IOTL, the man who brought to us Jane's Fighting Ships and introduced the concept of professional armchair generalship... I mean, military punditry to the world had wanted to join the Royal Navy. Unfortunately, he was refused entry because of health reasons.
Suppose he was medically and physically fit and he joined the Senior Service as an officer. How would he fare? Would he fade into obscurity, or leave his mark on history as he did while a civilian in OTL?
EDIT: Oh my goodness. This is the wrong subforum. Can someone shift this over to pre-1900s?