Alexander Leslie Fletcher

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Captain (retired) Alexander Leslie Fletcher (19 November, 1885 – ) was an officer in the Royal Navy. His time in command of small torpedo craft left him psychologically spent by early 1918 and he completed his war service on shore duties.

Life & Career

Born in Oxford.

In January 1906 while in H.M.S. Glory, he earned a third class certificate in navigation and in March he was placed on a list of candidates for navigating duties.

Fletcher was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 April, 1908. On 13 August, 1909 he passed a navigation examination for command of torpedo craft.[1]

Fletcher was appointed Lieutenant & Commander of the first-class torpedo boat T.B. 107 on 31 January, 1910. He failed to earn a torpedo certification in April, but succeeded in doing so in May 1910. In September, 1910 he was found to be at fault to a minor degree for a collision between T.B. 104 and a trawler.[2]

Fletcher was appointed Lieutenant & Commander of the first-class torpedo boat T.B. 30 on 13 September, 1911.[3]

Despite having already enjoyed a string of torpedo boat commands, Fletcher was appointed from T.B. 30 to the battleship Colossus on 19 November, 1913.[4]

Great War

Still serving in Colossus, Fletcher was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 1 April, 1916. On 25 September, he was appointed in command of the Acorn Class destroyer Rifleman.[5]

On 18 January, 1918, a telegram arrived at the Admiralty to inform them that Fletcher was sick in hospital. He was invalided from Rifleman on 4 February, 1918 with a diagnosis of neurasthenia. His stress was profound enough that efforts to send him to London were blunted as he was deemed unfit to travel in April. As late as July saw local doctors still asking for another week's time before travel. After finally being seen in Haslar, in September it was requested that he receive three months of shore service, which he would spend in Eclipse, assisting Captain (D) Arthur Edmund Wood of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. The war would end before Fletcher would again be ready for seagoing command.[6]

Post-War

Fletcher was found fit, finally, on 4 December and appointed in command of the destroyer Spear on 6 December, 1918.[7]

Fletcher was appointed in command of the destroyer Violent on 7 October, 1920.[8]

Fletcher was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1922.[9]

On 24 July 1923, Fletcher was again hospitalised in Haslar with neurasthenia. He was not again fit before November, 1923.[10]

In 1926 he took four month's instruction in the Spanish language. After three years work in the Admiralty, in August 1929 he was sent to Greenwich, additional as an Assistant Interpreter in Spanish.[11]

Superseded in his post as an interpreter on 22 May, 1931, Fletcher was placed on the Retired List at his own request with the rank of Captain on 28 July, 1931.[12]

See Also

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Arthur G. Harris
Captain of H.M. T.B. 107
31 Jan, 1910[13][14] – 23 Apr, 1910[15]
Succeeded by
Percy G. Brown
Preceded by
Percy G. Brown
Captain of H.M. T.B. 99
23 Apr, 1910[16] – 10 Jun, 1910[17]
Succeeded by
Hubert W. D. Griffith
Preceded by
Percy G. Brown
Captain of H.M. T.B. 107
10 Jun, 1910[18][19] – 13 Sep, 1911[20]
Succeeded by
Henry Purdy
Preceded by
Sydney Hopkins
Captain of H.M. T.B. 30
13 Sep, 1911[21][22] – 7 Apr, 1913[23]
Succeeded by
Alexander L. Fletcher
Preceded by
Geoffrey S. Holden
Captain of H.M. T.B. 4
7 Apr, 1913[24] – 13 Aug, 1913[25]
Succeeded by
Ernest D. Panter
Preceded by
Alexander L. Fletcher
Captain of H.M. T.B. 30
13 Aug, 1913[26] – 19 Nov, 1913[27]
Succeeded by
Charles C. de M. Malan
Preceded by
Guy P. Bowles
Captain of H.M.S. Rifleman
25 Sep, 1916[28][29] – 4 Feb, 1918[30]
Succeeded by
Gerald M. McKenna
Preceded by
New Command
Captain of H.M.S. Spear
6 Dec, 1918[31][32] – 20 Jan, 1919[33]
Succeeded by
Francis W. Craven
Preceded by
Francis W. Craven
Captain of H.M.S. Tirade
25 Jan, 1919[34][35] – 1 Oct, 1919[36]
Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
Thomas B. Fellowes
Captain of H.M.S. Sesame
1 Oct, 1919[37][38] – 7 Oct, 1920[39]
Succeeded by
Herbert M. Ellis
Preceded by
Arthur M. C. Stileman
Captain of H.M.S. Violent
7 Oct, 1920[40][41] – 7 Aug, 1922[42]
Succeeded by
Frederick H. G. Dalrymple-Hamilton
Preceded by
Ralph W. Wilkinson
Captain of H.M.S. Tourmaline
Jan, 1924[43][44] – Mar, 1926[45]
Succeeded by
Richard Harter
Preceded by
John Fawcett
Captain of H.M.S. Versatile
9 Feb, 1926[46] – 1 Apr, 1926[47]
Succeeded by
Martin J. C. de Meric

Footnotes

  1. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  2. The Navy List. (April, 1910). p. 401a.
  3. The Navy List. (March, 1913). p. 399.
  4. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  5. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  6. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  7. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  8. The Navy List. (December, 1920). p. 890.
  9. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  10. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  11. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  12. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  13. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  14. The Navy List. (April, 1910). p. 401a.
  15. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  16. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  17. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  18. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  19. The Monthly Navy List. (March, 1911). p. 401a.
  20. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  21. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  22. The Navy List. (March, 1913). p. 399.
  23. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  24. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  25. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  26. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  27. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  28. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  29. The Navy List. (November, 1917). p. 397n.
  30. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  31. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  32. The Navy List. (February, 1919). p. 910.
  33. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?. Last digit in day of month is questionable.
  34. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  35. The Navy List. (October, 1919). p. 920a.
  36. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  37. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  38. The Navy List. (October, 1919). p. 920a.
  39. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  40. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  41. The Navy List. (December, 1920). p. 890.
  42. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  43. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  44. The Navy List. (July, 1924). p. 276.
  45. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  46. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.
  47. Fletcher Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/. f. ?.