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James Fownes Somerville

Sir James Somerville
INF3-77 pt8 Admiral Sir James Somerville.jpg
Admiral Sir James Somerville c. 1943
Born (1882-07-17)17 July 1882
Weybridge, Surrey
Died 19 March 1949(1949-03-19) (aged 66)
Dinder House, Somerset
Buried at St Michael and All Angels Church, Dinder
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Navy
Years of service 1897–1945
Rank Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held HMS Benbow
HMS Warspite
HMS Barham
HMS Norfolk
East Indies Station
Eastern Fleet
Battles/wars

First World War

Second World War

Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (2)
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands)
Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)

First World War

Second World War

Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville GCB, GBE, DSO, DL (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet in which capacity he was involved in providing naval support for the Gallipoli Campaign. He also served in the Second World War as commander of the newly formed Force H: after the French armistice with Germany, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralizing the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. After he had destroyed the French Battle fleet, Somerville played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.

Somerville later became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet: in April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful Indian Ocean raid inflicted heavy losses on his fleet. However, in Spring 1944, with reinforcements, Somerville was able to go on the offensive in a series of aggressive air strikes in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies. He spent the remainder of the War in charge of the British naval delegation in Washington, D.C.


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