the slightly older HMS Isis. These ships were stationed at Bermuda and many classes were held ashore when the ships were in port. Agar had many pleasant memories of sports, swimming, boating and picnics during this period. Agar served at sea in a number of ships in the prewar period, including the battleships attached to the Mediterranean Fleet, and , commanded by Captain (later Admiral) David Beatty. He greatly admired Beatty's dash and style. Agar's early training gave him a thorough grounding in basic naval matters, especially in handling small boats. This was to prove a great asset later in his career. In 1910 Agar passed his seamanship examination with flying colours and was made an acting sub-lieutenant. During 1911, he served aboard a destroyer, . He spent the next period on course at Portsmouth and studying at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 June 1912. After his courses were complete, Agar was assigned to small ships, his first being Torpedo Boat No. 23. In April 1913 he was sent to learn to fly. It was not entirely his métier, though he obtained his licence after enduring three crashes in the very primitive aircraft of the time. He joined the pre-dreadnought battleship in September 1913, attached to the Home Fleet. During this period, Agar became a gunnery expert. First World War The Grand Fleet Agar was aboard Hibernia when the First World War broke out in August 1914, and soon sailed with her to Britain's wartime base at Scapa Flow. He was a part of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. As newer and faster dreadnoughts joined the fleet, the pre-dreadnoughts became increasingly obsolete, being slower, with much less firepower and poor design features. The Dardanelles and guard duty In the summer of 1915 it was decided to send Hibernia out to the Dardanelles to provide gunnery support to the Allied landings on the Gallipoli peninsula. She arrived in September 1915 at the Royal Navy base at Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos at the entrance to the straits leading to the Black Sea. The sheltered waters of the Aegean Sea and the straits enabled Hibernia to use all her guns and she was employed in firing at Turkish targets on Gallipoli and the nearby Asia Minor shore. She was hit once by a Turkish shell, but not seriously damaged. Hibernia returned to