Sir Frederick Field | |
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Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Field
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Born |
Killarney, County Kerry |
18 April 1871
Died | 24 October 1945 Escrick, North Yorkshire |
(aged 74)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1884–1933 |
Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
Commands held |
First Sea Lord Mediterranean Fleet Battlecruiser Squadron HMS King George V HMS Duncan HMS Defiance |
Battles/wars |
Boxer Rebellion First World War |
Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Mentioned in Despatches |
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Laurence Field, GCB, KCMG (18 April 1871 – 24 October 1945) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He served in the Boxer Rebellion as commander of a raiding party and in the First World War as commanding officer of the battleship HMS King George V, flagship of Admiral Martyn Jerram at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet before serving as First Sea Lord during the early 1930s in which role dealt with the response to the Invergordon Mutiny in September 1931 and ensured the abandonment in 1932 of the 'ten year rule', an attempt by the treasury to control defence expenditure by requesting the Foreign Office to declare whether there was any risk of war during the next ten years.
Born the second son of Colonel Spencer Field, 6th Royal Warwickshire Regiment and Catherine Field (née) Darrah, Field was educated privately before joining the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in 1884. He was posted as a midshipman to the armoured frigate HMS Minotaur in the Channel Squadron in November 1886. He transferred to the armoured cruiser HMS Imperieuse on the China Station in March 1888 and to the corvette HMS Constance also on the China Station in early 1889. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 14 November 1890, he was posted to the battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1892. Promoted again to lieutenant on 1 April 1893, he joined the corvette HMS Volage in the Training Squadron in October 1894 before attending the torpedo school HMS Vernon from November 1895.