John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher

John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as "Jackie" Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. He had a huge influence on the Royal Navy in a career spanning more than 60 years, starting in a navy of wooden sailing ships armed with muzzle-loading cannon and ending in one of battlecruisers, submarines and the first aircraft carriers. The argumentative, energetic, reform-minded Fisher is often considered the second most important figure of British naval history, after Lord Nelson. Admiral Jackie Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War page; see... Admiral Jackie Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War page; see... January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... take you to calendar). ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... HMS Hood (left) and HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... HMS Vanguard, a Vanguard class nuclear ballistic missile (SSBN) submarine HMCS Windsor, a Victoria class diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine HMAS Rankin, a Collins class diesel-electric guided missile (SSG) submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate... An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... Lord Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (September 29, 1758 – October 21, 1805) was a British admiral who won fame as a leading naval commander. ...

Early life and career

Fisher was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to an English family, the eldest of eleven children. His father was Captain William Fisher, an army officer and aide-de-camp to the governor of Ceylon. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... An aide-de-camp (French: camp assistant) is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state. ...

Fisher was sent to England to join the navy in 1854. After completing his training at HMS Britannia he was assigned as a cadet to HMS Calcutta, an old ship of the line which was sent to assist in blockading Russian ports in the Gulf of Finland during the Crimean War. A few months later the ship returned to the UK where he was assigned to Agamemnon, which arrived at Constantinople (now Istanbul) just as the war ended. Promoted to midshipman, he served on a corvette, Highflyer, then the steam frigate Chesapeake and finally the paddle sloop Furious in the China Wars of 1859–1860. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Inter. ... 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Seven vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Britannia, after Britannia, the goddess and later personification of Britain. ... Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Calcutta, after the Indian city of Calcutta (now Kolkota). ... Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ... The Crimean War lasted from 28 March 1854 until 1856 and was fought between Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, the Ottoman Empire (to some extent), and Piedmont-Sardinia. ... Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Agamemnon, after the legendary Greek king Agamemnon. ... Shows the Location of the Province Ä°stanbul Istanbul (Turkish: Ä°stanbul; a contraction of Greek εις την πολιν into the city, the former Constantinople, Κωνσταντινούπολις) is the largest city in Turkey, and arguably the most important. ... French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887) Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate. ... Four vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Highflyer. ... Frigate is a name which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times. ... USS Constellation, a United States Navy sloop-of-war. ... Five vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Furious: Furious, launched 1797, was a 12-gun gunvessel. ... There were two so-called Opium Wars between Britain and China. ... 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ...

He studied at Excellent, the naval gunnery school, for 14 months before being transferred as gunnery officer to Warrior, the first all-iron sea-going armoured battleship. He returned to Excellent in 1864 as an instructor where he remained until 1869. Whilst there he married Frances Broughton. There have been a number of real ships named HMS Excellent over the years, but since around 1920 the name has been associated with the Royal Naval Gunnery training School at Whale Island in Portsmouth Harbour. ... HMS Warrior (1860) (also known as Vernon III and Oil Fuel Hulk C77) was the worlds first ocean-going iron-hulled armoured battleship. ... 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Early reform efforts

Following two and a half years as commander (i.e., second in command) of Ocean, flagship of the China Station he returned to Excellent again in 1872, this time as head of torpedo and mine training, during which he split it off as Vernon. From 1876 until 1883 he served as a captain, commanding five ships in succession, the last being Inflexible. Inflexible was a very prestigious appointment, the most powerful warship of her day, although in practice the four huge muzzle-loaded guns took so long to load that she was almost useless for naval warfare. Nevertheless she was assigned to the Mediterranean fleet where she took part in the Egyptian War of 1882, bombarding the port of Alexandria as part of Admiral Seymour's fleet. A flagship is the ship used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A modern torpedo, historically called a self-propelled torpedo, is a self-propelled guided projectile that (after being launched above or below the water surface) operates underwater and is designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ... A naval mine is a stationary self-contained explosive device placed in water, to destroy ships and/or submarines. ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... HMS Inflexible was a battleship laid down for the Royal Navy in 1874 to oppose the perceived growing threat from the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean. ... Malta, a part of the British Empire since 1814, was used as a shipping waystation and headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet until the mid-1930s. ... The Urabi Revolt was an uprising in Egypt in 1881-82 against the Khedive and European influence in the country. ... Antiquity and modernity stand cheek-by-jowl in Egypts chief Mediterranean seaport Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, الإسكندرية, transliterated al-ʼIskandariyyah) is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that countrys second largest city, and the capital...

During this time he became a close friend of the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Edward VII (Albert Edward) (9 November 1841–6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of the Commonwealth Realms, and the Emperor of India. ... This page is about the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom. ...

Fisher returned to the UK to become commanding officer of Excellent in April 1883. He was Director of Naval Ordinance from 1886 until 1890, where he met with limited success in trying to wrest the design of naval guns from the War Office. 1886 is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Old War Office Building, Whitehall, London - the former location of the War Office The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence. ...

At the Admiralty

Fisher was superintendent of the dockyard at Portsmouth for a few months in 1891–1892 after which he became Third Sea Lord, the naval officer with overall responsibility for provision of ships and equipment. He presided over the development of torpedo boat destroyers, later shortened to destroyers, for countering torpedo boats. Torpedo-boats had become a major threat as they were cheap but able to sink the largest battleships, and France had built large numbers of them. Torpedo-boat-destroyers were small, fast warships equipped with the then novel water-tube boilers and quick-firing small calibre guns. This article is about the English city of Portsmouth. ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Third Sea Lord was the old title of the senior officer responsible for procurement in the Royal Navy. ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ...

Fisher was knighted in 1894 and put in charge of the North Atlantic and West Indies station in 1897 before heading the British delegation to the First Hague Peace Convention. Following this he was made chief of the Mediterranean station from 1899 until 1902. Unlike the North Atlantic station, it was a vital British operational command because of the line of communication between India and the UK which passed through the Suez Canal and which was felt to be under continuous threat from France. 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of international law. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163 km maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said (Būr Saīd) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. ...

In 1902 he returned to the UK as Second Sea Lord, in charge of personnel and in 1903 became commander in chief of Portsmouth dockyard. In October 1905 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the overall operational commander of the Navy. 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Second Sea Lord is one of the senior admirals of the Royal Navy. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The First Sea Lord is the senior admiral and professional head of the British Royal Navy. ...

By then France had become a close ally whilst Germany and Britain were embarking on a naval arms race. Fisher determined to build up a hugely powerful Home Fleet (renamed to Channel Fleet, the old Channel Fleet becoming the Atlantic Fleet) at the expense of overseas stations. Amidst massive public controversy, he ruthlessly sold off 90 obsolete and small ships and put a further 64 into reserve, describing all these vessels as "too weak to fight and too slow to run away", and "a miser's hoard of useless junk". This freed up crews and money to increase the number of large modern ships in home waters. An arms race is a competition between two or more countries for military supremacy. ...

He was a driving force behind the development of the fast, all big-gun battleship, and chairman of the Committee on Designs which produced the outline design for the prototype, Dreadnought. His preferred model was a version where speed was substituted for armour, this became the battlecruiser, the first being Invincible. He also encouraged the introduction of submarines into the Royal Navy, and the conversion from a largely coal fueled navy to an oil fueled one. He had a long-running and public feud with another admiral, Charles Beresford. HMS Victory in 1884 In naval warfare, battleships were the most heavily armed and armored warships afloat. ... The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the British Royal Navy was the first battleship to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a secondary battery of similar sized guns. ... The fifth Invincible of the Royal Navy was a battlecruiser, the lead ship of her class of three, and the first ship of her type to be built in the world. ... HMS Vanguard, a Vanguard class nuclear ballistic missile (SSBN) submarine HMCS Windsor, a Victoria class diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine HMAS Rankin, a Collins class diesel-electric guided missile (SSG) submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by deep mining, coal mining (open-pit mining or strip mining). ... Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ... Caricature from Punch, 1882 Charles William de la Poer Beresford (February 10, 1846 - September 6, British Admiral and Member of Parliament. ...

He was made a baron in 1909 (taking the motto "Fear God and dread nought" on the coat of arms as a reference to Dreadnought) just before his retirement in 1910. 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The First World War, and Fisher's last years

On the outbreak of the First World War he was recalled as First Sea Lord, after Prince Louis of Battenberg had been forced to resign because of alleged German ties. Fisher resigned on May 15, 1915 amidst bitter arguments with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill over Gallipoli, causing Churchill's resignation too. Fisher had opposed to the campaign from the outset, preferring an amphibious attack on the German Baltic Sea coastline, even having shallow draft battlecruisers such as Furious and Courageous constructed for it. As the Gallipoli campaign failed relations with Churchill had become increasingly acrimonious. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and... Prince Louis of Battenberg Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a minor German prince who married into the British Royal Family and pursued a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, eventually serving as First Sea... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The First Lord of the Admiralty was a British government position in charge of the Admiralty. ... The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, best known as prime minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Gallipoli, called Gelibolu in modern Turkish, is a town in northwestern Turkey. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53 deg. ... HMS Furious was a modified Courageous class large light cruiser (an extreme form of battlecruiser) converted into an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. ... Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Courageous or Courageux (the French spelling). ...

Fisher was made chairman of the Government's Board of Invention and Research, serving in that post until the end of the war. He died of cancer in 1920 and is buried in the churchyard at Kilverstone, Norfolk. 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... For alternative meanings see: Norfolk (disambiguation) Norfolk (pronounced NOR-fk) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ...

The First Sea Lord is the senior admiral and professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... Prince Louis of Battenberg Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a minor German prince who married into the British Royal Family and pursued a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, eventually serving as First Sea... The First Sea Lord is the senior admiral and professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... The title of Baron Fisher, of Kilverstone in the County of Norfolk, was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1909 for the Admiral of the Fleet, John Arbuthnot Jackie Fisher. ...

References

• Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron. Memories, by the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher. London, New York [etc.]: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919.
• Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron. Records by the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher London, New York [etc.]: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919.
  • (NOTE: These two autobiographical works were published together in 1920 as Memories and Records, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher, by George H. Doran Company, New York.)
• Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. New York: Random House, 1991.
• Morris, Jan. Fisher's Face, or, Getting to Know the Admiral. 1st American ed. New York: Random House, 1995.[[Quotes]]

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. Never contradict. Never explain. Never apologise - Lord "Jackie" Fisher - British Admiral Jan Morris CBE (born James Morris, 2 October 1926 in Clevedon, Somerset, England, but by heritage and adoption Welsh), is a British historian and travel writer. ...