William Pakenham (Royal Navy officer)
Sir William Christopher Pakenham | |
---|---|
Distinguished Service Medal (United States) |
Background
A member of the Pakenham family headed by the
Career
Pakenham entered the navy as a naval cadet in 1874 and served upon the training ship HMS Britannia.[3]
On completion of his training he was assigned to the
He was appointed to command
During the early stages of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he was attached to the Japanese First Fleet, where he developed ties with Japanese admiral Tōgō Heihachirō. However, despite these ties, he was reportedly hesitant to set foot on shore, for fear that the Japanese fleet would sail without him.[8] He was eventually assigned to the battleship Asahi, where he spent 14 months, and was an observer at the Battle of Tsushima aboard the on 27 May 1905. During this battle, he narrowly missed being hit by fragments of a Russian shell, which killed crewmen standing nearby. Drenched with blood, Pakenham returned to his cabin and changed into a new dress white uniform, and returned to his observation post a few minutes later.[8] His detailed reports on the battle strongly supported the Royal Navy's trend towards the adoption of an all big-gun fast battleship fleet. Pakenham's reports to London were strongly pro-Japanese and the British historian Geoffrey Jukes observed his "...reporting tended to depict Russia as his enemy, not just Japan's".[9]
He was appointed a
While commanding
He acted as
During the
After the end of the First World War, Pakenham briefly served as the President of the
Pakenham retired from active duty in 1926. He died unmarried, at San Sebastian, Spain, on 28 July 1933.[3]
Notes
- ^ First World War.com Pakenham biography
- ^ thepeerage.com Admiral Sir William Christopher Pakenham
- ^ a b c d e f g h Dodd, Chapt. X. (Part 1)
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36397. London. 8 March 1901. p. 10.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36816. London. 10 July 1902. p. 10.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36945. London. 8 December 1902. p. 11.
- ^ "No. 27572". The London Gazette. 3 July 1903. p. 4187.
- ^ a b Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, p. 280-281.
- ^ Jukes, Geoffrey The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905, London: Osprey, 2002 page 91.
- ^ "No. 27823". The London Gazette. 1 August 1905. p. 5295.
- ^ "No. 27906". The London Gazette. 20 April 1906. p. 2743.
- ^ "No. 28614". The London Gazette. 4 June 1912. p. 4035.
- ^ "No. 28614". The London Gazette. 10 December 1912. p. 9395.
- ^ "No. 28633". The London Gazette. 6 August 1912. p. 5854.
- ^ OCLC 50418095.
- ^ Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 38
- ^ Sir William Pakenham at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ "No. 33053". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1925. p. 3769.
- ^ "No. 28557". The London Gazette. 7 February 1930. p. 795.
References
- Dodd, Francis (1917). Admirals of the British Navy (1917–1918) – Part 1, London, Country Life Ltd. online library
- ISBN 0-8108-4927-5.