Press officers could become volunteer recruiters

A peacetime press appointment could provide an officer with pay and continuous naval employment when no ship was available. This retained a cadre that could be posted afloat when the fleet expanded. Headline personnel-growth figures also include officers, who were recruited or already serving rather than impressed. While based ashore, an officer could become familiar in local pubs and talk regularly with sailors about naval service. If later ordered to a ship, the same officer could invite men who knew his reputation to volunteer for several expected years of war, steady food and income, possible advancement, and prize money. Friends might join together, producing a network compared here with the Pals battalions of the First World War. Bad cases of coercion still occurred. Local relationships explain how a press organization could generate volunteers as well as compel service.