Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox military person Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, Template:Postnominals (5 February 1888 – 12 February 1981) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War, saw action during the Gallipoli Campaign and took part in the internment of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of the war. He also served in the Second World War initially as Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy and then as second-in-command and afterwards as commander of the Home Fleet, leading the force that destroyed the Template:Ship. He went on to be First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in which role he assisted in establishing NATO and agreed to the principle that the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic should be an American admiral, in the face of fierce British opposition.

Early naval career

Born the son of General Alexander Fraser and Monica Stores Fraser (née Smith), Fraser was educated at Bradfield College.<ref name=odnb>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in September 1902 and passed out as a midshipman in the battleship Template:HMS in the Channel Fleet on 15 January 1904.<ref name=heath88>Heathcote, p. 88.</ref> He transferred to the battleship Template:HMS in the Channel Fleet in February 1905 and, having been promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 March 1907,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he joined the battleship Template:HMS in May 1907.<ref name=heath88/> He moved to the destroyer HMS Gypsy in September 1907 and, having been promoted to lieutenant on 15 March 1908,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he joined the cruiser Template:HMS in the Mediterranean Fleet.<ref name=heath88/>

Fraser transferred to the Home Fleet in August 1910 and remained there serving in Template:HMS until July 1911 when he joined Template:HMS, the Royal Navy's school of Gunnery at Whale Island in Portsmouth harbour where he commenced the 'long course' to qualify as a specialist Gunnery Officer.<ref name=heath88/> He assisted on the Advanced Gunnery Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1912 and then joined the instructing staff at HMS Excellent in 1913.<ref name=heath88/>

Fraser served in the First World War, initially in the cruiser Template:HMS providing naval gunfire support during the Gallipoli Campaign and then carrying troops to protect Egypt's Western frontier.<ref name=heath88/> He returned to HMS Excellent early in 1916 and, having been promoted to lieutenant commander on 15 March 1916, he joined the battleship Template:HMS as Gunnery Officer at the end of the year.<ref name=heath88/> He spent the remainder of the War with the Grand Fleet and took part in the internment of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918.<ref name=heath88/>

The aircraft carrier Template:HMS, which Fraser commanded in the mid-1930s

After the war and following his promotion to commander on 30 June 1919 and his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 17 July 1919,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Fraser volunteered to serve with the White Russian Caspian Flotilla; however on arrival in Azerbaijan as part of the 1920 Royal Navy Mission to Enzeli, he was captured and imprisoned by Bolsheviks in the Black Hole of Baku until released in November 1920.<ref name=heath89>Heathcote, p. 89.</ref> He then returned to HMS Excellent before joining the Naval Ordnance Department at the Admiralty in June 1922.<ref name=heath89/> He became Fleet Gunnery Officer for the Mediterranean Fleet in December 1924 and, having been promoted to captain on 30 June 1926,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he became Head of the Tactical Division of the Admiralty in January 1927.<ref name=heath89/> He was appointed to command the cruiser Template:HMS on the East Indies Station in September 1929 and then became Director of the Naval Ordnance Department at the Admiralty in July 1933.<ref name=heath89/>

Fraser returned to sea to take command of the aircraft carrier Template:HMS in May 1936 and then became Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers in 1937.<ref name=unit>Template:Cite web</ref> He reached Flag rank as a rear admiral on 11 January 1938<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and was made chief of staff to the commander-in-chief Mediterranean Fleet in April 1938.<ref name=heath89/> He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1939 New Year Honours.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Second World War

In March 1939, shortly before the outset of the Second World War, Fraser was appointed Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy.<ref name=heath89/> Promoted to vice admiral on 8 May 1940,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1941 Birthday Honours<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and became second-in-command, Home Fleet and Flag Officer, 2nd Battle Squadron, in June 1942.<ref name=heath89/> He was appointed a Grand Officer of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau on 19 January 1943.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Tokyo Bay – Surrender of Japanese aboard Template:USS. Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, commanding British Pacific fleet, signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the United Kingdom. Other British representatives stand alongside General Douglas MacArthur at the microphone‎.

Fraser was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet in May 1943 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1943 Birthday Honours.<ref name=unit/> In the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, he commanded the Royal Navy force that destroyed the German battleship Scharnhorst at the Battle of the North Cape on 26 December 1943.<ref name=heath89/> Units of the Home Fleet regularly escorted convoys to Murmansk in the Soviet Union: Fraser was convinced that Scharnhorst would attempt an attack on Convoy JW 55B, and put to sea in his flagship Template:HMS to reach a position between the convoy and the German battleship's base in North Norway.<ref name=odnb/> Scharnhorst had her fighting ability destroyed by repeated hits from Duke of York and her speed reduced by a 14-inch shell hit to a boiler room, which deprived her of the ability to escape.<ref>Raven and Roberts, p. 356.</ref> She was then hit by an initial wave of four torpedoes and, after concentrated gunfire and further torpedo attacks, sank at 7.45 pm that night.<ref name=odnb/> Thus Fraser avenged the destruction of his old command, HMS Glorious, by Scharnhorst three years earlier.<ref>Howland, p. 52.</ref> After the action Fraser and his fleet returned to Murmansk for refuelling.<ref>Golovko, p. 35.</ref>

For this action he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 5 January 1944,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and awarded the Russian Order of Suvorov, First Degree on 25 February.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Promoted to full admiral on 7 February 1944,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Fraser took command of the Eastern Fleet in August 1944 and then of the British Pacific Fleet in December 1944.<ref name=heath89/> He commanded from ashore at his Headquarters in Sydney in Australia and built a strong relationship with the United States Navy, adopting their system of signal communications.<ref name=heath89/> Fraser was the British signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.<ref name=heath90>Heathcote, p. 90.</ref>

Later career

Bust of Admiral Fraser in Portsmouth Dockyard

Memorial to Admiral Fraser at St Michael and All Angels Church in Thursley

On 27 April 1946 Fraser was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King and,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> in September, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Fraser of North Cape, of Molesey in the County of Surrey.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in September 1947 and First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in September 1948,<ref name=heath90/> and was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet on 22 October.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> As First Sea Lord he assisted in establishing NATO and agreed to the principle that the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) should be an American admiral, in the face of fierce British opposition.<ref name=heath90/> He retired in December 1951 and died, unmarried, in London on 12 February 1981, one week after his birthday at the age of 93, upon which the barony became extinct.<ref>Heathcote, p. 91.</ref>

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

• Transcription of Official Service Records on www.admirals.org.uk
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