Difference between revisions of "John Michael de Robeck, First Baronet"

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Admiral SIR John Michael de Robeck, First Baronet, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., Royal Navy (10 June, 1862 – 20 January, 1928) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War. He is perhaps most notable for his command of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron during the abortive attempts to force the Dardanelles in 1915. He later commanded a Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet, and after the war ended held the commands of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets.

Early Life & Career

John Michael de Robeck was born at Gowran Grange, Naas, co. Kildare, 10 June 1862. He was the second son of John Henry Edward Fock, fourth Baron de Robeck, of Gowran Grange, an Irishman of Swedish descent, and the only British subject holding a Swedish title of nobility. John's great-grandfather fought with the French army in the American War of Independence, but was subsequently naturalized as a British subject and settled in Ireland; his grandfather served in Spain under Sir John Moore. His mother was Sophia Charlotte, daughter of William Fitzwilliam Burton, of Burton Hall, co. Carlow. Entering the Britannia as a naval cadet in 1875, De Robeck was less interested in the mechanical aspects of his profession, at a time when engines and high-powered guns were exciting attention, than in seamanship. His only first-class certificate on passing out of the Britannia was in that subject, but it was apparent that he had the makings of a leader of men as well as of a good seaman. His early career, when he served first in China waters and then on the Newfoundland coast, with periods in home waters, was at first uneventful. Between the time when he left the Britannia in 1877 and his promotion to commander twenty years later, he was appointed to no fewer than twenty-four ships, including two spells of duty in the Britannia, which suggested, as was, in fact, the case, that the Admiralty regarded him as peculiarly well fitted to assist in the difficult task of training boys for the naval service, by reason of his open and attractive character and his keen interest in all forms of sport and athletics.

As a commander de Robeck's first independent command was the destroyer Desperate. In 1900 he was given the cruiser Pyramus, a unit of the Mediterranean squadron. He was serving in this ship when, two years later, he was posted to captain. Although he remained inspecting-captain of training ships until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1911, he had been marked out for the command of small craft; and when, early in 1912, the new post of admiral of patrols was created, as part of a scheme of reorganization of the naval forces in home waters, de Robeck proved fully equal to the position. He had under his orders four flotillas of destroyers, with cruisers as ‘leaders’, and he not only brought this force to a high standard of efficiency, but also laid the foundations of a reserve of motor-boats, which proved of the greatest value during the European War. After accomplishing this dual task to the satisfaction of the Admiralty, he went on half-pay, with the result that when war broke out in August 1914 he was unemployed.

Great War

De Robeck was, however, an officer whose services could not be dispensed with, and on the mobilization of the naval forces he was immediately chosen to command the ninth cruiser squadron, which was commissioned from the reserve. This squadron was ordered to patrol one of the mid-Atlantic areas, with its base at Finisterre. The new admiral's special duty was to protect British merchant ships and to harry those of the enemy. During his period of duty on that station he captured first the North German Lloyd liner Schlesien and then the Græcia.

As soon as the decision of the War Cabinet to send a naval expedition to the Dardanelles was communicated to the Admiralty early in 1915, De Robeck was appointed as second-in-command to Vice-Admiral (Sir) Sackville Carden [q.v.] , to whom this difficult enterprise had been confided. He hoisted his flag in the battleship Vengeance in time to take part in the bombardment of the outer forts of the Dardanelles, an operation which was made in the middle of February and lasted several days. The bombardment was quite ineffective, as has since been revealed, but plans for further naval operations were immediately drawn up. The two officers co-operated with conspicuous success in this task, and when Carden had to return home in March owing to ill-health De Robeck, with the full concurrence of Vice-Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, who was also on the station and was his senior, was chosen to take over the command of all the naval forces engaged in the operations against the Dardanelles. So complete had been the confidence between Carden and De Robeck that when the former had gone home, the latter expressed himself well satisfied with Carden's plans for the reduction of the forts at the Narrows. This movement was carried out on 18 March. Owing to the prolonged opportunity for mine-laying which the enemy had enjoyed, the three battleships Irresistible, Ocean, and Bouvet (French) were sunk, and little progress was made towards the admiral's objective. The ill success of this plan was not without its effect on the mind of De Robeck, who, with a clear appreciation of the situation, resisted strenuously the proposal that a further attempt should be made to force the Straits with naval forces, unsupported by the army which had been assembled under General Sir Ian Hamilton. Events had convinced him that military co-operation was essential. Unfortunately a month elapsed before the joint operation could be carried out (25 April). The military expedition, which was placed under the command of General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro [q.v.] , proved a failure in spite of the loyal co-operation of the fleet; and its ill success was subsequently the matter of a controversy in which, however, De Robeck, who had shown marked ability as a leader, was in no way involved. His work and that of the forces under his command was in fact highly praised, and by none more unreservedly than by Sir Ian Hamilton, who wrote in his first dispatch (20 May 1915): ‘Throughout the events I have chronicled, the Royal Navy has been father and mother to the Army. Not one of us but realizes how much he owes to Vice-Admiral de Robeck; to the warships, French and British; to the destroyers, mine-sweepers, picket-boats, and to all their dauntless crews, who took no thought of themselves, but risked everything to give their soldier comrades a fair run in at the enemy.’ De Robeck was indeed fortunate in winning the approval of all who were in any way associated with the disastrous attempt to force the Dardanelles, and when the withdrawal of the army was decided upon he retained the supreme command of the Allied naval forces which carried out on the night of 8–9 January 1916, with consummate success and with relatively small loss of life, this most difficult operation. For his services at Gallipoli he was created K.C.B. in 1916.

The abandonment of the Dardanelles coincided with a number of changes in the command of the grand fleet, owing to the recall of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe to the Admiralty as first sea lord and his relief by Admiral Sir David Beatty, who had hitherto commanded the battle-cruiser fleet. This reorganization of the high command in the North Sea offered an opportunity of giving De Robeck further employment, and he was made vice-admiral commanding the second battle squadron, hoisting his flag in the George V on 3 December 1916. He retained his command on being promoted to the substantive rank of vice-admiral in 1917, and his association with the grand fleet continued until May 1919, when it ceased to exist as a unified command.

De Robeck was one of the senior officers who subsequently received the special thanks of parliament for his war services, being given a grant of £10,000 and created a baronet in 1919, besides being gazetted G.C.M.G. (1919) and G.C.B. (1921). In 1919 De Robeck was chosen as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, hoisting his flag in the Iron Duke, which had been the flagship of Admiral Jellicoe at the battle of Jutland. It was an appropriate appointment, for no one of his rank was better qualified to act as high commissioner at Constantinople, the additional duty which was assigned to him pending the conclusion of a separate treaty of peace with Turkey. On 24 March, 1920, he had been promoted to the rank of Admiral, vice Grant.^[1] His period of duty in the Mediterranean was otherwise uneventful. On relinquishing this command in April 1922 he was appointed in August commander-in-chief of the Atlantic fleet, his flagship being the Queen Elizabeth, which had been Admiral Beatty's flagship when he took over the command of the grand fleet.

De Robeck's resignation of this command in 1924 marked the end of his sea career, although he remained on the active list and was promoted to admiral of the fleet in November 1925. On coming ashore De Robeck was able once more to take part in sport of all kinds. He was a keen follower of hounds, as well as a good shot, and owing to his sustained interest in cricket he was elected president of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1925, being the first naval officer to hold that position.

De Robeck married in 1922 Hilda Maud, daughter of Colonel Augustus Henry Macdonald-Moreton, Coldstream Guards, of Hillgrove, Bembridge, Isle of Wight, and widow of Colonel Sir Simon Macdonald Lockhart, fifth baronet. There were no children of the marriage, and the baronetcy became extinct on the death of De Robeck, which took place suddenly at his house in London on 20 January, 1928.

There is a portrait-drawing of de Robeck by Francis Dodd in the Imperial War Museum, South Kensington.

Footnotes

Bibliography

Papers

Service Records