Herbert Heath

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Sir Herbert Leopold Heath , KCB , MVO (* 1861 in Moorhurst , Surrey , † October 22, 1954 in London ) was a British naval officer (admiral) and diplomat (naval attaché).

Live and act

Heath was born the son of Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath (1817-1907). In 1874 he joined the British Royal Navy as a cadet . Until 1902 he was promoted to captain. From August 1908 to August 1910, Heath served as the successor to Philip Dumas as a naval attaché at the British Embassy in Berlin . He was responsible for maintaining the marine political relations between the two countries at the height of the German-British arms race in the run-up to the First World War .

In this context, Heath held talks with numerous leading representatives on the German side such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, Admiral von Tirpitz and Admiral von Müller. During his time in Germany, Heath observed the expansion of the German deep-sea fleet with increasing concern. His reports to London contributed to informing the government and the Admiralty, Parliament and the press about the rapid German maritime armament and to raise awareness of the potential danger inherent in this.

On the German side, Heath was therefore often held responsible for the outbreak of Naval Scares in 1909. The Kaiser accused Heath internally of "spreading lies, telling nonsense and agitating against Germany" (lies, nonsense, agitated against us). After that, access to German naval facilities was made more and more difficult for him, and audiences were increasingly denied him. The request made by the British Ambassador Goschen on July 23, 1910 to grant Heath a farewell audience, the Emperor accordingly refused on the pretext of being otherwise busy. Tirpitz also said that Heath was supplying the UK government with inaccurate and malicious information about the German construction program. Seligmann summarized the mood against Heath in Germany, which contributed significantly to his recall, as follows: “Very quickly it became axiomatic in Berlin that the British rejection of the assurances given by the imperial government with regard to naval construction was due to erroneous information supplied by heath. " Heath's successor as naval attaché was from 1910 Captain Hugh Watson .

From 1912 to 1915 Heath took over the post of Inspector for the Portsmouth Shipyard (Admiral Superintendent Portsmouth Dockyard). As Rear Admiral , he took part in the most important naval battle of the First World War, the Battle of Skagerrak , in 1916 , in which he commanded the 7th and 2nd cruiser squadrons and the 3rd battle squadron of the Royal Navy.

Heath was knighted in 1917. From 1918 to 1919 he held the third most important post in the British Navy as Second Sea Lord after that of the Minister of the Navy (First Lord of Admiralty) and that of the First Sea Lord (First Sealord). Following his promotion to admiral, he held the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy on the Scottish coast from 1919 to 1922.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Year and place of birth as well as stages of promotion according to Martin Gilbert: Winston S. Chuchill, 1966, p. 772. Date and place of death according to Facts on File Yearbook , 1955, p. 359.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Deist / Annika Mombauer : The Kaiser. New Research on Wilhelm's II. Role in Germany, 2003, p. 188. Marginal note from the emperor in Tirpitz's letter to Widemann. Elsewhere, Deist and Mombauer formulate that Heath had to bear the brunt of Wilhelm's allegations.
  3. ^ Ibid.
  4. ^ Matthew S. Seligmann: Spies in Uniform. British Military and Naval Intelligence and the Eve of the (...), 2006, p. 58.
personal data
SURNAME Heath, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heath, Sir Herbert Leopold (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British naval officer (admiral) and diplomat (naval attaché)
DATE OF BIRTH 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Moorhurst , Surrey
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1954
Place of death London