James Somerville

Who was James Somerville?

Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville GCB, GBE, DSO, DL 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. He later became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet: in April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful Indian Ocean raid inflicted heavy losses on Somerville's fleet including an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, two destroyers, one corvette, five other vessels, and 45 aircraft – all destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Navy. 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.