High command shows he was in the public eye long before becoming an admiral.) As a protege of Admiral
John Fisher, Jellicoe became Director of Naval Ordnance in 1905 and, having been appointed a
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on the occasion of launching of on 10 February 1906, he was also made an
Aide-de-Camp to
the King on 8 March 1906. Promoted to
rear admiral on 8 February 1907, he pushed hard for funds to modernise the navy, supporting the construction of new -type battleships and s. He supported
F. C. Dreyer's improvements in gunnery
fire-control systems, and favoured the adoption of Dreyer's "Fire Control Table", a form of mechanical computer for calculating firing solutions for warships. Jellicoe arranged for the output of naval ordnance to be transferred from the War Office to the Admiralty. Jellicoe was appointed second-in-command of the
Atlantic Fleet in August 1907, hoisting his flag in the battleship . He was appointed
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on the occasion of
the King's Review of the
Home Fleet in the
Solent on 3 August 1907. He went on to be
Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy in October 1908 and, having taken part in the funeral of
King Edward VII in May 1910, he became
Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet in December 1910, hoisting his flag in the battleship . He advanced to
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the Coronation of
King George V on 19 June 1911 and confirmed in the rank of
vice admiral on 18 September 1911. He went on to be Second-in-Command of the
Home Fleet, hoisting his flag in the battleship , in December 1911 and, having also been appointed commander of the
2nd Battle Squadron in May 1912, joined the
Royal Commission on Fuel and Engines on 1 August 1912. He became
Second Sea Lord in December 1912.
First World War At the start of the
First World War, the First Lord of the Admiralty
Winston Churchill, removed Admiral
George Callaghan, Commander-in-Chief of the
Home Fleet (August 1914). Jellicoe was promoted to full
admiral on 4 August 1914 and assigned command of the renamed
Grand Fleet in Admiral Callaghan's place, though he was appalled by the treatment of his predecessor. He was promoted to
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 8 February 1915. When Fisher (First Sea Lord) and Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty) both had to leave office (May 1915) after their quarrel over the
Dardanelles, Jellicoe wrote to Fisher: "We owe you a debt of gratitude for having saved the Navy from a continuance in office of Mr Churchill, and I hope that never again will any politician be allowed to usurp the functions that he took upon himself to exercise". Jellicoe commanded the British Grand Fleet at the
Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the largest (and only major) clash of
dreadnoughts, albeit an indecisive one. His handling of the Grand Fleet during the battle remains controversial, with some historians characterising Jellicoe as too cautious and other historians faulting the
battlecruiser commander, Admiral
David Beatty, for making various tactical errors. Jellicoe certainly made no significant mistakes during the battle: based on limited intelligence, he correctly deployed the Grand Fleet with a turn to port so as to "
cross the T" of the German
High Seas Fleet as it appeared. After suffering heavy damage from shells, the German fleet turned 180 degrees and headed away from the battle. At the time the British public expressed disappointment that the Royal Navy had not won a victory on the scale of the 1805
Battle of Trafalgar. Churchill described Jellicoe later as "the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon" essentially hinting that Jellicoe's decision to prefer caution was strategically correct. He was appointed a member of the
Order of Merit on 31 May 1916, advanced to
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 17 June 1916 and awarded the Grand Cross of the French
Legion of Honour on 15 September 1916.
First Sea Lord Jellicoe was appointed
First Sea Lord in November 1916. His term of office saw Britain brought within danger of starvation by German
unrestricted U-Boat warfare. At the War Committee (a Cabinet Committee which discussed strategy in 1915–16) in November 1916, the admirals present, including Jellicoe, told
Lloyd George that convoys presented too large a target for enemy ships, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to "keep station" in a convoy. In February 1917,
Maurice Hankey wrote a memorandum for Lloyd George calling for the introduction of "scientifically organised convoys", almost certainly after being persuaded by Commander
Henderson and the Shipping Ministry officials with whom he was in contact. After a breakfast meeting (13 February 1917) with Lloyd George,
Carson (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Admirals Jellicoe and
Duff agreed to "conduct experiments". However, convoys were not in general use until August 1917, by which time shipping losses to U-boats were already falling from their April peak. Jellicoe continued to take a pessimistic view, advising the War Policy Committee (a Cabinet Committee which discussed strategy in 1917) during planning meetings for the
Third Ypres Offensive in June and July that nothing could be done to defeat the U-boats. However, removing Jellicoe in July, as Lloyd George wanted, would have been politically impossible given Conservative anger at the return of
Churchill (still blamed for the
Dardanelles) to office as
Minister of Munitions. In August and September Lloyd George was preoccupied with Third Ypres and the possible transfer of resources to Italy, whilst the new First Lord of the Admiralty,
Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, was reforming the Naval Staff (including creating a post for
Wemyss as Deputy First Sea Lord). Geddes and Lloyd George met with
Balfour and
Carson (both former
First Lords of the Admiralty) on 26 October to discuss sacking Jellicoe after he had failed to act on "secret, but absolutely reliable" information about a
German attack on a Norwegian convoy, but again nothing came of this as Lloyd George was soon preoccupied by the
Battle of Caporetto and the setting up of the
Supreme War Council. Geddes wanted to return to his previous job in charge of military transportation in France, and by December it was clear that Lloyd George would have to sack Jellicoe or lose Geddes. Jellicoe was rather abruptly dismissed by Geddes in December 1917. Before he left for leave on Christmas Eve he received a letter from Geddes demanding his resignation. Geddes' letter stated that he was still in the building and available to talk, but after consulting
Admiral Halsey Jellicoe replied in writing that he would "do what was best for the service". The move became public knowledge two days later. The Christmas holiday, when Parliament was not sitting, provided a good opportunity to remove Jellicoe with a minimum of fuss. Geddes squared matters with the King and with the Grand Fleet commander Admiral Beatty (who had initially written to Jellicoe of his "dismay" over his sacking and promised to speak to Geddes, but then did not write to him again for a month) over the holiday. The other Sea Lords talked of resigning (although Jellicoe advised them not to do so), especially when Geddes suggested in a meeting (31 December) that Balfour and Carson had specifically recommended Jellicoe's removal at the 26 October meeting; they had not done so, although Balfour's denial was less than emphatic. There was no trouble from the generals, who had a low opinion of Jellicoe. In the end the Sea Lords remained in place, whilst Carson remained a member of the War Cabinet, resigning in January over Irish Home Rule. Although it was pretended that the decision had been Geddes' alone, he let slip in the Naval Estimates debate (6 March 1918) that he had been conveying "the decision of the Government", i.e. of Lloyd George, who had never put the matter to the War Cabinet. MPs picked up on his slip immediately, and
Bonar Law (Conservative Leader) admitted in the same debate that he too had had prior knowledge. As First Sea Lord Jellicoe was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Belgian
Order of Leopold on 21 April 1917, the Russian
Order of St. George, 3rd Class on 5 June 1917, the Grand Cross of the Italian
Military Order of Savoy on 11 August 1917 and the Grand Cordon of the Japanese
Order of the Rising Sun on 29 August 1917. == Later life ==