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

Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee was born on 9 June, 1859, in Charlton, Kent, the son of Frederick Ranney Sturdee (27 July, 1814 - 6 January, 1885), a Master in Her Majesty's Fleet, who retired in 1870 with the rank of Staff Captain and was granted the rank and title of Retired Captain.

Sturdee was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority of 7 February, 1880.

He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1893.

Captain

Sturdee was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1899.

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.).

In October 1902, he assumed command of the second class protected cruiser Minerva.

On the occasion of the King's visit to Malta Sturdee was appointed a Member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order (M.V.O.) on 21 April, 1903.

In November 1903, he became Captain of the armoured cruiser Bedford, remaining about one year.

On 1 May, 1905, Sturdee was appointed to the Bulwark as Chief of the Staff to Vice-Admiral Lord Charles Beresford.

On the occasion of the King's visit to Corfu he was appointed a Commander in the Royal Victorian Order (C.V.O.) on 16 April, 1906.

He was appointed to the King Edward VII as Chief of the Staff to Beresford on 5 March, 1907.

He was appointed to command the battleship Zealandia on 31 December, 1907.

Flag Rank

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

Offered command of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron in November 1911 by the new First Lord Winston Churchill, Sturdee accepted "with pleasure", adding "Cruiser work has always interested me".

Sturdee's interest in cruisers is further underlined by a collection of five memoranda by him that were published by the Admiralty War Staff's Operations Division in May 1913. Four of these discussed cruiser warfare during the eighteenth centuries, and a fourth was intended to give "a few guiding principles" for contemporary cruiser operations.

On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 3 June, 1913. He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 13 December, vice Lowry.

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. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry F. Oliver, the then-Director of the Intelligence Division, later wrote that Sturdee was: "A pompous man who would never listen to anyone else[']s opinion. I could not stick him."

He has been widely regarded as a failure in this post, and in the words of Andrew Lambert: "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, in the words of Ruddock Mackay.

Sturdee 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. He struck his flag at Gibraltar on 28 January and returned to Britain in India. On the same day he wrote to Rear-Admiral Reginald G. O. Tupper from Gibraltar, "I had a good day yesterday with the Calpe Hounds & hope to have another one on Saturday before I leave."

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 Sturdee'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!"

On 15 September he was appointed an Additional Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (K.C.M.G.) for his services at Jutland, dated 31 May.

In a letter to Jellicoe of 28 November, 1916, Madden wrote,

I called on Sturdee before he could come here, he is most anxious to assist Beatty and me tho I know how keenly he feels the change, he referred to the fact that for 10 years he had been made to feel the weight of T.L. [Their Lordships'] displeasure, I hope that there may be a future for him, tho it does not seem possible that it will be afloat.

Sturdee was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 17 May, 1917, vice Gamble.

The Nore

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

He was appointed an Ordinary Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) on 1 January, 1921.

Retirement

On 5 July, 1921, Sturdee was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in the place of Sir Hedworth Meux.

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

Admiral The Hon. Sir Reginald A. R. P.-E.-E.-Drax wrote the following to Arthur Marder during the writing of From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow:

I knew Sturdee well; we both served together on Beresford's Staff and Sturdee was a great success there as his C.O.S. I think it is unfair to call S. very conceited, though he perhaps became a trifle conceited after his victory over Von Spee.

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, p. 19.
• Admiralty War Staff, Operations Division (1913). Papers on Naval Subjects by Rear-Admiral F. C. D. Sturdee, C.V.O., C.M.G. O.D. No. 6. The National Archives. ADM 1/8326

Papers

• Papers in the possession of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/87.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/39.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/20.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Cecil Burney	Rear-Admiral Commanding Fifth Cruiser Squadron 1911 – 1912	Succeeded by Renamed Third Cruiser Squadron
Preceded by Former Fifth Cruiser Squadron	Rear-Admiral Commanding Third Cruiser Squadron 1912 – 1913	Succeeded by Charles E. Madden
Preceded by Sir Henry B. Jackson	Chief of the Admiralty War Staff 1914	Succeeded by Henry F. Oliver
Preceded by New Command	Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic and South Pacific 1914 – 1915	Succeeded by Command Ended
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