Christopher Cradock
Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Cradock KCVO CB (* 2. July 1862 in Yorkshire (Great Britain); † 1. November 1914 before Coronel ( Chile )) was a British naval officer , most recently Rear Admiral in the First World War .
Life
Cradock joined the Royal Navy in 1875 and initially served in various positions in the Mediterranean . In 1900 Cradock fought in the Boxer Rebellion in China , where he commanded a mixed unit of British, German and Japanese marines in the battle for the Taku forts . For this combat mission, Cradock was awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II .
In 1910 Cradock was appointed Rear Admiral and in 1912 was awarded the Royal Victorian Order . In 1913 he was given command of the Royal Navy station in North America and the Caribbean. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Cradock took command of the 4th Squadron of the Royal Navy, consisting of several older armored cruisers with the order to destroy the German cruiser squadron under Vice Admiral Graf Spee .
Cradock found the German squadron in the Pacific off Chile . On November 1, 1914, there was a sea battle at Coronel . Due to better technology, training and combat experience, the German ships were able to destroy the British squadron . The British armored cruisers HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth were sunk with their entire crew, including Rear Admiral Cradock on board the HMS Good Hope .
A monument was erected in a square in York Minster for Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock, who was not married .
Awards
- Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
- Companion of the Order of the Bath
- Prussian Order of the Crown
Publications
- Sporting Notes in the Far East (1889)
- Wrinkles in Seamanship (1894)
- Whispers From the Fleet. J. Griffin, Portsmouth (1907)
Web links
- Sir Christopher George Francis Mau Cradock , entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 (English)
- Gallery of the German Federal Archives on the sea battle at Coronel
- Exhibition at the Google Cultural Institute on the sea battle at Coronel
Individual evidence
- ↑ Excerpt from a letter from Kapitänleutnant Busch (1st artillery officer SMS Gneisenau ) with a description of the sinking of the Good Hope in the sea battle of Coronel in the Federal Archives, accessed on April 5, 2018.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cradock, Christopher |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cradock, Christopher George Francis Maurice |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British rear admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 2, 1862 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yorkshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 1, 1914 |
| Place of death | before Coronel |