Front jacket flap blurb

Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman
The Life and Times of an Officer and a Gentleman

Few naval careers encompassed more dramatic and fundamental change than that of Sir Francis Bridgeman (1848-1929), one of the most able and respected naval men of his day.Trained in sail and cutlass, he rose to fly his flag in the revolutionary Dreadnought and play a crucial role in the creation of the Grand Fleet of World War I.

Yet, for all his distinguished service, Bridgeman hit the headlines only once - on the occasion of his reluctant resignation in 1912 at the request of the ambitious young First Lord, Winston Churchill. Churchill insisted, contrary to popular speculation, that he had asked his First Sea Lord to step down for reasons of health, and brilliantly defended his position in the Commons.

In this most readable biography Stewart Ross explains how the Bridgeman-Churchill confrontation was less about medical opinion than a clash of personality of style, of generations, even of morality in which the ruthless political genius sank the officer and gentleman almost without trace.
Cover picture: HMS Dreadnought

Back jacket flap blurb

The Author
Since becoming a full- time writer in 1989, Stewart Ross has published five popular histories, two historical novels and numerous books for children. Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman is his first full-length biography.

He lives near Canterbury with his wife and four children and each morning commutes ten yards to work in a large but in the garden.

Contents

Foreword by Jan Morris
Introduction and Acknowledgements

1. Britannia
2. ' The Queen's Navee'
3. Blanche and the Pacific
4. Last Chance
5. In Sickness and in Health
6. 'An Excellent Captain'
7. 'The Best Admiral we have'
8. Dreadnought and the Admiralty
9. First Sea Lord
10. 'Unable to concur'
11. 'I have been meaning to write...'
12. 'The Healthiest Invalid in England'
13. Party Purposes
14. Bitter-sweet
15. 'A Noble Example'

Select Bibliography
Index
Family Tree

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