Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, GCB, OM, GCVO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fisher,_1st_Baron_Fisher

Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, GCB, OM, GCVO (25 January 1841 – 10 July 1920) 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 steel-hulled battlecruisers, submarines and the first aircraft carriers. The argumentative, energetic, reform-minded Fisher is often considered the second most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson.

Fisher is primarily celebrated as an innovator, strategist and developer of the navy rather than a seagoing admiral involved in major battles, although in his career he experienced all these things. When appointed First Sea Lord in 1904 he removed 150 ships then on active service but which were no longer useful and set about constructing modern replacements, creating a modern fleet prepared to meet Germany during World War I.

Fisher saw the need to improve the range, accuracy and firing rate of naval gunnery, and was an early proponent of the use of the torpedo, which he believed would supersede big guns for use against ships. As Controller, he introduced torpedo boat destroyers as a class of ship intended for defence against attack from torpedo boats or submarines. As First Sea Lord, he was responsible for the construction of HMS Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun battleship, but he also believed that submarines would become increasingly important and urged their development. He was involved with the introduction of turbine engines to replace reciprocating designs, and the introduction of oil fuelling to replace coal. He introduced daily baked bread on board ships, whereas when he entered the service it was customary to eat hard biscuits, frequently infested by weevils.

He retired from the Admiralty in 1911, but became First Sea Lord again in late 1914. He resigned seven months later in frustration over the Gallipoli campaign, and then served as chairman of the Government's Board of Invention and Research until the end of the war.

• Updated from MyHeritage Match via wife Frances Katharine Josepha Fisher (born Broughton) by SmartCopy: Oct 1 2014, 8:01:47 UTC
• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees by SmartCopy: Nov 10 2014, 10:51:57 UTC

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see- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Fisher,_1st_Baron_Fisher