Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Hugh Justin Tweedie KCB (5 April 1877 – 20 August 1951) was an officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

who served in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Naval career

Tweedie was born at Charlton, Kent, the son of General Michael Tweedie of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, and his wife Louisa Bateson Hammond. He joined the

in 1891. As a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

on he witnessed the sinking of after she collided with . He served in and the sailing corvette as the midshipman of the fore cross trees in 1896. On ''Rodney'' he undertook a course on

mine warfare Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices: *Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to disable or destroy vehicles *Minelaying, deployment of explosive mines at sea **Naval mine ...

. His instructor was Robert Falcon Scott. At the time of the Diamond Jubilee Review in 1897, Tweedie was appointed to the destroyer . He then served on the cruiser at the Cape. Promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

he received his first command, the governor's paddle yacht ''Countess of Derby'' for an operation on the Bumpeh River in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. There had been an uprising due to the imposition of Hut Tax War of 1898, Hut tax. He was tasked to transport a detachment of troops up the river to attack the rebel position. The detachment managed to get lost and Tweedie led a second native

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

in a successful operation against the rebel position. Tweedie's next posting was the destroyer , the cruiser and then the new battleship in China. He was a member of the first officer PT class at Britannia Royal Naval College before being appointed PT officer on ,

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

in China, in 1906 under Sir Arthur Moore. Promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in 1910 he had charge of the destroyers , , and ''Hope'' under Reginald Tyrwhitt Tweedie's next command as captain was the cruiser in Mexico at time of

United States occupation of Veracruz The United States occupation of Veracruz (April 21 to November 23, 1914) began with the Battle of Veracruz and lasted for seven months. The incident came in the midst of poor diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States, and was re ...

. He was sent by Admiral Cradock from

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

with a small party to take despatches through the rebel lines to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He returned with some one hundred American refugees for which he was thanked by

President Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

. ''Essex'' then steamed to Canada. Approaching the St Lawrence River, a distress call was received from which had collided with a collier. ''Essex'' was three hours away at full steam only to arrive in time to pick up bodies as ''Empress of Ireland'' had sunk. In Canada Tweedie spent sometime as aide-de-camp to the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

, the

Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...

. Tweedie's next command in 1915 was the monitor which was being built in

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

. The ship was nearly destroyed before it was launched in a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

raid on the town. Tweedie's wife Constance launched the ship. A

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...

, is a shallow draught

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

with a large

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

mounted on top. The ship turned out to be very difficult. She was designed to make though she never much exceeded . Her

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s were unreliable. She had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and was very unmanageable in any wind. She saw action off the Belgium coast bombarding German positions with her guns. In 1916, Tweedie was appointed to another monitor, , seeing action in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

around Salonica and the Dardanelles. In 1917 Tweedie returned to Rosyth. He was promoted to Commodore of the Grand Fleet Flotillas, a command of some 150 ships, under Admiral Beatty. His flagship was . It fell to him at the end of hostilities to lead out all his destroyer flotillas to meet the German High Seas Fleet and escort them into the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

. This was quite a feat of seamanship. The destroyer flotillas were to be ahead of the main British fleet. The ships were spread out on a front of to ensure the German fleet that was steaming towards them was not missed in the dark. The German destroyers were then escorted back to Rosyth, altogether a total of 170 ships. He was made a

Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

(CB) in 1919. After the First World War, Tweedie was involved with the coastguard. In 1922 he commanded the battleship in the Mediterranean during the Chanak Crisis. In 1923 he had a shore job as director of training. In 1926 he was promoted to

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

and Senior Naval Officer on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

, China. China was in a state of upheaval with war lords, communists and pirates operating on the river. His flagship was , an . Tweedie was promoted to vice admiral and Commander-in-Chief Africa Station in 1930. His command stretched from the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

up both the east and west coasts of Africa to the equator. HMS ''Calcutta'' cruised each coast twice a year. In 1933 he was Commander-in-Chief, The Nore and was knighted KCB. He was promoted to

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

in 1935. Tweedie retired from the navy in 1936 and in 1939 published his autobiography.Sir Hugh Tweedie ''The story of a naval life'' at Open Library
/ref> However, he was recalled at the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1940 he was Commodore of Convoys from . Tweedie served as Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. He died in 1951 at the age of 74. Tweedie married Constance Marion Crossman in 1907 in Japan. They had three sons and four daughters. Michael who was killed 1937 serving in the

Guides Cavalry The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) is an armoured regiment of the Pakistan Army which was raised in 1846 as The Corps of Guides. During more than a hundred and fifty years of military service, the regiment has earned the reputation of one of ...

. Hugo who followed his fathers into the navy was awarded DSC 1942 as commander of HMS ''Tynedale'' during the

St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...

. Vere Tweedie who served in the Gold Coast Regiment of

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

awarded MC in 1945 during an action behind Japanese lines on the

Tamandu Tamandu was a village in Ann Township, Kyaukpyu District, in northern Rakhine State in the westernmost part of Myanmar. Tamandu was located on the southside of the Dalet River (Dalet Chaung) just after it passes through the Kolonzin Range of hills ...

to An road in the Arakan

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

References

* Tweedie, Admiral Hugh. "The Story of a Naval Life", Rich & Cowan (1936) , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedie, Hugh 1877 births 1951 deaths Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy admirals of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Officers of the Legion of Honour People from Charlton, London Deputy Lieutenants in England Military personnel from Kent Members of Trinity House Convoy commodores