Fisher returns to the Admiralty

On 30 October 1914 Admiral Lord John Fisher took up for the second time the post of First Sea Lord, the most senior officer of the Royal Navy. He replaced Prince Louis of Battenberg, who the day before had stepped down under pressure from anti-German feeling. Fisher was 73, but The Times of London wrote that he had never been younger or more energetic.

Creator of the modern fleet

Fisher was born in 1841 in Ceylon and joined the navy as a boy of thirteen, still in the age of sail. He had already been First Sea Lord in 1904–1910. At that time he carried out deep and controversial reforms: he withdrew dozens of obsolete ships from service, concentrated the fleet in home waters against Germany and brought about the construction of the revolutionary battleship HMS Dreadnought, as well as the first battlecruisers. He supported the development of submarines and the fleet’s switch from coal to oil fuel. He had as many ardent supporters as bitter enemies.

Churchill and Fisher

After retiring in 1910 Fisher did not cease to influence naval affairs. When Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, the two remained in constant contact, and Fisher was his informal adviser and chaired the royal commission on fuelling warships with oil. After Battenberg’s departure Churchill wanted a strong and experienced professional at his side. He chose Fisher, although King George V openly expressed reservations about the appointment. Fisher accepted the offer with enthusiasm.

First decisions

The new First Sea Lord immediately showed himself to be a man of action. When a few days later news came of the defeat of a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel, he sent two battlecruisers from the Grand Fleet to the South Atlantic under the command of Admiral Doveton Sturdee. In December they destroyed Admiral Maximilian von Spee’s German squadron at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Fisher also launched a great shipbuilding programme, which included submarines, destroyers and monitors, among others.

A brief partnership

The partnership of two strong and ambitious men proved difficult, however. Fisher increasingly opposed the Dardanelles operation pushed by Churchill, believing that an attack by the fleet alone on land fortifications was bound to fail and was drawing ships away from the North Sea. On 15 May 1915 he resigned. His departure contributed to the political crisis that led to the formation of a coalition government, and Churchill lost his post at the Admiralty.