Difference between revisions of "Douglas Austin Gamble"

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Revision as of 22:57, 25 June 2014

Admiral SIR Douglas Austin Gamble, K.C.V.O., Royal Navy (8 November, 1856 – 23 May, 1934) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Commander Gamble's Night Signalling Proposal[1]

Gamble was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority of 27 February, 1879.[2]

Gamble was promoted to the rank of Commander on 1 January, 1893.[3]

He proposed a method of night-time signalling in 1894 which he had personally tried in Malta in 1888 using models and 16 candlepower lamps. He described the concept it in a section of the Annual Report of the Torpedo School in a description dated 24 July 1894. The scheme entailed use of an electric light situated under armour and casting its mirror-concentrated beam up the mast to be radiated outward by a cone at the military top. A signalman would work a shutter in the mid-point of the beam to flash the light, avoiding the risk of damage to wiring and the delay of filaments warming up or cooling down. Although Gamble proposed further testing, a subsequent report has not been found.[4]

Captain

Gamble was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1899.[5]

In March 1902, Gamble assumed command of the second class protected cruiser Hyacinth.[6]

He was appointed Captain of the heavy cruiser Kent in August 1903,[7] staying in her perhaps until he took command of the battleship Canopus on 14 August, 1905.[8]

Appointed Captain of H.M.S. Vernon on 10 May, 1907. [9]

Flag Rank

Gamble was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 2 September, 1908.[10]

Gamble was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 8 December, 1913, vice Paget.[11]

On 1 July, 1914, he was appointed Vice-Admiral in Command of the Fourth Battle Squadron, to be in Benbow when she was completed.[12]

Great War

An officer on Gamble's staff, Bertram H. Ramsay, noted in his diary:

The Vice-Admiral and I had a set-to in his cabin about my shortness of manner at times and the War College training which he resents very much, or rather the way in which I display it. Anyhow it cleared the air and had to come … My faults are that I can't sit still and see things done in an antiquated and un-progressive way, and I must put my word in … He won't admit that a knowledge of war is the least necessary for any officers until they come to flag rank, but how they are to learn it then I don't know … Whatever the result of the war may be, it can but do good by washing out these old-fashioned ideas and bringing forward an up-to-date officers' training. At present the old school will not admit that anyone junior to them can have any ideas at all.[13]

Upon the loss of the cruisers Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue on 23 September, 1914, Ramsay wrote in his diary:

One ship was sunk by a submarine and the other stupid ships went to her assistance, simply asking to be sunk too. It does seem childish and just shows how utterly without imagination the majority of our senior officers are. About a month ago I remarked at lunch that I supposed it was recognised that if a ship of the Fleet got hit by a submarine, she could expect no assistance from other ships. The Vice-Admiral said that I was too bloodthirsty and pessimistic for anything, and why should I always be thinking of the worst side of things?[13]

Gamble was offered command of the China Station, but turned it down. His second-in-command, Rear-Admiral Alexander L. Duff, found him "very low over his supersession. He has declined China on the ground of health, which seems to me the worst possible reason to give as it affords the Admiralty a legitimate excuse for never again employing him."[14]

On 26 April, 1917, Gamble was promoted to the rank of Admiral.[15] He was placed on the Retired List at his own request on 17 May, 1917.[16]

Bibliography

  • "Admiral Sir Douglas Gamble" (Obituaries). The Times. Thursday, 24 May, 1934. Issue 46762, col A, p. 17.

Service Records

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Robert K. McAlpine 		Captain of H.M.S. Hyacinth
Mar, 1902[17] – ? 		Succeeded by
Horace L. A. Hood
Preceded by
? 		Captain of H.M.S. Kent
Aug, 1903[18] – ? 		Succeeded by
Edward P. Ashe
Preceded by
Frederic W. Fisher 		Captain of H.M.S. Canopus
14 Aug, 1905[19] – ? 		Succeeded by
Godfrey H. B. Mundy
Preceded by
Charles J. Briggs 		Captain of H.M.S. Vernon
10 May, 1907[20] – ? 		Succeeded by
Robert S. P. Hornby
Preceded by
Henry B. Jackson 		Rear-Admiral Commanding, Sixth Cruiser Squadron
26 Sep, 1910[21] – 3 Jun, 1912[22] 		Succeeded by
William L. Grant
as Rear-Admiral Commanding, Mediterranean Cruiser Squadron
Preceded by
Charles J. Briggs 		Vice-Admiral Commanding, Fourth Battle Squadron
1 Jul, 1914[23] – ? 		Succeeded by
Frederick C. D. Sturdee
as Admiral Commanding, Fourth Battle Squadron

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1894. Plate 39.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 24700. p. 2380. 25 March, 1879.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 26359. p. 2. 2 January, 1893.
  4. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1894. pp. 115-16.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 27099. p. 4345. 14 July, 1899.
  6. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  7. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  8. ↑ Gamble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 506.
  9. ↑ Blond. Technology and Tradition. p. 167.
  10. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28177. p. 6684. 15 September, 1908.
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28780. p. 9083. 9 December, 1913.
  12. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1915). p. 281.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Quoted in Chalmers. Full Cycle. p. 21.
  14. ↑ Diary entry for 26 January, 1915. Duff Papers. National Maritime Museum. DFF.15.
  15. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 30037. p. 3955. 27 April, 1917.
  16. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 30084. p. 4942. 22 May, 1917.
  17. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  18. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  19. ↑ Gamble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 506.
  20. ↑ Blond. Technology and Tradition. p. 167.
  21. ↑ Gamble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 507.
  22. ↑ Gamble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 507.
  23. ↑ Gamble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 507.

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