From Naval Intelligence to an Admiralty War Staff

A reform of the whole organization would have separated intelligence from the other staff functions accumulating around it. Each function needed a clear place under the Sea Lords and a route to the Board of Admiralty. The comparison looks forward to the development of the Admiralty War Staff and its further evolution during World War I. Prince Louis of Battenberg already supervised intelligence, mobilization, strategy, defence, and trade protection, receiving credit here for extensive war preparation often associated with Fisher. His competence did not resolve the problem of communicating work held inside an intelligence department. Internal reform proceeded slowly because existing arrangements still worked well enough for the Navy to retain them.