As a junior officer he took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and was involved in protecting British interests during the Portuguese Civil War during the early 1830s.

He became First Naval Lord in September 1876 and in that role implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad Ajax-class battleships.

[2] Promoted lieutenant on 18 December 1830, Henry was posted to the second-rate HMS Asia, flagship of Sir William Parker, in September 1831.

[3] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron in June 1866, and having been promoted to vice admiral on 29 May 1869, he was appointed by Hugh Childers, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to a committee to consider the new turret ship design.

[10] He was again given command of the Channel Squadron in July 1870 and then became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, hoisting his flag in the battleship HMS Lord Warden, in October 1870.

In that role Yelverton implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad Ajax-class battleships.