Immediately the Home Fleets had been mobilised the Admiralty issued the following announcement:

His Majesty immediately sent an inspiring message to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, as representing the whole Navy, and it was communicated to the officers and men of the squadrons in all parts of the world.

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe’s reply to the King’s message was as follows:

Sir John Jellicoe, on whom the eyes of the nation are fixed, is one of the most distinguished admirals of the sea service. He has wide sea experience, is a splendid administrator, and is at the same time a man of cool and determined judgment.

The appointment of Sir John Jellicoe was in itself of the nature of a romance. He had no small share in shaping the instrument he now commands, and he chose as his Chief of Staff another most distinguished officer, who happens to be his brother-in-law. Sir John Jellicoe and Rear-Admiral Charles Madden served together at the Admiralty on more than one occasion, both having, indeed, been Sea Lords, and they married daughters of Sir Charles Cayzer, Bt.

The Admiralissimo and his chief staff officer are known to be in the most complete accord on matters of strategy and tactics, and were both associated in the creation and equipment of the ships of the Home Fleets on which the fortunes of the British Empire will depend. They were members of the famous Dreadnought Design Committee, and were associated with Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher of Kilverstone, in his many reforms in naval administration.

No officer whom the Admiralty could have selected to go afloat at a juncture of such transcendent importance enjoys so completely the confidence of the naval service as Sir John Jellicoe. In December, 1912, he became a member of the Board of Admiralty, and then vacated the command of the Second Division of the Home Fleet, to which he was appointed over the heads of eleven vice-admirals—a fact which in itself points to the high estimation in which he is held by the naval authorities.

Born on December 5, 1859, he is the son of Captain J. H. Jellicoe. Educated at Rottingdean, Sir John Jellicoe entered the Royal Navy as a cadet on July 15, 1872, passing out of the “Britannia” first of his “batch” by over a hundred marks. In the examination for sub-lieutenant, which rank he attained six years later (December 5, 1878), he took three “firsts,” in itself a remarkable achievement.

On August 23, 1880, he was promoted lieutenant, and two years afterwards, as a lieutenant on board the “Agincourt,” he served in the Egyptian War. He was awarded the Egyptian medal and the Khedive’s bronze star. On his return to England, in the following year, he studied at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, where he won the special £80 prize for gunnery lieutenants. In May, 1886, while serving on board the “Monarch,” he was awarded the Board of Trade silver medal for gallantry in saving life at sea, by commanding a gig which went to the rescue of a stranded ship near Gibraltar, the sea being so heavy that the boat was capsized, but he and the crew were washed ashore. He served also as gunnery lieutenant of the “Colossus,” and on the staff of the “Excellent” gunnery establishment.

Gazetted a commander in 1891, he was for a time employed as assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance, being subsequently appointed first lieutenant to the “Sans Pareil,” and later to the ill-fated “Victoria,” Admiral Sir George Tryon’s flagship, on the Mediterranean station, which was sunk off Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, in collision with the “Camperdown,” when the admiral, twenty-one officers, and 350 men were drowned. At the time of the collision Commander Jellicoe was on the sick list in his cabin. When the ship capsized he, with the aid of Mr. West, a midshipman, contrived to keep himself afloat till picked up. Commander Jellicoe’s silver medal was lost with other effects in the “Victoria,” and the Board of Trade, so it was reported at the time, intimated that another medal could be obtained on payment.

After serving as commander of the “Ramillies” flagship in the Mediterranean, he was promoted to the rank of captain (January 1st, 1897), and joined the Ordnance Committee. Admiral Sir E. H. Seymour selected him as flag captain in the “Centurion” on the China station. During the expedition to succour the Legations at Pekin in 1900, in which he narrowly escaped death by a severe gunshot wound, Captain Jellicoe commanded the Naval Brigade and acted as Chief Staff Officer, when he gained not only the C.B., but was awarded by the German Emperor the second class of the Red Eagle with crossed swords.

Returning from China at the end of 1901, he was, in November of that year, appointed to superintend the building by contract of ships of war; he next served as Naval Assistant to the Controller of the Navy, which post he vacated in August, 1903, to take command of the “Drake,” and in February, 1905, he took up the post of Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes, in succession to Captain Barry.

Much has been said about the improvement of good shooting in the Navy, and in this connection considerable praise is due to Admiral Jellicoe. Without his help—so a writer in the United Service Journal once remarked, reflecting a judgment which is known to be well founded—the good work fostered by Admiral Sir Percy Scott would have been heavily handicapped—in fact, impossible; for the then Director of Naval Ordnance proved himself a man of original thought and prompt action, and one of the most capable gunnery experts in the Navy.

During the time he was in command of the “Drake,” he turned it into one of the best shooting ships of the Navy, and while he was at the Admiralty as Director of Naval Ordnance Captain Jellicoe did all that was possible to ensure the guns mounted in ships in the first fighting line being fitted with the most up-to-date day and night sights, as well as to instal a fire-control set of instruments in each ship for “spotting” and controlling at long-range shooting. The fittings of the guns and gunnery appliances generally were also greatly improved during the tenure of his appointment.