In 1912, he was promoted Captain and took a course at the Royal Naval War College in Portsmouth. The following year he took command of the light cruiser HMS "Bellona". He was still commanding her when the First World War broke out, and later transferred to the light cruiser HMS "Canterbury", which he commanded at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. For this action, he was mentioned in dispatches and made a Companion of St Michael and St George (CMG). On St George's day, 23 April 1918, he was present at the great naval raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend.