ABSTRACT
Among Cunningham's associates was the official naval historian, Captain Stephen Roskill, who became a firm friend and supplied Cunningham with much of the ammunition he was to fire in the House of Lords, letters to the press and public addresses. Cunningham emphasized that 'the people are a maritime nation who live by the sea' and advocated a steady building program for both warships and adaptable merchantmen, giving the latter 3-4 knots more. Airmen such as Trenchard and Tedder argued that it was obsolete, expensive and vulnerable; besides, as the defence white paper of 1954 argued, the Navy's role in the modern world was purely that of an anti-submarine and minesweeping force. Most of the evidence for the utility of carriers came from the recent war and Cunningham took great interest in ensuring that the navy’s role was upheld in the publication of wartime despatches as supplements to the London Gazette and in the official histories.
