Fisher became First Sea Lord in 1904 after senior appointments had tested his education, command, and dockyard reforms. His programme joined dreadnought battleships to long-range gunnery and fast, heavily armed cruisers designed to destroy enemy cruisers across imperial sea routes. He also continued to seek administrative economies while Britain accelerated capital-ship production. In 1908 Fisher predicted an Anglo-German war around October 1914, linking the danger to completion of Kiel Canal work that would let Germany shift its fleet rapidly between the Baltic and North Sea.
Chapter · 1:18:41-1:22:04
Fisher's First Sea Lord programme and Kiel Canal warning
Fisher combined long-range gunnery, battlecruisers, and administrative economies while warning that the enlarged Kiel Canal would alter Germany's strategic confidence.