 To this point Herbert Hall Mulliner (1861-1924) had continued as managing director, but after a long series of altercations with the Admiralty he was asked to resign, compensated, and replaced 3 February 1910 by the 46-year-old rear-admiral R H S Bacon who had been the Admiralty's Director of Naval Ordnance since August 1907.By early February with admiral Bacon on board and Mulliner off it the directors could report an order from the British Admiralty for the mountings of all the heavy guns of one of the latest battleships that brought into operation for the first time the most costly and most important part of the company's new plant ending a long difficult period for Coventry Ordnance Works.Early in 1915 Bacon was appointed to the Royal Marines.