Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A 1910, Nelles ya canja zuwa RCN mai tasowa kuma ya zama mai kula da jirgin ruwa a kan sabon jirgin ruwa na Kanada. A cikin shekaru goma masu zuwa zai tashi daga matsayin mai kula da kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan. Saboda karamin girman RCN, an tura jami'an Kanada don horarwa a kan manyan jiragen ruwa na Royal Navy na Burtaniya don samun kwarewa. A watan Disamba na 1911, Nelles ya shiga cikin jirgin ruwa. A farkon shekara ta 1914, Nelles ya canja zuwa jirgin ruwa, wanda aka sanya shi zuwa Arewacin Amirka da West Indies Station da ke Bermuda. A farkon shekara ta 1914 an tura "Suffolk" don ya kāre bukatun Birtaniya a Mexico a lokacin yakin basasa
Ka yi haƙuri. Tare da fashewar yakin duniya na farko, an umurci "Suffolk" don kare hanyoyin jiragen ruwa na transatlantic, sa'an nan kuma daga bisani ya yi sintiri tsakanin Bermuda da Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nelles ya kasance a cikin jirgin ruwa na Birtaniya har zuwa Afrilu 1917, lokacin da aka kira shi zuwa Ottawa, Ontario. A can, ya yi aiki a matsayin laftanan tutar shugaban RCN na farko, Admiral Sir Charles Kingsmill. A shekara ta 1920, Nelles ya shiga Kwalejin Royal Naval, ya zama kwamandan kwamandan a shekarar 1922 kuma ya yi aiki a wasu cibiyoyin Royal Navy a cikin shekaru biyu masu zuwa kafin ya koma Kanada a 1925.