[8] In June 1902, he was appointed in command of the protected cruiser HMS Highflyer, and as flag captain to Rear-Admiral Charles Carter Drury on his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station.
[13] Following the outbreak of the First World War, Christian was appointed to command Southern Force.
He was appointed Rear-Admiral, Second-in-Command, Eastern Mediterranean Squadron in July 1915 and, in August, was wounded during the Suvla Bay landings of the Gallipoli Campaign.
[14][15] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1916 as part of "honours awarded in recognition of services rendered by Officers of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron between the time of the landing in the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915, and the evacuation in December 1915 – January 1916".
[1] One of his daughters, Mary Diana Christian, was married to General Victor FitzGeorge-Balfour.