Victor Crutchley

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Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley.
2 November 1893 – 24 January 1986
Admiral Sir Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley
Admiral Sir Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley
Place of birth London, Great Britain
Place of death Nettlecombe, Great Britain
Allegiance Royal Navy
Years of service 1906–1947
Rank Admiral
Commands held HMS Diomede
Captain, Fishery Protection and Mine-Sweeping Flotilla
HMS Warspite
HMNB Devonport
Royal Australian Naval Squadron
Royal Navy Dockyard, Gibraltar
Battles/wars World War I World War II
Awards Victoria Cross
KCB
DSC
Croix de guerre
Chief Commander Legion of Merit
Polonia Restituta

Admiral Sir Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley, VC, KCB, DSC, DL, RN (November 2, 1893 – January 24, 1986) was a British admiral in World War II and a hero of the First World War.

Contents

[edit] Beginnings

Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley was born on 24 January at 28 Lennox Gardens, Chelsea, London, the only son of Percy Edward Crutchley (1855–1940) and the Hon. Frederica Louisa Fitzroy (1864–1932), second daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 3rd Baron Southampton. He was a godchild of Queen Victoria (from whom he derived his first two names). He joined the Navy in 1906 and entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne.

[edit] World War I

In September, 1915 Crutchley was promoted Lieutenant and posted to the dreadnought HMS Centurion of The Grand Fleet. Centurion, under the command of Captain Michael Culme-Seymour participated in the Battle of Jutland. After the battle Roger Keyes took command and while aboard acquired such a favourable impression that when Keyes was selecting men for the Raid on German-held Zeebrugge and Ostend, Crutchley was chosen. He was assigned by Keyes as First Lieutenant to Commander A. E. Godsal, also of the Centurion, on the second class cruiser HMS Brilliant.

Crutchley departed with the raiding force on 22 April 1918 to Ostend, where Brilliant was to be sunk as a blockship in conjunction with HMS Sirius, while Keyes conducted a similar operation at Zeebrugge. Due to the Germans having moved a navigation buoy more than a mile east, the Brilliant, Sirius and accompanying vessels went off course, beached in the wrong position and came under heavy artillery fire. For his service in this action, Crutchley was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

With the failure of the Ostend assault, he volunteered for a second attempt on blocking Ostend on May 9. On board the cruiser HMS Vindictive, a survivor of the earlier attempt, Crutchley was forced to take command when Godsal was killed and the navigating officer incapacitated. Having been forced by heavy enemy fire to beach in the wrong position, Crutchley ordered the vessel scuttled, and personally oversaw the evacuation of the wounded and crew whilst under shell and machine-gun fire. Transferring to the damaged ML 254, Crutchley took command when its captain, Lieutenant Geoffrey Drummond collapsed due to wounds incurred in aiding Vindictive. Up to his waist in water, Crutchley oversaw the bailing out of the fore-end of the craft until aid in the form of the destroyer HMS Warwick, carrying Admiral Keyes, could be found.

Although the approaches to the U-Boat pens at Zeebrugge had failed to be blocked again, Crutchley for his performance in the action was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valour. During the final months of the war Crutchley served on HMS Sikh in the Dover Patrol, the Channel force commanded by Keyes.

[edit] Inter war

After the war Crutchley spent a tour of duty on the minesweeper HMS Petersfield on the South American and South Atlantic station in 1920. A period was spent on the royal yacht HMY Alexandra in 1921, training on the cadet-training dreadnought HMS Thunderer in 1922–1924, the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert III (1924) and four years in the Mediterranean Fleet.

First on HMS Queen Elizabeth (1924–1926) and then on the light cruiser HMS Ceres (1926 1928), Crutchley again served under the command of Roger Keyes, now Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet from Malta. A polo player, Crutchley was invited to play for Keyes' polo team, the Centurions. So diverse was the social atmosphere at the fleet anchorage in Malta that at one point in 1927, Crutchley played on the same team as Keyes, the Duke of York and Louis Mountbatten. Crutchley was promoted commander in 1928. In 1930, he married Joan Elisabeth Loveday of Pentillie Castle, Cornwall, the sister of Air Chief Marshal Alec Coryton.

In August 1930 Crutchley joined HMS Diomede in the New Zealand Division and was seconded to that body until 1933. Serving as executive officer, Crutchley was present at the relief operation after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, and towards the end of his tour, when the captain was chronically ill, took command of the Diomede until promoted captain, and posted home in 1933. He was senior officer, 1st Minesweeper Flotilla (1st MSF) from 1935-1936 aboard the minesweeper HMS Halcyon at Portland, Dorset. In November, 1935 Crutchley took the 1st MSF to join the Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria, and cruised to Famagusta, Cyprus for 10 days during the winter. On 16 April 1936 Crutchley was relieved by Captain W. P. C. Manwaring and promoted Captain, Fishery Protection and Minesweeping with overall command over the Royal Navy's Minesweeping and armed trawler fleet.

On 1 May 1937 Crutchley took command of HMS Warspite, which had spent three years undergoing "large repairs" at Portsmouth, i.e. undergone a complete refit. Due to acceptance trials Warspite was not present at the Coronation Fleet Review of King George VI, and eventually proceeded to the Mediterranean Fleet to serve as the Flagship of Admiral Dudley Pound, Commander-in-Chief. Additional engineering work on the steering gear (which still suffered from damage taken at Jutland) and other equipment resulted in weekend leaves for the crew being curtailed, and led to very low morale. Comments were made in the press in Britain which culminated in an anonymous letter from a crew member on the matter, resulting in an Inquiry by the Admiralty. The Inquiry led to the removal of three of Crutchley's officers, including his executive officer. Disagreeing with the findings of the Inquiry, he made sure that his executive officer's confidential report would lead to a promotion to captain.

Crutchley served as Flag Captain to first Pound and then to Admiral Andrew Cunningham up to the outbreak of war.

[edit] World War II

[edit] North Sea

Map of Narvik and its environs.
Map of Narvik and its environs.

After the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 Warspite was assigned to the Home Fleet. Due to the lack of anti-submarine precautions at the North Sea naval bases, it was some time before she reached Scapa Flow, the main fleet anchorage. Until the start of the Norwegian campaign 9 April, 1940 action had been severely limited by the U-boat threat. A significant German naval presence in the North Sea saw the Home Fleet off the coast of Norway. After the inconclusive First Naval Battle of Narvik on 10 April, Crutchley flew the flag of Vice-Admiral William Whitworth and with nine destroyers entered the strategically important Ofotfjord of Narvik with the aim of eliminating the German force of 8 destroyers commanding the approaches to the harbour.

Before the coming battle, Warspite launched Fairey Swordfish L 9767 which located and sank U-64 in the Herjangsfjord; the first sinking of a U-Boat in World War II and the only instance where an aircraft launched from a battleship sank a U-Boat. Under fire from the German destroyers and German-controlled shore batteries, Crutchley took Warspite up Ofotfjord and with the destroyers sank 3 German destroyers. The remaining 5 enemy destroyers, out of ammunition and fuel, scuttled rather than be captured. Warspite's 15–inch guns took a heavy toll on the German guns overlooking the fjord area, paving the way for the Allied retaking of the port.

After the action which became known as the "Second Battle of Narvik", Crutchley was appointed Commodore, Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport, overseeing the preparation of crews for assignment to ships. While there he was greeted by a detachment of sailors who had served on Warspite at Narvik;

“ A very surprised and delighted Commodore came over to his old ‘Shipmates’ and shook every one by the hand.

In the conversation he disclosed that he had been given a shore job as Commodore, Plymouth and he was not a happy man.[1]

 ”

[edit] South West Pacific Area

After the opening of hostilites with Japan, Crutchley was promoted to Rear-Admiral and lent to the Royal Australian Navy for service in the South West Pacific Area. On 13 June 1942 Crutchley succeeded Rear-Admiral John Crace in command of Task Force 44, the Australian Squadron, based in Brisbane, Australia, the last Briton to do so.

During the Battle of Guadalcanal which began with landings on 7 August 1942, Crutchley was given command of Task Force 62.2, the group of Allied cruisers, destroyers and minesweepers covering the landing force, from HMAS Australia. He was second-in-command to the U.S. Admiral Richmond K. Turner, the commander of the amphibious naval forces for the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. The task force during the opening stages of the invasion was on constant alert rendering support to the landings or fending off Japanese air attacks.

[edit] The Battle of Savo Island

In the evening of 8 August the overall commander of the Solomon Islands naval force, Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher had removed his aircraft carriers and therefore air support. Turner therefore decided that his position would be untenable and planned to remove his transports and other vessels the next day. He ordered a conference with Crutchley and the commander of the ground forces on Guadalcanal Major General Alexander Vandegrift USMC to discuss the implications of losing the air support.

Following the Battle of Savo Island, both men faced public criticism for poor leadership and the U.S. and Australian losses, including HMAS Canberra. However, they retained the confidence of their superiors. Crutchley remained with the RAN in the South West Pacific, commanding the squadron later known as Task Force 74 (TF 74) for the rest of the war. Following a US enquiry, Crutchley was gazetted with the Legion of Merit by US President Roosevelt in September 1944 in the degree of Chief Commander, which its founding charter states can only be awarded to Heads of State. Crutchley's command of the Australian Squadron ended on 13 June 1944.[2]

[edit] Later years

Following the war, Crutchley's final command was Flag Officer Commanding Gibraltar before his retirement in 1947. Crutchley enjoyed a long retirement at Mappercombe Manor, near Bridport in Dorset. In 1957 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Dorset.[3] He was one of the last surviving admirals from the Second World War at the time of his death in 1986 at the age of 92. In 1945 Crutchley had bought two paintings (Capriccio: The Lagoon, Venice and La Torre di Marghera) by the landscape artist Bernardo Bellotto; these were given to the nation in lieu of tax and presented to the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery in 1988.[4]

[edit] Promotion dates

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ My Life My War. BBC - WW2 People's War. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  2. ^ Australian War Memorial. Collection Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  3. ^ Africa Wood. Trafalgar Project. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  4. ^ The two paintings have suspect provenance for the period 1933-1945. Formerly listed on this no-longer functioning British government link, [1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links