Difference between revisions of "Cyprian Arthur George Bridge"

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Admiral Bridge wasn't referring to T.B. 81 in his letter, but the obsolete gunvessel of 1879.)
(Early Life & Career)
Line 4: Line 4:
  
 
==Early Life & Career==
 
==Early Life & Career==
 +
As Captain of the ''[[H.M.S. Colossus (1882)|Colossus]]'' Bridge had both [[John Rushworth Jellicoe, First Earl Jellicoe|John Jellicoe]] as Gunnery Lieutenant and [[Lewis Bayly]] as Torpedo Lieutenant.  Bayly recalled that Bridge was "a very strict skipper... a great reader and a clever writer--he seemed to have no other amusements."<ref>Bayly, p. 61.</ref>
 +
 +
Like his contemporary [[Albert Hastings Markham|Albert Markham]], Bridge was a non-smoker, which resulted in an amusing anecdote recounted by Bayly:
 +
<blockquote>I came in one evening and laid my pipe and tobacco-pouch on the table in front of me, and when he asked me to smoke I lit up at once.  After that all went well... until one evening he said, unfortunately, how he envied me smoking.  I went and got a new pipe, filled it, and gave it to him.  But next morning he was so unapproachable that my messmates told me that if I did it again they would throw me overboard.  The experiment was never repeated.<ref>Ibid, p. 62.</ref></blockquote>
 +
 +
==Flag Rank==
 
Bridge was promoted to the rank of {{RearRN}} on 25 February, 1892, vice [[Henry Frederick Nicholson|Nicholson]].<ref>''The London Gazette'': [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/26263/pages/1201 no. 26263.  p. 1201.]  1 March, 1892.</ref>
 
Bridge was promoted to the rank of {{RearRN}} on 25 February, 1892, vice [[Henry Frederick Nicholson|Nicholson]].<ref>''The London Gazette'': [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/26263/pages/1201 no. 26263.  p. 1201.]  1 March, 1892.</ref>
  

Revision as of 10:01, 28 December 2012

Sir Cyprian A. G. Bridge, pictured as a Rear-Admiral.
Photo: Library of Congress.

Admiral SIR Cyprian Arthur George Bridge, G.C.B., Royal Navy (13 March, 1839 – 16 August, 1924) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Early Life & Career

As Captain of the Colossus Bridge had both John Jellicoe as Gunnery Lieutenant and Lewis Bayly as Torpedo Lieutenant. Bayly recalled that Bridge was "a very strict skipper... a great reader and a clever writer--he seemed to have no other amusements."[1]

Like his contemporary Albert Markham, Bridge was a non-smoker, which resulted in an amusing anecdote recounted by Bayly:

I came in one evening and laid my pipe and tobacco-pouch on the table in front of me, and when he asked me to smoke I lit up at once. After that all went well... until one evening he said, unfortunately, how he envied me smoking. I went and got a new pipe, filled it, and gave it to him. But next morning he was so unapproachable that my messmates told me that if I did it again they would throw me overboard. The experiment was never repeated.[2]

Flag Rank

Bridge was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 25 February, 1892, vice Nicholson.[3]

Bridge was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 29 November, 1898, vice Tracey.[4]

On the occasion of the Queen'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, 1899.[5]

As part of a running correspondence kept up with the Admiralty, Bridge wrote the following complaint to the First Sea Lord, Lord Walter Kerr regarding the ships in reserve at Hong Kong:

The "SWIFT", "ESK", "WIVERN", "FIREBRAND", "MIDGE", and all the torpedo-boats, (but two which might be used for carrying messages and for nothing else), are quite useless even for training stokers, and should be got rid of at once, the officers and men now wasting their time in looking after them being employed elsewhere. If these craft cannot be sold quickly, the Commander-in-chief should be ordered to take them out into deep water and sink them. Keeping caretakers in them till their fittings could be sold would cost more than the fittings would fetch.[6]

Bridge's advocation of the sale or destruction of obsolete ships demonstrates that Sir John Fisher was not the only figure in the fin de siècle Royal Navy desirous of sacrificing obsolete ships in reserve to free manpower for more modern men-of-war.

Bridge was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 30 August, 1903, vice Hotham.[7] On the occasion of the King's birthday, Bridge 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 9 November.[8]

In accordance with the provisions of the Order in Council of 22 February, 1870, he was placed on the Retired List on 15 March, 1904.[9]

Footnotes

  1. Bayly, p. 61.
  2. Ibid, p. 62.
  3. The London Gazette: no. 26263. p. 1201. 1 March, 1892.
  4. The London Gazette: no. 27029. p. 7818. 2 December, 1898.
  5. The London Gazette: no. 27086. p. 3585. 3 June, 1899.
  6. Bridge to Kerr, 5 July 1902, BRI/14, Cyprian Bridge MSS, Caird Library, National Maritime Museum.
  7. The London Gazette: no. 27593. p. 5476. 1 September, 1903.
  8. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 27613. p. 6851. 9 November, 1903.
  9. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 27659. p. 1791. 18 March, 1904.

Bibliography

  • "Admiral Sir C. Bridge" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 18 August, 1924. Issue 43733, col C, p. 12.
  • Bridge, Admiral Sir Cyprian, G.C.B. (1918). Some Recollections. London: John Murray.

Service Records


Naval Appointments
Preceded by
William H. Hall
Director of Naval Intelligence
1889 – 1894
Succeeded by
Lewis A. Beaumont

Preceded by
Nathaniel Bowden-Smith
Commander-in-Chief on the Australian Station
1894 – 1897
Succeeded by
Hugo L. Pearson

Preceded by
Sir Edward H. Seymour
Commander-in-Chief on the China Station
1901 – 1904
Succeeded by
Sir Gerard H. U. Noel

Template:CatAdmiral