| The Lord Chatfield | |
|---|---|
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Ernle Chatfield |
|
| Born | 27 September 1873 Southsea, Hampshire, England |
| Died | 15 November 1967 (aged 94) Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1886–1938 |
| Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
| Commands held | Atlantic Fleet Mediterranean Fleet |
| Battles/wars | First World War |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Order of Merit Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commander of the Royal Victorian Order |
| Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield | |
|---|---|
| Minister for Coordination of Defence | |
| In office 29 January 1939 – 10 May 1940 |
|
| Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
| Preceded by | Sir Thomas Inskip |
| Succeeded by | Winston Churchill as Minister of Defence |
Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC (27 September 1873 – 15 November 1967) was a Royal Navy officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1939. He subsequently served as Minister for Coordination of Defence between 1939 and 1940.
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Chatfield was born in Southsea, the only son of Admiral Alfred John Chatfield, and entered the Royal Navy in 1886.[1] He was Captain of HMS Medina during the Royal Tour of India in 1911.[1]
During the First World War he served as Captain of HMS Lion, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron. Chatfield was present as Beatty's Flag-Captain at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914, at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 and at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. It was at Jutland, after two British battlecruisers had blown up, that Beatty made his famous remark, 'There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today, Chatfield'.[2][3]
After the war Chatfield served as Fourth Sea Lord and then became Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in 1920.[1] He was appointed Commander of the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in 1922 and Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy in 1925.[1] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet in 1929 and Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1930.[1] Finally he was promoted to full admiral and appointed First Sea Lord in 1933.[1] He retired in 1938.[1]
He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1935, and in 1937 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Chatfield, of Ditchling in the County of Surrey.
In 1939 Lord Chatfield succeeded Sir Thomas Inskip as Minister for Coordination of Defence[1] in the government of Neville Chamberlain, despite having a non-political background.
In March 1939 Chatfield urged an increase in munition production: "Would it not be possible to put industry on a war production basis immediately, not necessarily at the expense of our export trade but by curtailing internal consumption?" However the President of the Board of Trade, Oliver Stanley, objected: "Such a step would be almost revolutionary, and must be proved absolutely essential before introduction".[4]
On 11 April the Foreign Policy Committee decided that the question of Russia's potential as an ally should be referred to the Chiefs of Staff. Chatfield said that it was clear the political arguments against a Russian alliance outweighed any possible military benefits and that the Chiefs of Staff should only report on Russia's military capability.[5] On 24 April the Chiefs of Staff submitted their report and rated Russia's military effectiveness low. The next day Chatfield gave the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Policy a summary of this report: "Russia, although a great Power for other purposes, was only a Power of medium rank for military purposes...Her assistance would be of considerable, though not of great, military value".[6] On 16 May Lord Halifax said that the political reasons for not allying with Russia was stronger than the strategic reasons for such an alliance. Chatfield responded: "...if for fear of making an alliance with Russia we drove that country into the German camp we should have made a mistake of vital and far-reaching importance".[7]
Chatfield chaired the Expert Committee on the Defence of India which, using the work of the 1938 Auchinleck Committee, outlined in 1939 the re-equipment, modernisation and expansion of the British Indian Army (which grew to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war from 183,000 in 1939). He also advocated transforming the British economy into war production before war broke out in 1939 by curtailing domestic consumption. However Oliver Stanley at the Board of Trade refused, arguing that such a move would be 'revolutionary' in peacetime. Chatfield served as Minister for Coordination of Defence through the outbreak of the Second World War, but exercised little influence. He was asked to resign in April 1940 and the post was abolished
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Hugh Tothill |
Fourth Sea Lord 1919–1920 |
Succeeded by Sir Algernon Boyle |
| Preceded by Sir Cyril Fuller |
Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy 1925–1928 |
Succeeded by Sir Roger Backhouse |
| Preceded by Sir Hubert Brand |
Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet 1929–1930 |
Succeeded by Sir Michael Hodges |
| Preceded by Sir Frederick Field |
Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet 1930–1932 |
Succeeded by Sir William Fisher |
| Preceded by Sir Frederick Field |
First Sea Lord 1933–1938 |
Succeeded by Sir Roger Backhouse |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Thomas Inskip |
Minister for Coordination of Defence 1939–1940 |
Office abolished |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Chatfield 1937–1967 |
Succeeded by Ernle David Lewis Chatfield |
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