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

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.). On 12 September, 1908, he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, vice Kingsmill.

Great 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. Henry F. Oliver later wrote that Sturdee was, "A pompous man who would never listen to anyone else[']s opinion. I could not stick him."

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 on 6 October. 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. On 22 January his appointment as Commander-in-Chief ceased.

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!"

The Nore

On 1 March, 1918, Sturdee was appointed Commander-in-Chief at the Nore.

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." he echoes 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 completely. — 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 B. Jackson	Chief of the Admiralty War Staff 1914	Succeeded by Henry F. Oliver
Preceded by Sir Douglas A. Gamble	Vice-Admiral Commanding, Fourth Battle Squadron 1915 – 1918	Succeeded by Sir Montague E. Browning
Preceded by Sir George A. Callaghan	Commander-in-Chief at the Nore 1918 – 1921	Succeeded by Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas