FISHER, SIR John Arbuthnot, BARON FISHER OF Ku.voits•roNE, British naval officer: b. 25 Jan. 1841, the son of Capt. William Fisher, 78th Highlanders. He entered the navy in 1854, took part in the capture of Canton and Peiho forts. He served in the Crimean War; in the China War of 1859-60; and was in command of the Inflexible at the bombardment of Alexan dria, 1882, taking part in the subsequent cam paign. He was director of naval ordnance 1886 91, one of the Lords of the Admiralty 1892-97, and commander-in-chief on the North American and West Indies station, 1897-99. He was British naval representative at the Peace Con ference at the Hague, 1899; commander-in chief in the Mediterranean, 1899-1902; was Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty, 1902-03; and commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, 1903-04. From 1904-10 he was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, and he made it a condition of his acceptance of office that he should be allowed a free hand in the introduction of sweeping reforms. He began by improving the discipline of the service, "scrapped) no fewer than 150 obsolete warships, and created a system of nucleus crews that added to the efficiency of the fleet. When he took up office the British fleet was distributed over the Seven Seas; hut profiting by the teaching of Mahan on the lessons of sea power, and on the principle that your battleground should be your drill ground' he made the North Sea instead of the Mediter ranean the headquarters of the British fleet, concentrating 86 per cent of the battleship strength in or near its waters, and forming a fleet between it and the Atlantic.. In
massing his ships on the North Sea he showed a sure anticipation of his country's require ments consequent on the rise of Germany as a sea power, and subsequent events have justi fied his policy. He was the pioneer in the intro duction of the all-big-gun ships, the dread noughts and battle cruisers, and other success ful modern types of warship. Toward the end of 1914 he succeeded Prince Louis of Batten burg in his old post as First Sea Lord, and to him fell the task of planning to avenge the British disaster off Caroncl, and to cope with the German submarine menace. He opposed the employment of capital ships in the attack by Allied forces on the Dardanelles, a campaign favored by Mr. Winston Churchill, his civil chief ; his objections were overborne, capital ships were lost in the undertaking and he resigned. Since that time his services have been utilized as chairman of the Inventions Board. He received the Order of Merit in 1905, and in 1909 he was raised to the peerage.