ABSTRACT
Years after the war, when the Official History was being written, doubts were raised in the Admiralty about the correctness of the original draft of the story of the initiation of the convoy system. In December, when the War Cabinet came into office, there were fourteen weeks supply of grain in the country. The question of rationing food had been discussed by the War Cabinet almost from the first moment of assuming office. By the end of May the Food Controller had worked out a scheme for general rationing, but even then it was not considered necessary to put it in operation. Admittedly the system cannot come into full operation at once, but it would seem to deserve a trial. The story of the convoy system as a whole has been told in the Official History and in various memoirs. Here we are only concerned with the matter from the point of view of the Supreme Command.
