light and heavy machine guns, and production then soared, making many more automatic weapons than the army had requested. Shell production was also booming but these were not adequately getting filled with explosive, and so Geddes was made responsible for them in December 1916; within six months the number of filled shells increased tenfold to two million per week, and the filled shells piled up on French docks. Lloyd George, now Minister of War, persuaded Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, to invite Geddes and his three-man team over for two days in August 1916 to advise on transportation. Haig was so impressed that the visit was extended to a month and then Geddes was appointed Director General of Military Railways and Inspector-General of Transportation with the rank of major general. They got the ports and railways working efficiently and built light railways to bring materials to the front. He was knighted in 1916 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1917. He was promoted to inspector general of transportation in all theatres of war. The German U-boat campaign unleashed unrestricted attacks in February 1917. As the British merchant fleet was suffering, Lloyd George transferred Geddes to the Admiralty as Controller with the honorary rank of vice-admiral. He was given control of British shipbuilding, charged with making up for as many of the losses as possible. He found the Admiralty in disarray and wrote to his friend Field Marshal Haig about the lack of drive. On 19 June 1917 First Sea Lord Jellicoe confessed to the War Cabinet that they were losing. Haig and Geddes breakfasted with Lloyd George to demand a new administration in the Admiralty. On 6 July 1917 Geddes, strongly recommended by Haig, returned to civilian life as First Lord of the Admiralty. To serve he had to be a member of the House of Commons and was elected in a by-election for Cambridge. He was sworn into the Privy Council the same month. The Daily Telegraph's naval correspondent, Sir Archibald Hurd, later wrote of Geddes and Lloyd George, "No men more ignorant of naval affairs were ever associated together than the Prime Minister and Geddes". Convoying was turning the tide. Geddes appointed the Belfast shipbuilder Lord Pirrie as controller-general of merchant shipbuilding, and brought William Henry Bragg