VICTOR OF FALKLANDS

Southland Times, Issue 19546, 9 May 1925, Page 7

VICTOR OF FALKLANDS

NOTED ADMIRAL DEAD. SIR DOVETON STURDEE. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, May 7. The death is announced of Admiral Sturdee. CAREER OF THE ADMIRAL. BRILLIANT NAVAL VICTORY. Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Frederick Charles Dove ton Sturdee was born in 1859. He entered the Navy in 1871, and served in the Egyptian War, 1882, being present at the bombardment of Alexandria as a lieutenant in the Hecla. He was assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance, 189397, and Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence, 1900-02. Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean fleet, 1905-07, he was RearAdmiral of the First Battle Squadron, 1910, and commanded the Second Cruiser Squadron, 1912-13. Sturdee was Chief oi the War Staff, 1914-15, and it was while thus employed that Lord Fisher sent him to the Pacific to find and defeat Von Spee. The crushing defeat of the German squadron off the Falkland Island followed on December 8, 1914. In the Battle of Jutland Admiral Sturdee was in command of the Fourth Battle Squadron. He was Com-mander-in-Chief at the Nore, 1918-21. Promoted Rear-Admiral, 1910, and Admiral 1917, he was made Admiral of the Fleet, 1921. Knighted in 1913, he was created a baronet, January 1, 1916. In 1919 he received a grant of £lO,OOO for his services during the Great War. Admiral Sturdee, in the last year or two, has taken an energetic part in the movement for raising funds for the preservation of Nelson’s flagship Victory The following is a description of the battle off the Falklands:— HOW THE ACTION WAS FOUGHT. Within 10 days of the Battle of Coronel, so disastrous to the British Navy, the Invincible and Inflexible—two of the earlier, but still powerful, battle cruisers, each capable of a speed of 27 knots and carrying eight 12-inch guns—had been detached from the Grand Fleet, coaled and munitioned, and under Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee were steaming towards the Equator, unknown to the world, to avenge Admiral Cradock and his lost crews. Ten days later they met their assigned consorts, and proceeded to the Falkland Islands. The other warships consisted of the Cornwall, the Carnarvon, the Kent, the Glasgow and the Bristol. The news of the approach ot Von Spec’s squadron was received early in the morning. The German Admiral never suspected the presence in Port Stanley of the Invincible and Inflexible, and he knew that the other boats would be at his mercy. When the word that the Germans were in sight was received the two British battle cruisers were coaling. The Germans, on learning of the presence of the unwelcome visitors, tried to seek safety in flight, but they were outpaced, and Admiral Sturdee, having the advantage of a longer range in guns, was able to dictate a long-range action. The Germans fought bravely, but without hope. The Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau (cruisers) were sunk by gunfire. The enemy’s three light cruisers (the Leipsic, the Dresden and the Nurnberg) were pursued by the lighter British vessels, and the Leipsic and the Nurnberg were sunk after dramatic actions. Of Von Spee's squadron, only the Dresden remained, and she was sunk three months later. The total British casualties in killed and wounded in the action amounted to lefe than 30.