The Navy tried to make Jellicoe rest after Centurion returned, but extended leave did not suit him. Rear Admiral William May, then Third Sea Lord, resolved the problem by appointing him as a naval assistant. The position could have involved very little work, yet Jellicoe used it as an intensive education in the office that controlled naval materiel. He functioned in effect like a deputy Third Sea Lord during the roughly eighteen months before HMS Drake. The apprenticeship gave Jellicoe unusually early insight into how procurement, administration, and ministerial decisions connected.
Notable Point · 25:40-27:33
William May turns convalescence into an Admiralty apprenticeship
Third Sea Lord William May gave the restless convalescent a loosely defined naval-assistant post that Jellicoe turned into practical preparation for senior administration.