Churchill's turn toward navalism

Around 1909, Churchill was at best ambivalent about navalism and naval spending, and he attached little importance to the Navy League. By the time he became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, he had become an intense supporter of the Royal Navy. The episode places that reversal within a wider Liberal navalist current and notes that Britain already spent more per person on defence than the other great European powers without seriously straining its economy. Lloyd George's complaint that Churchill had become a 'water creature' captures the speed of the change. Churchill's constant inspections of ships, dockyards, and schools aboard the Admiralty yacht Enchantress also show how deeply he immersed himself in naval institutions, while giving the Royal Navy a way to manage and educate a powerful minister.