In many respects the year 1912 ushered in a new and more frenetic period for the Royal Navy. Although nobody knew that a global war was less then two years away, they were aware that another force of nature had been let loose on the Admiralty in the form of a new and extremely dynamic First Lord, Winston Churchill. Appointed in October 1911, he very quickly left his mark. Among his earliest reforms was the establishment of an Admiralty War Staff, a new central strategy agency intended to erase the deficiencies in the planning system allegedly revealed at the Committee of Imperial Defence meeting of 23 August 1911. To effect this change, Churchill first needed to dismiss Sir Arthur Wilson, the First Sea Lord, who was emphatically opposed to the establishment of a naval staff, a body which he regarded as perfectly suited to land warfare, but utterly out of tune with maritime needs and practices. Although difficult in some respects, this proved a blessing in disguise, as Wilson's enforced retirement afforded Churchill the opportunity of sweeping away a large swathe of the existing senior naval leadership, a process which enabled him to bring in some much needed fresh blood at the top. Significantly, this included a new Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Sir George Callaghan, whose impact on pre-war planning would unexpectedly prove considerable.

The establishment of a naval staff was not a solitary achievement. As First Lord, Churchill would be instrumental in, among other things, setting up the Royal Naval Air Service, improving the pay and conditions of the lower deck, overseeing the transition from coal to oil fuel, and bringing in the new 15-inch gun and the ships that would mount it, most notably the five famous battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class. Yet, while innovation often appeared the order of the day during this period, the Churchill Admiralty was also confronted with many of the same recurring issues as its predecessors.

By no means the least of these was the question of war-planning.