Doveton Sturdee

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Sir Doveton Sturdee, Bt
1st Battle Squadron
HMS New Zealand
HMS King Edward VII
HMS Bulwark
HMS Bedford
HMS Minerva
HMS Porpoise
Battles/warsAnglo-Egyptian War

First World War
Awards
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet
. He went on to command the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and then the 2nd Cruiser Squadron.

Just before the start of the

South Atlantic to seek out the German squadron, commanded by Graf Maximilian von Spee, which had caused the damage at Coronel. On 8 December 1914, while coaling at Stanley, Sturdee encountered von Spee and the subsequent action became known as the Battle 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 the

4th Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet and then as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
.

Early life

Born the son of Captain Frederick Sturdee RN and Anna Frances Sturdee (née Hodson) in Charlton, Kent,

China Station in 1876.[3] Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 9 June 1878 and to lieutenant on 7 February 1880,[4] he joined the brig HMS Martin at Portsmouth in May 1880 and then transferred to the torpedo depot ship HMS Hecla in the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1881.[3] He took part in the bombardment of Alexandria in July 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War.[3]

Early naval career

After completing a course on

Australian Station in November 1897 and became involved in managing the tensions with Germany and the United States over the Samoan Islands in 1899.[3] His handling of this situation, which involved a tense stand-off with the German representatives, earned him his promotion to captain on 30 June 1899,[6] and his appointment as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1900 New Year Honours list on 1 January 1900[7][8] (he was invested in person by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 1 March 1900[9]
).

Senior office

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 cruiser

rear-admiral on 12 September 1908.[15]

Sturdee wrote (9 March 1909) to

1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag in the battleship HMS 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 promote Jellicoe to command of the 2nd Battle Squadron, freeing up a promotion logjam.[19] Sturdee became commander of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag in the cruiser HMS Shannon, in December 1911.[12] He went on to become commander of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, with his flag in Shannon again, in 1913.[12] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 3 June 1913.[20]

First World War

Chief of War Staff

Sturdee was promoted to

vice-admiral on 13 December 1913.[21] By the end of 1913 Sturdee was appointed Chief of Naval War Staff. Draft notes in Churchill’s papers suggest that he may have been the second choice after Prince Louis of Battenberg had given what Nicholas Lambert describes as “uncharacteristically fierce resistance” to appointing his former superior Reginald Custance.[22] 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 “

flotilla leaders, and build submarines instead.[23] Sturdee criticised the high cost of the Polyphemuses, 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.[24][25]

On 9 August 1914, with Britain now at war with Germany, Churchill instructed Battenberg and Sturdee to draw up plans to seize Ameland in the Dutch Frisian Islands. This was the genesis of the eventual plan to land at Borkum (as a possible prelude to seizing the Kiel Canal and sending a British fleet into the Baltic.[26] Bell gives the date of Churchill's Ameland instruction as 8 August in his text then 9 August in a footnote.[27]

Sturdee objected (16 August 1914) to the Order 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”. Admiral Edmond Slade recorded similar thoughts on 18 August.[28]

Sturdee wrote two “dismissive minutes” (25 September 1914) about the Cabinet’s wishes to mine the eastern North Sea as far south as Rotterdam and Flushing. Nicholas Lambert comments that Sturdee “a self-proclaimed naval theorist of the

H.H. Asquith while he was away at Antwerp.[29]

In Nicholas Lambert's view Sturdee shared some of the blame for Admiralty blunders for which Churchill was blamed by the press – the escape of the Goeben and Breslau, and the loss of the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue.[30] 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.[31] On 1 November 1914 the Royal Navy suffered a demoralising defeat when it lost two armoured cruisers commanded by Christopher Cradock at the Battle of Coronel.[32] In The 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.[33]

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 (in Man of Secrets, his biography of Maurice 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.[34]

South Atlantic

Battle of the Falkland Islands by William Lionel Wyllie. Scharnhorst rolls over and sinks while Gneisenau continues to fight

Admiral

South Atlantic to seek out the German squadron, commanded by Graf Maximilian von Spee, which had won the Battle of Coronel.[35] Sturdee was given command at Winston Churchill’s insistence, because he did not at that time wish him to be scapegoated for Admiralty failings.[36] Halpern comments that the decision was compounded by the fact that Fisher "detested" Sturdee and wanted to remove him from the Admiralty.[37]

On 8 December 1914, while coaling at Stanley, Sturdee encountered von Spee and the subsequent action became known as the Battle 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 the armoured cruisers, SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau. Only the light cruiser SMS Dresden escaped but she was hunted down in March 1915.[38] Lambert comments that it was “remarkable fortune” that von Spee ran into Sturdee's force refuelling at Port Stanley.[39]

Grand Fleet

Sturdee on board HMS Hercules commanding 4th Battle Squadron at the Battle of Jutland

Sturdee became commander of the

4th Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet, with his flag in the battleship HMS Benbow, in January 1915.[38]

George Riddell commented in his Diary (29 April 1915) that Churchill, now under renewed press attack for the failed naval attack on the Dardanelles, showed him papers proving that he was not to blame for the loss of the three cruisers (Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue) 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 Secretary James 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 the Liberal Government and causing Churchill's removal from the Admiralty.[40]

Sturdee was created a baronet on 15 March 1916[41] with the title "of the Falkland Is."[2] Sturdee directed his squadron at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916.[38] He was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George on 31 May 1916[42] and awarded the Cross of Commander of the French Legion of Honour on 15 September 1916.[43]

Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1918, by Glyn Philpot

Lord Sydenham of Combe (4 October 1916) and Reginald Custance (9 October 1916) complained in letters to The Times that Churchill’s recent statements (Churchill was out of office at the time) that the German High Seas Fleet was effectively blockaded and that surplus forces should be used in offensive operations (similar to the views of naval theorist Julian 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 the attack 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.[44]

Promoted to full

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1921.[48] He was President of the Society for Nautical Research (1922–1925).[49]

Personal life

Sir Doveton Sturdee's gravestone in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Frimley.

In 1882 Sturdee married Marion Andrews (died 1940): they had a son and a daughter.[3]

Sturdee retired to Camberley, in Surrey, and died there on 7 May 1925. He was buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church in nearby Frimley. His gravestone incorporates a cross made from the timbers of Nelson's ship, HMS Victory. His grandson William Staveley[50] and grandson-in-law Edward Ashmore were also Admirals of the Fleet.[51]

Arms

Coat of arms of Doveton Sturdee
Crest
Issuant out of a naval crown an arm in armour holding in the hand a spiked club proper.
Escutcheon
Gyronny of eight Argent and Gules on a chief Azure an anchor fessewise Or.
Motto
Firmus Maneo [52]

See also

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36364. Retrieved 7 December 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Sturdee, Sir Frederick Charles Doveton" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 599.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Heathcote, p. 238
  4. ^ "No. 24810". The London Gazette. 10 February 1880. p. 622.
  5. ^ "No. 26422". The London Gazette. 14 July 1893. p. 3981.
  6. ^ "No. 27099". The London Gazette. 14 July 1899. p. 4345.
  7. ^ "New Year Honours". The Times. No. 36027. London. 1 January 1900. p. 9.
  8. ^ "No. 27154". The London Gazette. 16 January 1900. p. 286.
  9. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36079. London. 2 March 1900. p. 6.
  10. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36904. London. 21 October 1902. p. 5.
  11. ^ "No. 27560". The London Gazette. 2 June 1903. p. 3525.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Heathcote, p. 239
  13. ^ "No. 27908". The London Gazette. 27 April 1906. p. 2875.
  14. ^ "No. 28079". The London Gazette. 12 November 1907. p. 7581.
  15. ^ "No. 28178". The London Gazette. 18 September 1908. p. 6760.
  16. ^ Lambert 2002, p.214
  17. ^ Lambert states, apparently erroneously, that the post went to Reginald Bacon, who had held it briefly in 1909
  18. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.283-5
  19. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.283-5
  20. ^ "No. 28724". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 May 1913. p. 3903.
  21. ^ "No. 28783". The London Gazette. 19 December 1913. p. 9338.
  22. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.283-5
  23. ^ Lambert 2002, pp.300-1
  24. ^ Bell presents no evidence that any of this was anything to do with the imminence of war (war was about to break out in the Balkans (see July Crisis), but it was not clear until early August that Britain would be involved). Rather, it was part of the renewed fallout over the January 1914 naval estimates.
  25. ^ Bell 2012, p.47
  26. ^ Bell 2017, p.22, p. 373
  27. ^ Bell 2012, p.51
  28. ^ Lambert 2012, p.225
  29. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.261-2
  30. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.283-5
  31. ^ Bell 2017, p.31
  32. ^ Massie, p. 248
  33. ^ Bell 2017, p.3o8
  34. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.292.3
  35. ^ Massie, p. 248
  36. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.292.3
  37. ^ Halpern, p. 247
  38. ^ a b c d Heathcote, p. 240
  39. ^ Lambert 2012, pp.292.3
  40. ^ Bell 2017, p.162
  41. ^ "No. 29512". The London Gazette. 17 March 1916. p. 2932.
  42. ^ "No. 29751". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 September 1916. p. 9071.
  43. ^ "No. 29751". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 September 1916. p. 9081.
  44. ^ Bell 2012, pp.77-8
  45. ^ "No. 30084". The London Gazette. 22 May 1917. p. 4942.
  46. ^ "No. 30227". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 August 1917. p. 8208.
  47. ^ "No. 32394". The London Gazette. 19 July 1921. p. 5733.
  48. ^ "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 4.
  49. ^ Murphy & Oddy, p. 26.
  50. ^ Heathcote, p. 235
  51. ^ "No. 47160". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 March 1977. p. 2825.
  52. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 102nd edition. 1959.

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doveton Sturdee.
Military offices
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
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