had been completed. Work resumed three months later when Scott returned to take up a post in the Admiralty to expedite the programme. The dragging of feet by the Admiralty, although partly arising from many senior admirals' conservatism, was also heavily influenced by Scott's unpopularity. Since 1905 he had outspokenly challenged the Navy's orthodoxy in gunnery, culminating in late 1911 in a letter to the Admiralty which in effect accused them of endangering the nation. He had also involved himself from 1907 in further controversy by criticising the Admiralty's decision to authorise the construction of new ships with their main mast behind the foremost funnel, thus compromising the effectiveness of the gunfire observation position on the main mast. Although his view was later vindicated and the error put right at considerable expense, he was "...much disliked for his pains" when he pointed out "...the ships would be of no use for fighting purposes, unless they went stern first into action." Furthermore, his habit of appealing direct to the First Lord, the Admiralty's political master, made him no friends. Scott himself put their Lordships' resistance down to "...professional jealousy". In spite of this he was promoted to full admiral and created a baronet in 1913. Retirement Scott retired from the navy in 1913 to make way for the promotion of younger men. However he continued to be employed by the Navy in connection with his director-firing work. He also directed his attention to the issue of submarines, against which there was no effective defence at the time. He was aware that the Germans were constructing a large fleet of submarines, the introduction of which he believed "...revolutionised naval warfare and put into the hands of the Germans a weapon of far more use to them than their fleet of battleships." He set about trying to persuade the Admiralty of the need for more aeroplanes to spot submarines and destroyers to attack them. Unable to convince the Admiralty that submarines were anything more than a toy, Scott once again went direct to the politicians to secure money in the naval budget to fund submarine defences. In an angry response the Admiralty dispensed with Scott's services in director firing at the end of 1913, at which point only two ships had been fitted with the new equipment and with design work still to be commenced for a number of ship classes. In June