Page "David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty" Paragraph 29

He was offered the post of second-in-command of the Atlantic Fleet, but declined it and asked for one in the Home Fleet.

As the Atlantic Fleet post was a major command, the Admiralty were very unimpressed and his attitude nearly ruined his career.

Beatty, as a rapidly promoted war hero, with no financial worries and with a degree of support in Royal circles, felt more confident than most naval officers in standing firm on requesting a posting nearer home.

He was approaching two years on half pay ( which would trigger automatic retirement from the navy ) when on January 8, 1912 his career was saved by the new First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Churchill had met Beatty when Beatty was commander of a gunboat on the Nile supporting the army at the Battle of Omdurman, in which Churchill took part as a cavalry officer.

A " probably apocryphal " story relates that as Beatty walked into Churchill's office at the Admiralty, Churchill looked him over and said, " You seem very young to be an Admiral.

" Unfazed, Beatty replied, " And you seem very young to be First Lord.

" Churchill – who was himself only thirty-eight years old in 1912 – took to him immediately and he was appointed Private Naval Secretary to the First Lord against the advice of First Sea Lord Sir Arthur Wilson.