Admiral Sir John Ommanney Hopkins (13 July 1834 – 29 September 1916) 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 ...

officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.

Naval career

Hopkins joined the

in 1848.William Loney RN
/ref> Promoted to Captain in 1867, he commanded successively HMS ''Liverpool'', HMS ''Narcissus'', HMS ''Royal Adelaide'' and HMS ''Temeraire''. He became Commander of HMS ''Excellent'', the Gunnery School at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, in 1880. In 1881 he became Private Secretary to the

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

and in 1883 he was made Captain-superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard and Director of Heavy Ordnance in 1883. He went on to be Admiral-superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard in 1886 and Junior Naval Lord and then

Third Naval Lord and Controller of the Navy The post of Controller of the Navy (abbreviated as CofN) was originally created in 1859 when the Surveyor of the Navy's title changed to Controller of the Navy. In 1869 the controller's office was abolished and its duties were assumed by that of ...

in 1888. Hopkins had the distinction in 1893 of parading his brigade of Royal Marines in New York City in the first display of British military force in that City since the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Promoted to vice admiral in 1891 Hopkins was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North American and West Indies Station later that year before being made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1897 during which tour he hosted a visit to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

by the Kaisar Wilhelm II. He was a supporter of improvements in gunnery and at this time experimented with a new type of salvo firing. He retired as a full admiral in 1899 and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the

1899 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1899 were announced on 3 June 1899 in celebration of the birthday of Queen Victoria. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. The list was published in '' ...

. In 1903 he served on the Royal Commission responsible for examining the conduct of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. Hopkins predicted the threat from

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 ...

s as the threat of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

approached and lobbied for investment in aerial defence. He died in 1916.Sir John Hopkins
''The New York Times'', 1 August 1916

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, John 1834 births 1916 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lords of the Admiralty