John de Robeck

John de Robeck (2nd from left) with his Chief of Staff Roger Keyes and Generals Hamilton and Braithwaite , 1915

Sir John Michael de Robeck, 1st Baronet GCB , GCMG , GCVO (born June 10, 1862 in Naas , Ireland, † January 20, 1928 in London ) was a British naval officer who reached the rank of Admiral of the Fleet . He commanded the Allied naval forces during the Dardanelles Company in World War I and after the war was Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet , British High Commissioner in Turkey and Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet .

Life

De Robeck was born to John Henry Edward Fock, 4th Baron de Robeck , an Irish nobleman of Swedish descent, and joined the Royal Navy in 1875 as a cadet on the training ship HMS Britannia . In 1878 he was promoted to midshipman and assigned to the frigate HMS Shannon in the Channel Squadron . In 1882 he completed an artillery course on HMS Excellent and was transferred to the China Station the following year , where he served on the flagship HMS Audacious from the beginning of 1886 . After assignments at home, he returned to the China Station in 1891, where he served on the HMS Imperieuse , and came back to the HMS Britannia in the summer of 1893, on whose staff he served. This was followed by assignments at the North America and West Indies station and as commander of various destroyers in the home fleet.

From 1901 de Robeck commanded the HMS Pyramus in the Mediterranean Fleet and was promoted to captain at the beginning of 1902 . In 1906 he received command of the armored cruiser HMS Carnarvon and in 1908 the battleship HMS Dominion . In December 1911. Rear Admiral promoted, he received the post of Admiral of Patrols , as which were under him four destroyer.

At the beginning of the First World War, de Robeck received command of the 9th Cruiser Squadron with the flagship HMS Amphitrite . In February 1915 he was named deputy to Admiral Sackville Carden as commander of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron . Its flagship was the HMS Vengeance . When Admiral Carden had to vacate his post due to poor health, de Robeck was his successor in March 1915. His attempt to break through the Dardanelles , begun on March 18, was almost successful, as the Turkish defenders threatened to run out of ammunition. Nevertheless, he finally stopped the operation due to the high losses. Instead, an attempt was now made to switch off the Turkish defense by landing troops. After the company's apparent failure, de Robeck also led the evacuation of the landing forces around the turn of the year 1915/16.

De Robeck's next uses were as commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron from May 1916 and the 2nd Battle Squadron from November 1916 (flagship HMS King George V ). In May 1917 he was promoted to Vice Admiral.

After the end of the war, de Robeck became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet with the flagship HMS Iron Duke and British High Commissioner in Turkey (see occupation of Istanbul ). In this position he was given the hereditary title of baronet , of Naas in the County of Kildare , on October 8, 1919 , and he was promoted to admiral in March 1920 . In August 1922 he became Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, which he remained until his retirement two years later. After retiring from active service, he became President of the Marylebone Cricket Club . In November 1925 he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet.

literature

• TA Heathcote: British Admirals of the Fleet, 1734-1995. Pen and Sword, 2002, pp. 65-67.
• William Stewart: Admirals of the World: A Biographical Dictionary, 1500 to the Present. McFarland, 2009, p. 97.

Web links

Commons : John de Robeck  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Papers of Admiral Sir John de Robeck on janus.lib.cam.ac.uk

predecessor	Office	successor
Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe	Commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet 1919–1922	Sir Osmond Brock
Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe	British High Commissioner in Constantinople 1919–1920	Sir Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet
Sir Charles Madden, 1st Baronet	Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet 1922–1924	Sir Henry Oliver