George Cockburn uses politics to reform the Navy

Cockburn was among the last openly political senior naval lords, serving in Parliament and moving with Tory governments while remaining professionally credible. His Admiralty terms alternated with command of the North America and West Indies Station, showing how political office and seagoing authority could coexist. He founded the Portsmouth gunnery school HMS Excellent, which became a major route for developing senior officers and improving fleet standards. Although he resisted abolition of the Navy Board, he then helped transfer its functions into a lord system centered on the Third Sea Lord. In later office under Robert Peel he backed screw propulsion after comparative trials and argued that physical punishment should be a last resort. His governing principle was to use politics to strengthen the Navy without manipulating naval facts for party advantage.