Background
Frederick Sturdee was born at Charlton, Kent, on June 9, 1859, the son of a naval captain.
Frederick Sturdee was born at Charlton, Kent, on June 9, 1859, the son of a naval captain.
Sturdee was educated at the Royal Naval School at New Cross and then joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia on 15 July 1871.
He quickly became known for his intelligence and charm, but also for his unbridled conceit and lack of leadership qualities. During the summer of 1899 Sturdee commanded British naval units off Samoa during the Anglo-American-German squabble, and was rewarded for his efforts with pro-motion to the grade of captain. In May 1905, he was appointed chief of staff to Lord Charles Beresford, commander in chief, Mediterranean Fleet. Promotion to the grade of rear admiral followed in 1908 and to that of vice admiral in 1913. Sturdee prided himself on being a student of history and of war to the point that he believed himself to be the only man who knew anything about war. This attitude, as well as the close tie to Beresford, earned the epithet "pedantic ass" from Admiral John Fisher.
In July 1914, Sturdee was chief of the war staff under the first sea lord, Prince Louis of Battenberg. However, the destruction of Admiral Cradock's cruiser squadron at Coronel on November 1, 1914, prompted Admiral Fisher, Prince Louis' replacement, to dispatch Sturdee to South America as commander in chief of forces in the South Atlantic and South Pacific. Fisher detached the powerful battle cruisers Invincible and Inflexible from the Grand Fleet for the specific purpose of bringing Admiral Count Spee's forces to battle as quickly as possible. Sturdee reached Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on December 7, 1914, with the two battle cruisers as well as with four other cruising ships, thereby enjoying a crushing superiority over the German forces in the area. The following day, Sturdee sighted Spee's flotilla consisting of two armored and three light cruisers.
Conditions were highly favorable: there were a calm sea, excellent visibility, and sufficient daylight remaining. The issue was never in doubt. The armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as the light cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig were destroyed; the Dresden escaped, only to be caught at a later date. It was a complete triumph: the Germans lost more than 2,000 officers and men, including Spee and his two sons, and their vessels had been swept from all but the narrow seas.
After the victory at the Falklands, Sturdee was rewarded with the fourth battle squadron of the Grand Fleet, which he commanded at Jutland on May 31,1916, his flag on board the Benbow. Sturdee was an able squadron commander, his motto "Damn the staff!" notwithstanding. He was somewhat of a heretic on strategy, however, roundly condemning the prevailing single-line deployment and favoring instead divisional tactics. Admiral John Jellicoe, his commander, refused to listen to him: "Sturdee often goes off at half cock." Promotion to the grade of admiral came in May 1917, but not before Sturdee had been terribly hurt by being bypassed for fleet command late in 1916 by Admiral David Beatty. Nonetheless, Sturdee served his new chief ably and loyally throughout the remainder of the war.
Admiral Sturdee was appointed commander in chief at the Nore after the war; he held this post until 1921. He died at Camberley on May 7, 1925.
In 1882 Sturdee married Marion Andrews (died 1940): they had a son and a daughter.