Battenberg as technologist and intelligence chief

As joint secretary of the Naval and Military Committee on Defence, Battenberg won praise from the Duke of Cambridge for creating goodwill and agreement between the Army and Navy. He also devised a mechanical course indicator that calculated the relative motion of ships from known range, bearing, course, and speed, effectively an analogue computer for station keeping. His years as assistant director and then director of Naval Intelligence gave him a personal network across Europe and experience synthesizing information for senior decisions. That experience supports the expectation that he could coordinate intelligence and joint planning while managing Churchill once Fisher ceased competing for influence.