Campaigning against Fisher's reforms

After leaving the Channel Fleet, Beresford warned Prime Minister Asquith that he would take his complaints public unless Fisher and the reforms were removed. He opposed Dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, and the withdrawal of obsolete ships from worldwide stations, placing visible hull numbers above the combat value of a concentrated modern fleet. A Committee of Imperial Defence inquiry upheld Admiralty policy, yet political pressure still helped bring Fisher's first tenure to an early end. Arthur Wilson rather than Beresford became First Sea Lord, showing that the influence needed to disrupt a succession was not enough to secure the office. A proposed alternative accepted the need for an overseas presence and called for modern cruisers alongside new capital ships, but the Navy lacked the funding to pursue both fully.