Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command

by Andrew Gordon

The Arthurian ‘Band of Brothers’ theme, which Nelson borrowed from Shakespeare’s Henry V, referred originally to the ‘crocodiles’ of the Nile campaign, and gives a misleadingly select impression of the men who ultimately enjoyed his confidence. In 1805 Lord Barham “handed [him] a Navy List and invited him to choose his own officers. Nelson handed it back. ‘Choose yourself, my Lord. The same spirit actuates the whole profession. You cannot choose wrong.’”6 But he, above all, made clear, through meeting and talking and infusing, what he expected of his juniors in terms of their own pro-active contributions to a major action. Such was his charisma, so valued his esteem, that to a man they applauded his demands and strove to vindicate his trust to the limits of their considerable abilities.