Britain when the Allies evacuated Gallipoli and was stationed at Rosyth with others of her class to guard against raids on the British coast by German ships. Because of their slow speed and weak offensive power, the pre-dreadnought battleships were not ordered to join the Grand Fleet for the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, though they got up steam pending the outcome of the engagement. North Russia After Jutland the battleship threat from Germany receded somewhat and the danger from mines and submarines grew. Especially vulnerable were the two ports of Murmansk and Archangel in North Russia used by British merchant ships taking materiel to their ally. Mine-sweeping naval trawlers were sent to counter this threat, and two old cruisers were modified to act as repair workshops and headquarters for this flotilla. Agar joined one of them, , executive officer in December 1916. The Iphigenia dated from 1892, displaced 3,400 tons and in her early days could make 20 knots. Iphigenia arrived at Murmansk in March 1917, just as the Russian Revolution was beginning. She operated out of Archangel in the summer when the White Sea was clear, and from the ice free Murmansk in the winter. Although it was apparent to local Allied commanders that the materiel landed after the spring of 1917 was not being put to good use, their advice to stop the flow was ignored by Whitehall. Indeed, much of the materiel was either destroyed or ended up being used by the Bolsheviks or the Germans. While at Murmansk, Agar had the opportunity to renew acquaintance with Russian officer friends from the cruiser , which was berthed alongside. He had served with them in the Dardanelles when he was on HMS Hibernia. He met them again at the Devonport dockyard. However, mutiny soon broke out on the Askold, and Agar was shocked to see his officer friends arrested one by one and taken ashore, not to be seen again. Discipline aboard the ship broke down completely and, after the last of the food and supplies were consumed, she was abandoned to rust away. This difficult and occasionally dangerous mission occupied the Iphigenia until the end of February 1918, when worsening conditions and a hostile Bolshevik government prompted a withdrawal. The British were able to take away with them a number of Russians fleeing the Bolsheviks. The Russian experience was of value to Agar later