Reginald Bacon - Early Career

Early Career

Reginald entered the Navy in 1877, qualified as a torpedo lieutenant, and first came to wider notice as commander of a flotilla of torpedo boats in the British naval manoeuvres of 1896. In 1897 he served as a member of the British punitive expedition to Benin, and on his return from active service wrote the book Benin, the City of Blood (1897), describing the campaign.

In 1899, while serving as a commander in the Mediterranean Fleet, Bacon met Admiral Fisher and was swiftly drawn into the circle of young officers employed by Fisher as an informal staff. Promoted to Captain in 1900, he left the Mediterranean Station and, thanks largely to Fisher's influence, was appointed first Inspecting Captain of Submarines and given the task of introducing and developing the Royal Navy's earliest submarine boats. The appointment singled Bacon out as a most promising officer. He was the acknowledged possessor of a fine technical brain, and Fisher's enthusiasm for his hardly hindered his career. That the Admiralty shared Fisher's impression of Bacon is evident not only in its decision to appoint so junior a captain to a comparatively senior position, but also in the laudatory minutes that attached themselves to Bacon's official reports.

In early 1901 he was appointed by King Edward to take part in a special diplomatic mission to announce the King´s accession to the governments of Austria-Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey.