Britain
David Beatty
1871–1936 Commander, Battle Cruiser Fleet at Jutland, 1916; Commander in Chief, Grand Fleet, 1916–1919; First Sea Lord, 1919–1927
Born in Cheshire to an Anglo-Irish family, Beatty entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1884 and made his name commanding gunboats on the Nile in the Sudan, which brought promotion to commander on 15 November 1898 ahead of about 400 more senior lieutenants. He led the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank, then the Battle Cruiser Fleet at Jutland, where the British lost three battlecruisers, two of them under his direct command. Critics later faulted his signals and gunnery, though some historians defend his handling of the battle. He succeeded Jellicoe at the head of the Grand Fleet in late 1916 and as First Sea Lord from 1919 to 1927 served longer than any other holder of that post. He died on 12 March 1936.
In the chronicle
Sources
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beatty,_1st_Earl_Beatty
- www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/british-and-irish-history-biographies/david-beatty-1st-earl-beatty
- www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_beatty_david.html
- www.rmg.co.uk/collections/archive/rmgc-object-492138
- www.hobyanddistricthistory.co.uk/david-beatty-final-years