Frederic Wake-Walker

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Royal Navy Admiral (1888–1945)

title: "Frederic Wake-Walker" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1888-births", "1945-deaths", "people-from-east-bergholt", "people-educated-at-haileybury-and-imperial-service-college", "lords-of-the-admiralty", "royal-navy-admirals-of-world-war-ii", "companions-of-the-order-of-the-bath", "commanders-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "royal-navy-officers-of-world-war-i", "admiralty-personnel-of-world-war-ii"] description: "Royal Navy Admiral (1888–1945)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Wake-Walker" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Royal Navy Admiral (1888–1945) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]

FieldValue
honorific_prefixAdmiral
nameSir Frederic Wake-Walker
honorific_suffix
imageThe Third Sea Lord. January 1944, Admiralty. Vice Admiral Sir W Frederic Wake-walker, Kcb, Cbe, Third Sea Lord and Controller. A23581.jpg
captionWake-Walker when Third Sea Lord, January 1944
birth_nameWilliam Frederic Wake-Walker
birth_date
death_date
death_placeLondon, England
allegianceUnited Kingdom
branch
serviceyears1903–1945
rankAdmiral
commands

Director of Torpedoes and Mining 12th Cruiser Squadron 1st Mine Laying Squadron Force K 1st Cruiser Squadron | | battles | Operation Dynamo Battle of the Denmark Strait Last battle of the battleship Bismarck | ::

| honorific_prefix = Admiral | name = Sir Frederic Wake-Walker | honorific_suffix = | image = The Third Sea Lord. January 1944, Admiralty. Vice Admiral Sir W Frederic Wake-walker, Kcb, Cbe, Third Sea Lord and Controller. A23581.jpg | caption = Wake-Walker when Third Sea Lord, January 1944 | birth_name = William Frederic Wake-Walker | birth_date = | death_date = | birth_place = | death_place = London, England | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = | serviceyears = 1903–1945 | rank = Admiral | unit = | commands =

Director of Torpedoes and Mining 12th Cruiser Squadron 1st Mine Laying Squadron Force K 1st Cruiser Squadron | battles = Operation Dynamo Battle of the Denmark Strait Last battle of the battleship Bismarck | awards = | relations = | laterwork = Admiral Sir William Frederic Wake-Walker KCB CBE (24 March 1888 – 24 September 1945) was a British admiral who served in the Royal Navy during World War I and World War II, taking a leading part in the destruction of the , and in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation at Dunkirk.

Early life and education

Born William Frederic Wake-Walker, he was the son of Frederic George Arthur Wake-Walker and Mary Eleanor Forster and the grandson of Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, who was Surveyor of the Navy from 1848 to 1861.

After attending Haileybury school, Wake-Walker entered the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth as a cadet in 1903,{{Cite web |url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersW.html#Wake-Walker_WF |title=Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945 - W |work=unithistories.com |access-date=22 March 2010 |archive-date=13 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113131751/http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersW.html#Wake-Walker_WF |url-status=live |url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_wake_walker.html |title=Sir William Frederic Wake-Walker (1888-1945) |work=historyofwar.org |access-date=22 March 2010 |archive-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523090045/http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_wake_walker.html |url-status=live

World War I

By the start of World War I, Wake-Walker had risen to the rank of lieutenant, and served as torpedo lieutenant on from 1913 to 1915. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander in July 1916 and after training at , was appointed to the new battleship , serving in her until the end of the war.

Inter-war years

Commands and promotions

Wake-Walker was promoted to commander in June 1920, serving aboard from 1919 to 1921. Between 1921 and 1925, he served at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, then at the Tactical School, Portsmouth. He returned to sea as executive officer of from 1925 to 1927. Wake-Walker achieved flag rank on 10 January 1939.

Liability for the collision between HMS ''Dragon'' and ''Maplebranch''

Main article: Wake-Walker v SS Colin W Ltd

On 13 August 1934, Dragon under Wake-Walker's command was entering the Market (or Victoria) Basin in the harbour of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, when the ship collided with an oil bunkering steamer, Maplebranch, which was securely moored at the time of the collision. Maplebranch sank. The steamer's owners sued Wake-Walker for the damages to Maplebranch and its cargo, alleged to have been caused solely by the improper and negligent navigation and mismanagement of Dragon by Wake-Walker. In his defence, Wake-Walker pleaded inevitable accident, caused by the maneuvering of a third vessel, Saguenay Trader, which Wake-Walker was trying to avoid hitting.

The Admiralty action was heard by the Exchequer Court of Canada (Quebec Admiralty District), which held that Wake-Walker was liable. Wake-Walker appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld the finding of liability on a 3-2 majority. Speaking for the majority, Justice Davis held that when a vessel under steam collides with a moored vessel, the commander of the vessel under steam is presumed liable for the collision, and has the onus of proving that he was not negligent. Wake-Walker had not done so. In addition, the trial judge had found actual fault by Wake-Walker in his navigation of Dragon and there was no basis to set aside that finding on appeal. Wake-Walker then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, at that time the highest court of appeal for the British Empire. That court dismissed the appeal. Speaking for the Judicial Committee, Viscount Sankey agreed with the courts below that Wake-Walker had not discharged the onus to prove that the accident had been inevitable.

World War II

Wake-Walker was first appointed rear-admiral commanding the 12th Cruiser Squadron in September 1939. This appointment lasted only a short time as he soon returned to the Admiralty as head of a special group created to develop magnetic mine countermeasures.

In May 1940, Wake-Walker was appointed rear-admiral in command of all ships and vessels off the Franco-Belgian coast for the evacuation of Dunkirk. Wake-Walker reached Dunkirk in the minesweeper on 30 May. On 1 June his flagship, the destroyer , was sunk by Ju 87 Stukas, and he thereafter directed operations from the motor torpedo boat MTB 102 in the harbour. For his role in the evacuation he was appointed Companion of the Bath.

Sinking ''Bismarck''

In late May 1941, two of Wake-Walker's heavy cruisers – and his flagship - were positioned north west of Iceland to intercept and shadow the if she attempted to break out into the Atlantic. Bismarck sortied from Bergen towards the Denmark Strait on 21 May in company with the heavy cruiser .

On 23 May 1941 at 19:22, Suffolk sighted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. After a brief exchange of fire, the out-gunned British ships took cover in nearby fog and tracked the enemy by radar. They maintained contact with the two German ships through the night despite appalling weather, and guided Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland's two capital ships and into position to intercept Bismarck. The two forces came together in the Battle of the Denmark Strait the next day.

Vice-Admiral Holland was killed when Hood was destroyed, and many of Prince of Waless senior officers were killed or wounded, which left Wake-Walker in command of the surviving Norfolk, Suffolk and Prince of Wales. He decided not to risk continuing the battle but to shadow the German ships, believing that Admiral John Tovey, with powerful elements of the Home Fleet, was approaching. Wake-Walker stayed in the trail of Bismarck, but radar contact was lost early on 25 May. Wake-Walker sent Suffolk to search to the southwest, and thus she played no further role in the battle. Norfolk turned east, and was at the sinking of the Bismarck, the following day.

Later, moves were made to court-martial Wake-Walker and Captain John Leach of Prince of Wales. The view was taken that they were wrong not to have continued the battle with Bismarck after Hood had sunk. John Tovey, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, was appalled at this criticism. A row ensued between Tovey and his superior, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound. Tovey stated that the two officers had acted correctly, not endangering their ships needlessly and ensuring that the German ships were tracked. Tovey threatened to resign his position and appear at any court-martial as 'defendant's friend' and defence witness. No more was heard of the proposal.{{cite book | last = Kennedy | first = Ludovic | author-link = Ludovic Kennedy | title = Pursuit - The Sinking of the Bismarck | publisher = Book Club Associates | year = 1974 | page = 212

Personal life

Wake-Walker married Muriel Elsie Hughes (1890–1963), only daughter of Sir Collingwood Hughes of East Bergholt, Suffolk, at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, on 19 January 1916. They had two sons and two daughters, including the artist Penelope Hughes Wake-Walker (1917–2003), who married Sir Geoffrey Eley of East Bergholt, and Capt. Christopher Baldwin Hughes Wake-Walker (1920–1998), who married Anne (1920−2020), daughter of the 7th Earl Spencer and aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales.

He died unexpectedly at his home in London on 24 September 1945 at the age of 57 and is buried in East Bergholt cemetery. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Frederic_Wake-Walker_grave.jpg" caption="Wake-Walker's grave at [[East Bergholt]] cemetery, Suffolk."] ::

Notes

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • {{Cite web | title = Bismarck & Tirpitz | url = http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck_class/bismarck/men_involved/wakewalker.html | access-date =7 April 2008}}
  • {{Cite web | last = Rickard | first = J | title = Sir William Frederic Wake-Walker (1888–1945) | date = 20 February 2008 | url = http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_wake_walker.html | access-date =7 April 2008}}
  • {{Cite web |url= http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersW.html#Wake-Walker_WF |title=Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945 |work=unithistories.com |access-date=22 March 2010

References

  1. Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  2. ''Wake-Walker v. SS. Colin W. Ltd.'', [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1937/1937_49.pdf [1937] UKPC 49], [1937] 2 D.L.R. 753 (P.C.), at p. 761. {{Webarchive. link. (24 September 2015)
  3. ''Wake-Walker v. Steamer Colin W. Ltd.'', [1936] S.C.R. 624, at p. 636.
  4. Hogben, Lawrence. (19 April 2001). "Sinking the 'Bismarck'". LRB Ltd..
  5. Roskill, Stephen. (1978). "Churchill and the Admirals". [[William Morrow & Company]].
  6. link. (13 September 2022 . Retrieved 27 May 2022.)
  7. [https://www.tatler.com/article/princess-diana-aunt-dies-99-lady-anne-wake-walker Tatler, "'The end of an era': The aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales died aged 99 and a half"], 26 February 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  8. [https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/22030519.princess-dianas-aunt-flee-nazi-inspired-riots/ Ipswich Star, "How Princess Diana's aunt had to flee Nazi-inspired riots: Obituary: Lady Anne Wake-Walker, 99, loved Suffolk and had 'a lively sense of fun'"], 10 March 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  9. "Wake-Walker, Sir William Frederic".

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1888-births1945-deathspeople-from-east-bergholtpeople-educated-at-haileybury-and-imperial-service-collegelords-of-the-admiraltyroyal-navy-admirals-of-world-war-iicompanions-of-the-order-of-the-bathcommanders-of-the-order-of-the-british-empireroyal-navy-officers-of-world-war-iadmiralty-personnel-of-world-war-ii