7th Marquess of Lothian), who was the First Sea Lord. Kerr passed his entry exams, coming sixteenth in order of merit out of about 200, and in September 1901 began his training in Dartmouth. This was before the construction of the current Britannia Royal Naval College when the training was undertaken onboard two hulks, HMS Britannia (formally HMS Prince of Wales) and HMS Hindostan. In January 1903 Kerr received his first appointment as a naval cadet on the newly commissioned armoured cruiser HMS Drake. He served under Francis Bridgeman and John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, both of whom would become First Sea Lords. In 1905 Kerr’s cousin, Mark Edward Frederic Kerr, became captain of the Drake. In 1906 Kerr was promoted from midshipman to sub-lieutenant and left the Drake to return to the UK for training at various establishments including the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Submarines Kerr had applied for transfer to the submarine service but was frustrated with refusals. He served on various ships during this period including HMS Dee, , HMS Roxburgh and HMS Donegal. In 1908 he finally got his transfer and after about five months of training was appointed to HMS Thames, the parent ship of the Harwich submarine flotilla. He was second in command of HMS C2 and after about 18 month was given his own command of submarine HMS A8 at Devonport. Later he was given command of HMS C15 and later HMS C8. In 1913 questions were raised about his eyesight. He was instructed to attend a medical, the outcome of which was that he was relieved of his command and reduced to half pay. He took his appeal to the top and was given an interview with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. As a result, he was offered a post as a divisional officer with the Coastguards in Ireland, which he accepted. Coastguard At this time the Admiralty were responsible for the Coastguard service, which was almost exclusively manned by personnel from the Royal Navy on half pay. Kerr was stationed at Newcastle, County Down, at a time when gun smuggling had become an issue. His area of control was from Portaferry to Kilkeel and he had about thirty people working for him. It was in the next district to the north that a large consignment of rifles and ammunition were smuggled in for the Ulster Volunteer Force during