Churchill, the Admiralty, and Scotland
It was in Scotland that Winston Churchill was first offered the position of First Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill, as Home Secretary, was staying with Prime Minister H. H. Asquith at Archerfield late in September 1911 and had been playing golf when the Asquith asked him “quite abruptly” whether he would like to go to the Admiralty. Churchill immediately responded that he would. The driving force behind this appointment was the need to impose on the Admiralty a Naval Staff, and the first choice had been Richard Haldane, a Scot, who had created an Army Staff at the War Office. Haldane, however, was by then in the House of Lords, and both Asquith and Churchill deemed it essential that the leader of such a high-spending department should be in the Commons, so Haldane gave way, although holding the view that it would have been better if he had gone to the Admiralty for a year, so as to impose the new Naval Staff, while Churchill held the War Office for that year and then went to the Admiralty.1
One of the greatest perks of the job of First Lord was the use of the Admiralty yacht . She was a purpose-built yacht of 4000 tons, and Churchill used her extensively to visit both Royal Naval bases and fleets throughout his peacetime service as First Lord. In the three years that followed his appointment before war was declared, Churchill spent a total of eight months on. She had a crew of ten officers and 186 men and was a sister ship of the royal yacht . Churchill used her for two main purposes. The first, as mentioned, was to visit the Royal Navy, but just as important was to host politicians and friends. We tend to forget, in this age of instant communications via email and sat-phone, that earlier eras did not have that convenience, so Churchill would make a point of meeting politicians and others as he made a voyage by calling in at small ports, embarking them, carrying on his conversations and discussions, and then dropping them off at the next port. Much of this can be followed in his correspondence, as invitations are issued and arrangements are made.
