Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, First Baronet

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.V.O., L.L.D. (9 June, 1859 – 7 May, 1925) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Sturdee was born at Charlton, Kent, on 9 June 1859, the eldest son of Captain Frederick Rannie Sturdee RN (d. 6 Jan 1885) and his wife, Anna Frances (d. 20 April 1889), daughter of Colonel Charles Hodson, of Oakbank, St Helena. He attended the Royal Naval School, New Cross, in 1870 and entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in July 1871. He passed out first and after going to sea as a midshipman in July 1873 served until 1878 in the channel squadron and on the East India station. After promotion to sub-lieutenant in June 1878 he was for nearly two years at Portsmouth in the gunnery school ship Excellent for courses and examinations, which he passed with distinction. He was promoted lieutenant in May 1880. From February 1881 to September 1882 he was in the Hecla on the Mediterranean station and took part in the operations at Alexandria in 1882.

Sturdee married on 23 September 1882 Marion Adela (d. 9 Dec 1940), daughter of William John Andrews, of Fortis Green, Middlesex. They had two children, Rear-Admiral Lionel Arthur Doveton, second baronet (1884–1970), at whose death the baronetcy became extinct, and Margaret Adela, who married Vice-Admiral Cecil Minet Staveley.

From September 1882 to December 1885 Sturdee was in the Vernon torpedo school, and made his mark as a brilliant torpedo officer. For the next three and a half years he served as torpedo lieutenant in the Bellerophon, Lord Clanwilliam's flagship on the North American and West Indies station. From 1889 to 1893 he was on the staff of the Vernon and was continuously in command of torpedo boats: he gained more experience of these than any other lieutenant. He was promoted commander in June 1893, and then served at the Admiralty for four years in the naval ordnance department as a torpedo specialist. He was awarded the gold medal of the Royal United Service Institution for an essay in 1894, having won it previously as a lieutenant. Despite his early career as a technical specialist, Sturdee considered himself something of an intellectual, but he lacked the flexibility of mind, logical rigour, and application to meet the specification. He would not take advice, and refused to see the flaws in his argument. In November 1897 he went for two years in command of the Porpoise on the Australian station, and took command of the British force in Samoa in the summer of 1899 at the time of the trouble between Germany and the United States. For his services in handling a delicate international situation Sturdee was created CMG and promoted captain. He then returned to the Admiralty as assistant director of naval intelligence until October 1902, when he again went to sea and commanded successive cruisers in home waters until, in May 1905, he became chief of staff to Lord Charles Beresford, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Sturdee continued with Beresford on the latter's transfer to the command of the Channel Fleet in 1907; he had been created CVO in 1906. During this period he was a leading member of the ‘syndicate of discontent’ that opposed the policies of the first sea lord, Sir John Fisher. Fisher despised Sturdee, who returned the feeling with interest. Sturdee's last year before promotion to flag rank in September 1908 was spent in command of the battleship New Zealand in the Channel Fleet. In 1910 he commanded the 1st battle squadron for a year, and after presiding over the submarine committee at the Admiralty in 1911, was again employed afloat in command of cruiser squadrons, being the senior cruiser admiral in the Home Fleet, until his promotion to vice-admiral in December 1913. He had been created KCB in the previous June.

First World War

In July 1914, immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, Sturdee relieved Admiral Sir Henry Jackson as chief of the war staff under Prince Louis of Battenberg, first sea lord. He was widely regarded as a failure in this post, and bore the largest share of responsibility for the destruction of the cruiser squadron under Sir Christopher Cradock at Coronel on 1 November 1914. This disaster made it urgently necessary to deal with Admiral von Spee's German cruisers; and, when Lord Fisher succeeded Prince Louis as first sea lord, he decided that Sturdee should be appointed commander-in-chief in the south Atlantic and south Pacific. Sturdee reached Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on the evening of 7 December 1914, and von Spee's squadron was sighted the next morning. The decisive victory of the Falkland Islands followed, in which Sturdee with two battle cruisers, five cruisers, and one armed merchant cruiser annihilated the German squadron of two armoured cruisers, three light cruisers, and two colliers; only one light cruiser escaped. He was rewarded by a baronetcy on 19 January 1916.

Early in 1915 Sturdee hoisted his flag in the Benbow in command of the 4th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, which he commanded at the Battle of Jutland (31 May, 1916). In the honours after the battle he was promoted K.C.M.G., and he remained in command of the 4th Battle Squadron until February, 1918, despite being above the new commander-in-chief, Sir David Beatty, on the navy list. He was promoted Admiral on 17 May, 1917. During his period in the Grand Fleet he devoted much time and thought to fleet tactics and to tactical and strategical exercises. He then became Commander-in-Chief at the Nore until 1921, when he was promoted G.C.B. in the King's New Year's Honour list and Admiral of the Fleet on 5 July.

Retirement

At the end of the war he received the thanks of Parliament and a grant of £10,000. Soon after ceasing active service he succeeded Lord Milford Haven (Prince Louis of Battenberg) as president of the Society for Nautical Research, and devoted himself to the restoration of the Victory. He had achieved this before he died at his residence, Wargrave House, Camberley, Surrey, on 7 May, 1925.

Sturdee was an able naval officer, and an effective squadron commander. Despite being an indefatigable student of his profession, however, he never grasped the higher demands of war, and failed as chief of the war staff. His victory at the Falkland Islands was both fortunate and ironic.