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Rear-Admirals 1939-40

In September 1939, there were 31 Rear-Admirals of whom five had no appointments. This was not especially out of the ordinary: four of them had only just been promoted four weeks earlier, and were presumably awaiting their first flag appointments. I think I am right in saying that, at that date, when you were promoted you went on to half-pay (literally, so gardening leave was not much fun) until you received your new appointment - after all, the treasury could not pay you as a Rear-Admiral if you weren't doing a Rear-Admiral's job, now could they? This changed, I believe, in 1940, to, more or less, what we know today - i.e., so long as you're serving the Queen, you get paid full pay. But, you still have to be on the books of a ship, which is why one was appointed, say, to Centurion, while you were between appointments or on long leave after doing, perhaps, two years in a NATO appointment overseas. The only remnant, I believe, of the old system is that if you are dismissed your ship by a court-martial, you are only given half-pay until you are re-appointed: it amounts to a fine. I am not sure if this applies in 2004, but it certainly did until quite recently.

Another interesting fact is that, in the September `39 list, the Seniority List contains details of individual flag Officer's appointments: but, after the outbreak of war, the appointments of sea-going flag officers were omitted (on security grounds?), although some, but not all, shore appointments continued to be shown. However, a look at the alphabetical list will give a reasonable indication of where the sea-goers were. E.g, R-A Bonham-Carter, who had been NavSec to 1SL, was in the alphabetical list as serving in Royal Sovereign in March 1940, presumably as RA, Umpteenth Battle Squadron (and further research shows this to have been the 3rd BS)

To sum up:

In September 1939, there were 31 Rear-Admirals on the Active List. In considering the proposition that 80% were dismissed for incompetence within a year, we will discount the Duke of Kent, who was effectively an Honorary Rear Admiral (and who held his (official) appointment (as Personal ADC to the King - well, he would, wouldn't he! - throughout the year), so we're considering 30.

7 remained in the same post from September `39 to October `40: BELL DAVIES, PRIDHAM, PHILLIPS, GODFREY, VIVIAN & DREW.

2 remained in the same post from September `39 to October `40, and were promoted during that period: ARBUTHNOT & FRASER.

2 moved to another appointment, and were promoted, which hardly suggests incompetence (no cynical comments please): WHITWORH & WATSON.

2 retired in the normal course: CUSTANCE, HOLT.

1 died (from natural causes, or an accident): BLAGROVE.

4 moved from various appointments to the IDC, which hasn't normally been an appointment for anyone who wasn't going places - it certainly was unlikely to have been used as a reward for incompetence: HOLLAND (from R-A 2BS - and who later died in the Hood); KING (from CoS to CinC HF); HALLIFAX (from R-A(D), HF Flotillas); PRIDHAM-WIPPELL (from DPS - he went on to become 2i/c to Cunningham in the Med., and did pretty well) .

4 moved sideways from one appointment to another: MOORE (R-A, 3CS to ACNS (Trade), via a short spell at the IDC); BONHAM-CARTER (from NavSec to 1SL to command of the 3rd BS); TAIT (from RNB Portsmouth to DPS); BURROUGH (from ACNS to command of a Cruiser Squadron).

3 moved from being unemployed in September `39 (all newly promoted) to their first flag appointments, which they held throughout): CRACE, CANTLIE, DORLING.

I would suggest that these 25 all had perfectly normal career patterns during this time - certainly none appear to have been dismissed for incompetence. So there are 83.3% who were NOT dismissed for incompetence within a year.

There are some whose career patterns are, perhaps, not as clear as they might have been:

DOWDING. He went as AS Devonport in September 38 (his second flag appointment, but was gone by June 1940. I suspect he was a retirement in normal course, but the length of his appointment was slightly shorter than the norm.

WODEHOUSE. He went as AS Gibraltar in May `39 (also his second flag appointment), but had left by March `40, and then had a short spell at the IDC before diasappearing. Unusual.

WAKE-WALKER. His career during this time was not straightforward, but observing that he got the CB for his Dunkirk efforts, and later went on to sea command, I think we can discount any suspicion of incompetence.

LYSTER. Like WAKE-WALKER his career in this year seems to have been fragmented, but his subsequent career in the Med was not without its moments - though I don't know how much of the Taranto planning was his - he joined very soon before the operation.

CURTEIS. He had been Commodore of RNB Devonport since promotion in August `38, but then disappears off the plot. It could be normal retirement.

NOTES

* According to the invaluable Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy, by Lt. Cdr. Ben Warlow, Spartiate was the base Depot Ship in Glasgow for Flag Officer, Clyde. It can't be said that this was a step up for R-A WATSON, but it was nonetheless an important post, and he'd done about 18 months as R-A Submarines.

** WAKE-WALKER is a bit of a mystery, on the basis of the Navy List alone. However, he seems to have been used as a bit of a trouble shooter - during the period March-September 1939, he suddenly collected a CB, and other sources show that he was heavily involved with the Dunkirk evacuation - the recent obituary of Commander Christopher Dreyer recalls how they made an admiral's flag out of a pusser's tea-towel and a pot of red paint in MTB 102 (which is still afloat) to take him to the beaches. His appointment, as of October `40, to Southern Prince is also something of a mystery. Warlow shows that Southern Prince was a temporary HQ at Southend, but gives no dates for her being commissioned and de-commissioned earlier than 1944. Dunkirk was over by this time, but there was still a risk of invasion, and I think he might have had a local command as FOIC Thames, or something similar. At any rate, he later went on to command the whichever Cruiser Squadron it was, with his flag in Norfolk, during the chase of the Bismarck.

*** LYSTER too, is a bit of a mystery. The first appointment he has is in March 1940, when according to the alphabetical list, he is borne in Iron Duke, which was static in Scapa Flow. During WW1, Scapa had had a senior (indeed, a very senior) admiral as the base commander, but at this stage of WW2, Scapa was slightly in disgrace - the Home Fleet decamped to Loch Ewe after the sinking of the Royal Oak, and didn't come back until the spring of `40, I believe. However, it wasn't LYSTER's fault, even if he'd been there in Sept `39. The paucity of the defences were down to the cheeseparing of pre-war governments.

^ It is an assumption to say that MURRAY was still R-A 5CS, but the alphabetical list shows that he was borne in Liverpool, so I think it's reasonable assumption.

^^ It is an assumption to say that BONHAM-CARTER was the R-A of a Battle Squadron, but the March Alphabetical List shows him as being borne in the Tiddly Quid, then in June he's borne in Seaborn (sic), which Warlow shows to have been the base in Halifax NS (later to become Stadacona), and to have been the Accounting Base for the 3rd Battle Squadron.

^^^ LYSTER was borne on the books of President, but the Navy List proper, that is the list of individual ships and establishments (which continued to list all officers in the funny outstations), makes no mention of him that I can find. But since he went as FOAC (Med), and was responsible for Taranto, he can't have been doing too badly.