Sir Doveton Sturdee | |
|---|---|
 Sketch of Sturdee forNaval Officers of World War I | |
| Born | (1859-06-09)9 June 1859 Charlton, London, England |
| Died | 7 May 1925(1925-05-07) (aged 65) |
| Buried | St Peter's Church,Frimley |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Service years | 1871–1921 |
| Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
| Commands | Nore Command 4th Battle Squadron South Atlantic and Pacific Command 2nd Cruiser Squadron 3rd Cruiser Squadron 1st Battle Squadron HMS New Zealand HMS King Edward VII HMS Bulwark HMS Bedford HMS Minerva HMS Porpoise |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commander of the Royal Victorian Order |
Admiral of the FleetSir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet,GCB, KCMG, CVO (9 June 1859 – 7 May 1925)[1] was aRoyal Navy officer. After training as a torpedo officer, he commanded two different cruisers and then three different battleships before becoming commander of the1st Battle Squadron of theHome Fleet. He went on to command the3rd Cruiser Squadron and then the2nd Cruiser Squadron.
Just before the start of theFirst World War Sturdee became Chief of War Staff at theAdmiralty. In November 1914 the Royal Navy suffered a serious defeat at theBattle of Coronel. In response Sturdee, recently sacked from his job at the Admiralty, was sent to theSouth Atlantic to seek out the German squadron, commanded by GrafMaximilian von Spee, which had caused the damage at Coronel. On 8 December 1914, while coaling atStanley, Sturdee encountered von Spee and the subsequent action became known as theBattle of the Falkland Islands. Von Spee, finding that he was engaged with a superior force, was forced to flee. In the course of the pursuit Sturdee's forces sank almost the entire German squadron. Only one light cruiser escaped but she was hunted down in March 1915.
In the closing years of the war Sturdee served as commander of the4th Battle Squadron in theGrand Fleet and then asCommander-in-Chief, The Nore.
Born the son of Captain Frederick Sturdee RN and Anna Frances Sturdee (née Hodson) in Charlton, Kent,[2] Sturdee was educated at theRoyal Naval School atNew Cross and then joined the Royal Navy as acadet in the training shipHMSBritannia on 15 July 1871.[1] Promoted tomidshipman on 19 July 1873, he was appointed to thefrigateHMS Undaunted, flagship of theChina Station in 1876.[3] Promoted tosub-lieutenant on 9 June 1878 and tolieutenant on 7 February 1880,[4] he joined thebrigHMS Martin atPortsmouth in May 1880 and then transferred to the torpedodepot shipHMS Hecla in theMediterranean Fleet in February 1881.[3] He took part in thebombardment of Alexandria in July 1882 during theAnglo-Egyptian War.[3]
After completing a course ontorpedoes atHMS Vernon Sturdee became a torpedo officer onHMS Bellerophon, flagship of theNorth America and West Indies Station, in 1886 before returning to HMSVernon as an instructor in 1889.[3] Promoted tocommander on 30 June 1893,[5] he transferred to theAdmiralty as a torpedo specialist in the Directorate of Naval Ordnance.[3] He became commanding officer of thecruiserHMS Porpoise on theAustralian Station in November 1897 and became involved in managing the tensions withGermany and the United States over theSamoan Islands in 1899.[3] His handling of this situation, which involved a tense stand-off with the German representatives, earned him his promotion tocaptain on 30 June 1899,[6] and his appointment as a Companion of theOrder of St Michael and St George in the1900 New Year Honours list on 1 January 1900[7][8] (he was invested in person byQueen Victoria atWindsor Castle on 1 March 1900[9]).
Sturdee returned to the Admiralty as assistant director of naval intelligence (foreign division) from 1 January 1900, serving as such until 16 October 1902, when he was appointed to command of the protected cruiserHMS Minerva.[10] Appointed a member, 4th class, of theRoyal Victorian Order (MVO) on 21 April 1903 during King Edward's visit toMalta,[11] he became commanding officer of thearmoured cruiserHMS Bedford in theHome Fleet in November 1903.[3] He went on to be commanding officer of thebattleshipHMS Bulwark andChief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet (Lord Charles Beresford) in May 1905.[12] Advanced to Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 16 April 1906,[13] he became commanding officer of the battleshipHMS King Edward VII and then of the battleshipHMS New Zealand in a new role as Chief of Staff of theChannel Fleet in 1907.[12] He was appointed anaide-de-camp tothe King on 26 October 1907.[14] He was promoted torear-admiral on 12 September 1908.[15]
Sturdee wrote (9 March 1909) toJack Sandars, an adviser to theOpposition leaderArthur Balfour, expressing doubt that the 10,000 yard range ofHMS Dreadnought’s 12-inch guns would be of much use, as visibility did not extend more than 6,000 yards in the North Sea on 25 days out of 30. He appears at that time to have favoured caution before committing too many resources to all-big-gun battleships.[16] Historian Nicholas Lambert writes that “a self-proclaimed naval intellectual, Sturdee was the disciple ofReginald Custance [who had been his boss as Director of Naval Intelligence] and former flag captain toLord Charles Beresford. Sturdee’s pomposity and arrogance combined with his close association with Beresford earned him the enmity of Admiral SirJohn Fisher, who tried hard to sabotage his career." Although no longerFirst Sea Lord, Fisher wrote (1 Feb 1910) toFirst Lord of the AdmiraltyReginald McKenna urging him not to appoint SturdeeThird Sea Lord.[17] He became Rear Admiral commanding the1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag in the battleshipHMS St. Vincent, in 1910.[12]
Sturdee became President of the Submarine Committee of the Admiralty in early 1911.[12] He benefited from the decision by the incoming First Lord of the Admiralty,Winston Churchill, in late 1911 to pass over twenty admirals to promoteJohn Jellicoe to command of the2nd Battle Squadron, freeing up a promotion logjam.[17] Sturdee became commander of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag in the cruiserHMS Shannon, in December 1911.[12] He went on to become commander of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag inShannon again, in 1913.[12] He was appointed a Knight Commander of theOrder of the Bath on 3 June 1913.[18]
Sturdee was promoted tovice-admiral on 13 December 1913.[19] By the end of 1913 Sturdee was considered for the position of Chief of Admiralty War Staff. Draft notes in Churchill’s papers suggest that he may have been the second choice afterPrince Louis of Battenberg had given what Nicholas Lambert describes as “uncharacteristically fierce resistance” to appointing his former superiorReginald Custance.[17] Heathcote states that he took office as Chief of War Staff at the Admiralty in July 1914.[12]
On 24 July 1914 Sturdee submitted two memos deploring the new planned“HMS Polyphemus” class, a semi-submerged torpedo cruiser armed with eight torpedoes. There had been an argument about the naval estimates at the start of 1914, withLiberal opinion, includingChancellor of the ExchequerDavid Lloyd George, objecting to ever-escalating naval expenditure, especially with a general election due within a year or so. Churchill’s motives were purely financial, aiming to save up to £900,000 off the naval budget, and his plans had been outlined in memos on 1 and 14 June 1914. He aimed to substitute 14-16 submarines for a planned"HMS Resistance" and 6-8Polyphemuses for a planned"HMS Agincourt" (the name was reused fora different battleship), and to cease all destroyer building except for two or three large ones for use asflotilla leaders, and build submarines instead.[20] Sturdee criticised the high cost of thePolyphemuses, as well as their low freeboard (making them unusable in rough seas) and vulnerability to enemy destroyers. Christopher Bell writes that, contrary to Nicholas Lambert's claims, no final decision had been reached on “substitution” (of submersible craft for battleships) prior to the outbreak of war.[21][22]
On 9 August 1914, with Britain now at war with Germany, Churchill instructed Battenberg and Sturdee to draw up plans to seizeAmeland in theDutch Frisian Islands. This was the genesis of the eventual plan to land atBorkum (as a possible prelude to seizing theKiel Canal andsending a British fleet into the Baltic.[23] Bell gives the date of Churchill's Ameland instruction as 8 August in his text then 9 August in a footnote.[24]
Sturdee objected (16 August 1914) to theOrder in Council about blocking trade with Germany through neutral countries. He doubted the “political expediency of adopting an attitude the practical efficacy of which is very doubtful, and which I think is just as sure to raise trouble with neutrals”. AdmiralEdmond Slade recorded similar thoughts on 18 August.[25]
Sturdee wrote two “dismissive minutes” (25 September 1914) about the Cabinet’s wishes to mine the eastern North Sea as far south asRotterdam andFlushing. Nicholas Lambert comments that Sturdee “a self-proclaimed naval theorist of theMahanian school, was notorious for his monochromatic view of sea power and his dogmatic insistence that the primary objective must remain decisive victory in a fleet engagement”. CaptainHerbert Richmond complained in his diary that “he produced the old, stale claptrap that what we want to do is not to keep the enemy in but to get him out & fight”. While Churchill was away atAntwerp Sturdee had persuaded the First Sea Lord Prince Louis of Battenberg to join him in a joint statement that it was not British policy to lay mines (the document is not in the archives, according to Nicholas Lambert – it is only mentioned in the 1 October diary of Captain Philip Dumas, the “Director of Mining”). Churchill (1 October) ordered the Admiralty to draw up a schedule for mining the North Sea, reconfirming instructions given by Prime MinisterH.H. Asquith while he was away at Antwerp.[26]
In Nicholas Lambert's view Sturdee shared some of the blame for Admiralty blunders for which Churchill was blamed by the press – theescape of theGoeben andBreslau, and theloss of theAboukir,Cressy andHogue.[17] Christopher Bell writes that Churchill, who had vainly urged that the three cruisers be stationed more safely further away from the German fleet, was unfairly blamed in the press. He had appointed Battenberg and Sturdee and so bears some responsibility for their errors, but nonetheless the fault for the loss of the three cruisers lies with them.[27] On 1 November 1914 the Royal Navy suffered a demoralising defeat when it lost two armoured cruisers commanded byChristopher Cradock at theBattle of Coronel.[28] InThe World Crisis (his First World War memoirs, published in the 1920s) Churchill later put the blame for Coronel on Cradock (to the displeasure of his surviving relatives); in Bell's view he should have been more critical of Battenberg and Sturdee for failure to transmit clear orders.[29]
Admiral Fisher, returning as First Sea Lord in Battenberg's place, sacked Sturdee (4 November) – he was “the first to go” in Nicholas Lambert’s words.Stephen Roskill (inMan of Secrets, his biography ofMaurice Hankey) described this as personal “headhunting” by Fisher. However Nicholas Lambert comments that Captain Philip Dumas wrote in his diary on the day of Fisher’s return (30 October) that “the great hope here is for Sturdee &Leveson to go”.“Blinker” Hall also thought similarly.[30]
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AdmiralLord Fisher sent a squadron commanded by Sturdee, with his flag in thebattlecruiserHMS Invincible, to theSouth Atlantic to seek out the German squadron, commanded by GrafMaximilian von Spee, which had won the Battle of Coronel.[28] Sturdee was given command atWinston Churchill’s insistence, because he did not at that time wish him to be scapegoated for Admiralty failings.[30] Halpern comments that the decision was compounded by the fact that Fisher "detested" Sturdee and wanted to remove him from the Admiralty.[31]
On 8 December 1914, while coaling atStanley, Sturdee encountered von Spee and the subsequent action became known as theBattle of the Falkland Islands. Von Spee, finding that he was engaged with a superior force, was forced to flee. In the course of the pursuit Sturdee's forces sank almost the entire German squadron, including thearmoured cruisers,SMS Scharnhorst andSMS Gneisenau. Only the light cruiserSMS Dresden escaped but she was hunted down in March 1915.[32] Lambert comments that it was “remarkable fortune” that von Spee ran into Sturdee's force refuelling at Port Stanley.[30]
Sturdee became commander of the4th Battle Squadron in theGrand Fleet, with his flag in the battleshipHMS Benbow, in January 1915.[32]
George Riddell commented in his Diary (29 April 1915) that Churchill, now under renewed press attack for thefailed naval attack on the Dardanelles, showed him papers proving that he was not to blame for the loss of the three cruisers (Aboukir,Cressy andHogue) and the Battle of Coronel the previous autumn. They were interrupted by Admiral Fisher coming into room and insisting to Churchill that “a person of importance wishes to see you” – Riddell suspected that Fisher had been summoned by Churchill’s Private SecretaryJames Masterton-Smith to stop Churchill showing him classified papers. Churchill did not go immediately but commented that Battenberg had been “very lethargic” and Sturdee “not a good Chief of Staff. He is a good fighting admiral but not a clever man”. Fisher resigned the following month, bringing down theLiberal Government and causing Churchill's removal from the Admiralty.[33]
Sturdee was created abaronet on 15 March 1916[34] with the title "of the Falkland Is."[2] Sturdee directed his squadron at theBattle of Jutland in May 1916.[32] He was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George on 31 May 1916[35] and awarded the Cross of Commander of the FrenchLegion of Honour on 15 September 1916.[36]
Lord Sydenham of Combe (4 October 1916) and Reginald Custance (9 October 1916) complained in letters toThe Times that Churchill’s recent statements (Churchill was out of office at the time) that the GermanHigh Seas Fleet was effectively blockaded and that surplus forces should be used in offensive operations (similar to the views of naval theoristJulian Corbett) ignored the importance of seeking a decisive victory over the German Fleet. Sturdee also complained in a private memorandum (24 Nov 1916) that Churchill’s policy was “the exact reverse of what he advocated when in office and expressed in public speeches”. Historian Christopher Bell thinks this not quite fair – Churchill had advocated risking old, near-obsolete ships in theattack on the Dardanelles but had never suggested weakening Britain’s superiority over Germany in the North Sea. In articles (The London Magazine December 1916 and January 1917) and in a Commons speech (21 February 1917) Churchill continued to argue that seeking a major naval victory over Germany was unrealistic but that Germany was effectively blockaded even if such a blockade now took place from bases further away from the enemy than in Napoleonic times.[37]
Promoted to fulladmiral on 17 May 1917,[38] Sturdee was appointed Grand Officer of the ItalianOrder of Saints Maurice and Lazarus on 11 August 1917,[39] and becameCommander-in-Chief, The Nore in March 1918.[32] He was promoted toAdmiral of the Fleet on his retirement on 5 July 1921[40] and advanced toKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1921.[41] He was President of theSociety for Nautical Research (1922–1925).[42]
In 1882 Sturdee married Marion Andrews (died 1940): they had a son and a daughter.[3]
Sturdee retired toCamberley, inSurrey, and died there on 7 May 1925. He was buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church in nearbyFrimley. His gravestone incorporates a cross made from the timbers ofNelson's ship,HMS Victory. His grandsonWilliam Staveley[43] and grandson-in-lawEdward Ashmore were also Admirals of the Fleet.[44]
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| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, The Nore 1918–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of the Falkland Islands) 1916–1925 | Succeeded by Lionel Sturdee |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
