when the
Reserves were called out for the war they would find these nucleus
crews ready to show them all the latest things aboard. He started a
new class of battleships by launching (1906) the world-famous
_Dreadnought_. This kind of ship was so much better than all others
that all foreign navies, both friends and foes, have copied it ever
since, trying to keep up with each new British improvement as it
appeared.
But the greatest thing of all was Fisher's new plan for bringing the
mighty British fleets closer together and so "handier" for battles with
the Germans.
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