Admiral Sir William Christopher Pakenham, (10 July 1861 – 28 July 1933) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He served as a British observer with the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War; during the First World War he commanded the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland, and from December 1916 was Commander-in-Chief of the Battle Cruiser Fleet. Background A member of the Pakenham family headed by the Earl of Longford, he was the second son of Rear-Admiral the Honourable Thomas Alexander Pakenham, third son of Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford. His mother was Sophia Frances Sykes, daughter of Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet. Career Pakenham entered the navy as a naval cadet in 1874 and served upon the training ship HMS Britannia. On completion of his training he was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron, where he served on . He was promoted to midshipman in 1876. Noted for his swimming ability, Pakenham was commended for gallantry after jumping into the sea and rescuing a coxswain who had fallen overboard at Larnaca, Cyprus, in August 1878 and some years later endeavoured to save a man who fell overboard from at Kiel, Germany. Promoted to sub lieutenant in October 1880, he was transferred to in April 1883 and was promoted to lieutenant in October 1883. In June 1896, he was promoted to commander and took up a post with the Naval Intelligence Department from August 1899 to March 1901. He was appointed to command in March 1901, and transferred to the cruiser HMS Barham in July 1902. Barham served on the Mediterranean Fleet until October 1902, when she returned home to be paid off on 6 December 1902. Pakenham subsequently served on the China Station when he was promoted to captain on 30 June 1903 before he became a Naval Attaché at Tokyo from April 1904 to May 1906. During his stay in Japan, he was one of several military observers as part of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, who provided military intelligence and military advice to their Japanese counterparts. During the early stages of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he was attached to the Japanese First Fleet, where he developed ties with Japanese admiral Tōgō Heihachirō. However, despite these ties, he was reportedly hesitant to set foot on shore, for fear that the Japanese fleet would sail without him. He was eventually assigned to the battleship Asahi, where