Murray Fraser Sueter
Rear-Admiral Sir Murray Frazer Sueter, C.B. (6 September, 1872 – 3 February, 1960) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War, emerging as one of the pioneers of war-time aviation, before becoming in retirement a politician.
Early Life and Career
Sueter was born in Alverstoke, Gosport, on 6 September, 1872, the son of Fleet Paymaster John Thomas Sueter and his wife, Ellen Feild Lightbourn. He entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in 1886, served as a midshipman in the Swiftsure, flagship on the Pacific station, was promoted Lieutenant in 1894, and appointed to the Vernon to qualify as a torpedo specialist in 1896. He commanded the destroyer Fame at the diamond jubilee naval review of 1897, and after a further two years' service on the staff of the Vernon was appointed in 1899 to the Jupiter for torpedo duties.
In 1902 Sueter received an appointment to the gunboat Hazard, at the time commanded by Reginald Bacon and recently commissioned as the first parent ship for submarines, of which the Holland boats were just entering for service as the navy's first submarines. While serving in the Hazard, Sueter distinguished himself by entering the battery compartment of the submarine A.1, after an explosion caused by a concentration of hydrogen, to assist in the rescue of injured men who would otherwise have been badly burnt. This period of service with the early submarines led to a lifelong interest in these vessels, and in 1907 Sueter published one of the first books of real merit on this subject under the title "The Evolution of the Submarine Boat, Mine and Torpedo".
In 1903 Sueter married Elinor Mary de Winton (d. 1948), only daughter of Sir Andrew Clarke; they had two daughters. In that year he was promoted Commander and was appointed in 1904 to the Admiralty to serve as assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance. He returned to sea in 1906 to command the cruiser Barham in the Mediterranean, returning two years later to the Naval Ordnance Department in the Admiralty. He was promoted Captain in 1909.
Association with Aviation
The Admiralty at this time was considering the use of aircraft, especially airships, for reconnaissance duties with the fleet and in 1909 had placed contracts for the construction of a rigid airship to be named Mayfly (Mis Majesty's Airship No. 1. Sueter took a very keen interest in her construction and contributed many useful suggestions during her building. As a result he was appointed in 1910 to command the cruiser Hermione with the additional title of Inspecting Captain of Airships. Unfortunately before her first flight the Mayfly's back was broken while she was being manoeuvred out of her hangar in a high wind in 1911, an accident which for a time put a stop to further airship development for the navy. In 1912 Sueter was brought back to the Admiralty to take over the new air department and much of the rapid development of the seaplane as a naval aircraft was due to his enthusiasm. Shortly before the outbreak of war in 1914, and largely on Sueter's suggestions, the naval wing broke away from its parent body, the Royal Flying Corps, to become the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.). For his work on the development of naval flying Sueter was appointed C.B. in 1914.
Sueter was promoted Commodore, Second Class shortly after the outbreak of war and, still as Director of the Air Department, was largely instrumental in the rapid build-up of the R.N.A.S. to a full war strength. In this he was encouraged by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and by Lord Fisher, recalled as First Sea Lord in October, 1914. Sueter, who had continued with some success to press for airship development, was very largely responsible for the design and rapid production of small non-rigid airships designed to search out U-boats operating in British coastal waters. In all, some 200 of these were built and proved of great value particularly when convoy was adopted later in the war. Sueter also interested himself in the development of torpedo-carrying aircraft, and, working with Lieutenant Douglas Hyde-Thomson, it was he who initiated the design which was adopted in the navy. An early success when a Turkish supply ship was sunk by an air-launched torpedo in the sea of Marmara in 1915 not only vindicated Sueter's ingenuity and foresight but proved to be the first step in the development of one of the navy's most powerful weapons.
In 1915 Sueter turned his inventive mind to new avenues of service for the R.N.A.S. and advanced the idea of providing armoured cars for the defence of airfields established abroad. During the early months these cars did useful work in Flanders and northern France but as the war settled into its static phase of trench warfare their value declined. Two squadrons of these armoured cars were sent abroad, one to Russia under Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson and one to Egypt under the second Duke of Westminster. Sueter's restless brain, not content with the armoured car design, concentrated on means of giving it a cross-country capability by fitting it with caterpillar tracks. From this advance it was a short step to the development of the tank.
With the appointment of an officer of Flag Rank in September, 1915 as Fifth Sea Lord with responsibility for naval aviation, Sueter was made Superintendent of Aircraft construction with full responsibility for the matériel side of all naval aircraft. At the same time he was promoted Commodore, First Class. But in 1917, after some differences of opinion with the Board of Admiralty, he was sent to southern Italy to command the R.N.A.S. units there. Later in the year Sueter wrote a letter to George V on the subject of recognition of his work, and that of two other officers associated with him, in initiating the idea of tanks. This was passed to the Admiralty in the normal manner and roused considerable resentment. Sueter was informed that he had incurred their lordships' severe displeasure and relieved of his command. He returned to England in January, 1918 and despite his protests no further employment was found for him. He was placed on the retired list early in 1920 and shortly afterwards the Admiralty obtained a special order in council to promote him to rear-admiral.
Retirement
Sueter was gifted with a restless brain which he used skilfully and effectively to suggest means of overcoming difficulties, both technical and professional. He was always outspoken, and intolerant of official lethargy in any matter in which he took an interest. It was this intolerance, allied to a headstrong character, which brought to an end a naval career of considerable future promise.
After the war Sueter did much useful work in the development of the empire air mail postal services, and he received the thanks of three successive postmasters-general for his assistance in organizing these services. In 1921 he was elected an independent member of parliament for Hertford, remaining a member as a Conservative until the general election of 1945. He was knighted in 1934. In 1928 he wrote "Airmen or Noahs", largely autobiographical but also attacking current concepts of naval and military warfare and advocating the development of independent air power. It was followed in 1937 by "The Evolution of the Tank".
Sueter died at his home, The Howe, Watlington, Oxfordshire, on 3 February, 1960.
