Vice-Admiral Sir Robert O'Brien FitzRoy (2 April 1839 – 7 May 1896) was a

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 ...

officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Channel Squadron.

Naval career

Born the son of Admiral

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

, FitzRoy Junior joined the

in 1853.The Correspondence of Charles Darwin:, Volume 14; Volume 1866 By Charles Darwin, Duncan M. Porter, p. 509
/ref> He served in the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

in 1857 and was promoted to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1872. In 1878 he commanded HMS ''Alexandra'', flagship of Admiral Sir

Geoffrey Hornby Admiral of the Fleet Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby GCB (10 February 1825 – 3 March 1895) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he saw action at the capture of Acre in November 1840 during the Egyptian–Ottoman War. As a captai ...

through the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and although he grounded the ship, it was later re-floated. On 16 April 1886 he was made an Naval Aide-de-Camp to

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

. He served as Commander-in-Chief, Channel Squadron from 1894 to 1895 and was appointed KCB shortly before his death in 1896.Whitacker's Almanack 1896

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzroy, Robert Obrien 1839 births 1896 deaths Royal Navy vice admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Robert O'Brien Royal Navy personnel of the Second Opium War