Factional pressure at the Admiralty

Beresford attacked Battenberg through clubs and political contacts while Fisher, despite having praised him as the Navy's most capable administrator, pressed Churchill from outside the Admiralty. Battenberg broadly supported Fisher's goals but rejected parts of his method, especially further battlecruiser construction, so he became a target of both entrenched camps. The rivalry divided Admiralty personnel for decades and obstructed Battenberg's ability to act as Churchill's principal naval adviser. In this interpretation, hostility over his German origins combined with factional pressure to make the office unworkable. He resigned, yet the prospect of another sea command remained open until December 1918, indicating that the Navy still valued him as an admiral. Waiting for that command kept him from accepting lucrative directorships and contributed to the financial pressure that forced him to sell Kent House in 1919.