February 10, 2015

Tour of the Mediterranean on the Admiralty yacht HMS Enchantress

In late March Churchill went to Portland to review the Fleet, conquering his seasickness with a medicine called Mothersill. Winston greatly admired the counsel of Admiral “Jackie” Fisher, but he offended the great man with three of his naval appointments. Fisher thought that the First Lord had been unduly influenced by the King to appoint Court favourites. On 22 April he wrote Churchill: “I fear this must be my last communication with you in any matter at all … I am sorry for it but I consider you have betrayed the Navy…”

Nevertheless, when Churchill and Prime Minister Asquith toured the Mediterranean on HMS Enchantress, Fisher was pleased to come aboard at Naples. In addition to wooing Fisher, the purpose of this extensive voyage with a considerable entourage was to provide information for Churchill in his campaign to alter the disposition of the Fleet from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, to counter the growing German naval challenge.

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