Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, First Baronet

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee, as a Rear-Admiral.
Photo: Library of Congress.

Admiral of the Fleet SIR Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.V.O., L.L.D., Royal Navy (9 June, 1859 – 7 May, 1925) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He is chiefly known for his victory at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, where his squadron destroyed a German cruiser force in South American waters, thus avenging the British defeat at Coronel.

Early Life & Career

Sturdee was born at Charlton, Kent, on 9 June, 1859, the eldest son of Captain Frederick Rannie Sturdee, Royal Navy, (d. 6 January, 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 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 Samoa, on 1 January, 1900 Sturdee was appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.). 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 C.V.O. 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 was spent in command of the battleship New Zealand in the Channel Fleet. On 12 September, 1908, he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, vice Kingsmill. In 1910 he commanded the [[First Battle Squadron (Royal Navy)|First 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 K.C.B. in the previous June.

First World War

On 30 July 1914, immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, Sturdee relieved Admiral Sir Henry Jackson as Chief of the Admiralty 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 on 31 October, he "exerted himself to displace" Sturdee, who was appointed as Commander-in-Chief on the South Atlantic and South Pacific Station. The Commodore (S), Roger Keyes, later wrote to his wife, "I have never seen anyone so miserable [and] furious as he [Sturdee] was under the monstrous treatment he received when Prince Louis was turned out." 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.

Grand Fleet

On 25 November Sturdee, along with Vice-Admiral Jerram, received a telegram from the Admiralty asking him if he wished to continue in his present command. An officer on Marder's staff (no doubt William M. James, whom the editor has never had any time for) later wrote to Arthur Marder that he "well remembers the day when he received the telegram. he was a very conceited man and I am sure was greatly surprised when he was passed over as Jellicoe's successor. He used to explain he had stayed on, as his great knowledge of tactics would be so useful to Beatty!"

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 the Marquess of Milford Haven (Prince Louis of Battenberg) as president of the Society for Nautical Research, and devoted himself to the restoration of Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. He had achieved this before he died at his residence, Wargrave House, Camberley, Surrey, on 7 May, 1925.

Assessment

Andrew Lambert's potted biography of Sturdee in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ends:

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.

Earlier Lambert had written that, "[Sturdee] bore the largest share of responsibility for the destruction of the cruiser squadron under Sir Christopher Cradock at Coronel on 1 November 1914." In effect he quoted the eternal malcontent Richmond who held Sturdee "primarily responsible." As to failing in his capacity as Chief of the War Staff, Sturdee held the position for only three months. In making such broad generalisations, Lambert completely exonerates those who had the authority and the responsibility for the conduct of the war at sea, namely Churchill and Battenberg, who were at any rate the architects of the War Staff which is widely held to have failed so conspicuously. — SIMON HARLEY, Co-editor.

Bibliography

• "Sir Doveton Sturdee" (Obituaries). The Times. Friday, 8 May, 1925. Issue 43956, col A, pg. 19.

Papers

• Papers in the possession of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/39.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/20.

Naval Office
Preceded by Sir Henry Jackson	Chief of the Admiralty War Staff 1914	Succeeded by Sir Henry Oliver
Preceded by Sir Douglas Gamble	Vice-Admiral Commanding, Fourth Battle Squadron 1915 – 1918	Succeeded by Sir Montague Browning
Preceded by Sir George Callaghan	Commander-in-Chief at the Nore 1918 – 1921	Succeeded by Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas