Admiral of the FleetSir John Michael de Robeck, 1st Baronet, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (10 June 1862 – 20 January 1928) was an officer in the Royal Navy. In the early years of the 20th century he served as Admiral of Patrols, commanding four flotillas of destroyers.
De Robeck commanded the allied naval force in the Dardanelles during the First World War. His campaign to force the straits, launched on 18 March 1915, was nearly successful, as the Turkish land-based artillery almost ran out of ammunition. However, mines laid in the straits led to the loss of three allied battleships. The subsequent ground campaign, like the naval campaign, was ultimately a failure and the ground troops had to be taken off the Gallipoli peninsula by de Robeck on the night of 8 January 1916. He went on to become Commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet and then Commander of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet.
Promoted to captain on 1 January 1902,[7] de Robeck was in July 1902 appointed in command of HMS Warrior, depot ship at Portsmouth.[8] He temporarily commissioned HMS Hercules for short while during summer 1902, waiting for Warrior to be ready from an extensive refit.[9] He became commanding officer of the armoured cruiser HMS Carnarvon in the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1906, commanding officer of the battleship HMS Dominion in the Channel Fleet in January 1908 and then inspecting officer of boys' training establishments in January 1910.[4] Promoted to rear admiral on 1 December 1911,[10] he became Admiral of Patrols, commanding four flotillas of destroyers, in April 1912.[4]
First World War
De Robeck received command of the 9th Cruiser Squadron, with his flag in the protected cruiser HMS Amphitrite, in August 1914, just after the start of the First World War. In this position, he captured the German liners SS Schlesien and SS Graecia.[4][11]
De Robeck became second-in-command, under Admiral Sackville Carden, of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron (the Allied naval forces in the Dardanelles), with his flag in the battleship HMS Vengeance, in February 1915.[4] Carden received instructions to force the straits and then push on to Constantinople: he made an unsuccessful attempt to do this on 19 February 1915, but then fell seriously ill, leaving de Robeck to take command, with his flag in the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, in March 1915.[4] De Robeck's campaign to force the straits, launched on 18 March 1915, nearly succeeded, as the Turkish land-based artillery almost ran out of ammunition: however, mines laid in the straits led to the loss of three Allied battleships.[12] De Robeck, seeing no sense in losing more ships, then abandoned the whole naval operation.[12] On 25 April 1915 the Royal Navy landed General Ian Hamilton's troops at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula (Cape Helles) and at Anzac Cove, on the peninsula's western coast. The Ottoman forces and their German advisors had had two months warning from the first serious navy attack to prepare ground defences before the follow-up ground landing could be mounted, and they used the time effectively.[13] The initial landings failed to achieve their objectives, and the Allies made a further unsuccessful attempt, in August 1915, at Suvla Bay.[12] In the wake of this setback, Commodore Roger Keyes, de Robeck's Chief of Staff, argued for a third attempt to force the straits, but de Robeck recommended against it and the Admiralty accepted de Robeck's advice.[2] The ground campaign, like the naval campaign, ultimately proved a failure, and although de Robeck was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his service in the Gallipoli Campaign on 1 January 1916,[14] he had to organize the evacuation of Hamilton's troops off the Gallipoli peninsula on the night of 8 January 1916.[12]
