Bacon helps organize the Royal Navy's submarine service

Bacon's early specialisms included ship design, electricity, submarines, mining, and the command of torpedo boats TB 33 and TB 81. These boats were activated for manoeuvres under young, aggressive officers, then their reservist crews dispersed and the ships returned to storage. In 1901 he went to HMS President, the RNR hub in London, for Admiralty work on submarines. The post sat alongside several overlapping submarine responsibilities instead of forming one mature institutional office. As captain of the depot ship HMS Hazard, captain of submarines, and inspecting captain under the Third Sea Lord, he functioned as squadron commander and technical supervisor. Later claims that he was the first inspector of submarines simplify a service that was still being assembled.