Captain
On 31 December 1891, Prince Louis was promoted to the rank of captain and became an aide-de-camp to the Queen, a post he would retain under both King Edward VII and King George V. At the beginning of the following year, he was appointed naval advisor to the inspector-general of fortifications. His role was to act as a liaison between the navy and the army in order to ensure a co-ordinated defence. Traditionally, there was a great deal of friction between the two services, but Louis exercised his social skills in the role, leading Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, to write to him, "You have produced a mutual feeling of goodwill and unanimity which I have always wished to see established, and which, by your tact and sound judgement, you have brought about to the fullest extent."
In 1892, Battenberg invented the Battenberg Course Indicator, a relative velocity analogue computer device used by seamen to determine course and speed to steer for changes of position between ships and which remains in use today.
By February 1894 his role was further developed when he was appointed joint secretary of the naval and military committee on defence, which was later renamed the Committee of Imperial Defence. Louis captained HMS Cambrian in the Mediterranean Fleet from October 1894 to May 1897 and HMS Majestic in the Channel Fleet from June 1897. His careful study of both naval and military defence, as well as its interaction, led to his appointment as Assistant Director of the Naval Intelligence Division in June 1899. He used his relationships with the royal houses of Europe to gather intelligence on the naval fleets of other nations, which he passed onto the Admiralty in full and detailed reports.
After a year as captain of HMS Implacable in the Mediterranean, during which he spectacularly defeated a larger opposing force during naval exercises, Louis was appointed as Director of Naval Intelligence in November 1902, an apt posting for a man whom First Lord of the Admiralty the Earl of Selborne described as "the cleverest sailor I have met yet".
Read more about this topic: Prince Louis Of Battenberg
Famous quotes containing the word captain:
“Stay on the beach. The natives over there are cannibals. They eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men.”
—Earl Felton, and Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo (James Mason)
“Adolescents have the right to be themselves. The fact that you were the belle of the ball, the captain of the lacrosse team, the president of your senior class, Phi Beta Kappa, or a political activist doesn’t mean that your teenager will be or should be the same....Likewise, the fact that you were a wallflower, uncoordinated, and a C student shouldn’t mean that you push your child to be everything you were not.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“The captain sat in a commodore’s hat
And dined in a royal way
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gummery bread each day.”
—Charles Edward Carryl (1841–1920)