Background
Archibald Milne second baronet, was born at the Admiralty on June 2, 1855, the son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milne.
Archibald Milne second baronet, was born at the Admiralty on June 2, 1855, the son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milne.
After a short stint at Wellington College, Milne entered the Royal Navy in 1869. For the next thirteen years he served on various units of the fleet and took part in expeditions to put down native uprisings in Africa.
In 1882 Arky Barky, as he was known in the service, was assigned to the royal yacht Victoria and Albert; he was promoted to the grades of commander in 1884, captain in 1891, rear admiral in 1904, vice admiral in 1908, and admiral three years later. From 1905 to 1912 Milne was second in command of the Atlantic Fleet, then of the Channel Fleet, and finally of the Home Fleet. In November 1912, he was appointed commander in chief in the Mediterranean a post that came his way primarily owing to court influence. It is generally conceded that Milne was of inferior caliber, utterly lacking in vigor and imagination, and that he owed his various appointments to high favor.
In all fairness, it must be stated that the situation in the Mediterranean in the fall of 1914 was extremely muddled. Would Austria-Hungary go to war at once? Would Italy uphold the Triple Alliance? What would Turkey do? The Admiralty in London initially ordered Arky Barky to assist the French navy in ferrying African troops to France and to bring to action the German ships stationed in the Mediterranean Sea: the battle cruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau, commanded by Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon. Unfortunately, the French did not bother to inform Milne of their plans, with the result that the Admiralty ordered the British commander to Malta. In the ensuing confusion, the Goeben and the Breslau, after taking on coal at neutral Messina, turned east instead of west as expected, and owing to superior speed outran Admiral Troubridge's cruiser squadron to the Dardanelles and to Constantinople, thereby encouraging Turkey's entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers.
While the Admiralty officially "approved measures taken by him in all respects," Milne nevertheless was severely criticized in the press and certain naval circles for his failure to engage the two enemy cruisers. Admiral John Fisher, who as early as 1909 had depicted Milne as "a serpent of the lowest type," was livid when he heard of the escape of the German vessels. "Personally I should have shot Sir Berkeley Milne for the Goeben." Somewhat more subdued, Admiral David Beatty was nonetheless equally shocked: "God, it makes me sick." These negative reactions partly account for the fact that the navy apparently found no further opportunity of employment for Milne after his return to London on August 18, 1914; he was placed on the retirement list at the end of the war and spent his remaining days at his ancestral residence of Inveresk Gate, Musselburgh.
Milne in 1921 rather ably defended his actions in the Mediterranean against Sir Julian Corbett's account of the affair in the official History of the Great War: Naval Operations and the implied censure of Milne's conduct. More recent investigation by Ulrich Trumpener has partly vindicated Milne's actions by pointing out the confused state of Admiralty thinking on the Mediterranean in August 1914, and the resulting lack of clear directives to the commander at Malta. Yet in the final analysis Marder was right in stating that "Milne was not much good."
Clubs: Marlborough, United Service, Naval and Military.