Kitchener's Visit to Russia

[Guest dsw6000]

Had Hampshire not been sunk taking the War Secretary with him, what would the results of his visit to Russia have been?

It seems to me that his projected tour was going to incorporate much more than troop reviews and morale boosting words for the Tsar's generals, and that there was some real work in the field of inter-Allied cooperation to be done. Specifically, it seems as if the British and Russians were trying to come to some conclusive arrangement for the purchasing of arms for Russian forces, which were chronically short of heavy artillery and ammunition.

Also, Kitchener was determined to be back in England within three weeks of landing in Russia - presumably, Asquith, Lloyd George, Curzon, Balfour and so on were using the visit as a means to sideline him. Would they have got away with keeping him out there for longer than might have been necessary?

It's a topic of particular interest to me, and K's death seems to have left quite a few unanswered questions.