The closed officer class of a changing navy

A prospective naval officer needed influential sponsorship and an annual £50 family allowance to pay for training, described in the review as roughly £5,000 in modern money. That price narrowed entry to a wealthy social circle and excluded much of the technically educated middle class. The book notes that Nelson, the son of a poor clergyman, could not have afforded entry under this system. Engineering officers remained marginal and were barred from the highest ranks despite growing reliance on machinery. Mines, torpedoes, submarines, destroyers, and dreadnoughts demanded skills unlike those of the age of sail. Keyes entered a service with a celebrated past and an uncertain ability to adapt to a new technological era.