Jellicoe:Director of Naval Ordnance

On leaving the Drake on Nov 21^st 1904 I went to the Admiralty to serve on the Committee associated with Sir John Fishers work there as 1^st Sea Lord, an appointment which he had taken up on Oct 21^st. The remaining members of the Board Lord Selborne (1^st Lord) Admiral Sir Charles Drury (2^nd Sea Lord) Admiral Sir William May (Controller) and Admiral F. S. Inglefield (4^th Sea Lord). I was particularly detailed to consider the designs of the new Battleship which it was intended to arm entirely with 12 inch guns instead of the mixed armament which had been the rule hitherto. Eventually the design of HMS Dreadnought was selected, but before this decision was reached I had taken up the appointment of Director of Naval Ordnance dated 24/2/1905/ I was still associated with the design of this new battleship while holding this appointment.

In those days the staff of the D.N.O. composed an Assistant Director of Torpedoes, three officers of Commanders or Lieutenants rank for gunnery work, three for torpedo work and a marines' officer for general duties.

On coming to London my wife and I took up our residence at 25 Dreycott Place, where our second daughter Betty was born in 1905. Our third daughter Myrtle being born at my father in law's house in Belgrave Square in 1908.

As Director of Naval Ordnance, Jellicoe commented on the armament of new ships. For unarmoured cruisers of the 1908-1909 programme, he wrote in June, 1907, that they ought to be armed with 4-inch guns, reasoning that "One of the difficulties an Admiral often has to contend with is the not unnatural tendency of cruiser captains to fight instead of collecting and forwarding information … if the calibre of gun is kept down to 4 inch, the temptation to fight largely disappears."