Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy admiral. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval support for the Gallipoli Campaign.
Born~Died Jul 17, 1882 ~ Mar 19, 1949Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 4:41 PM
Admiral of the FleetSir James Fownes Somerville (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy admiral. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval support for the Gallipoli Campaign. He also served in the Second World War as commander of the newly formed Force H: after the French armistice with Germany, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralising the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. After he had destroyed the French Battle fleet, Somerville played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.
Somerville later became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet. In April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful Indian Ocean raid inflicted heavy losses on his fleet. However, in spring 1944, with reinforcements, Somerville was able to go on the offensive in a series of aggressive air strikes in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies. He spent the remainder of the war in charge of the British naval delegation in Washington, D.C.
Early life and family
Somerville was born on 17 July 1882, the second son of Arthur Fownes Somerville, of Dinder House, Somerset, and his wife Ellen Somerville (née Sharland, daughter of William Stanley Sharland of New Norfolk, Tasmania).1 His father had studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was called to the bar as a barrister in 1875 and had then become recorder of in 1916. Later he was President of the . Somerville was descended in the male-line from the Fownes family of Nethway and Kittery Court, his ancestors being John Fownes the younger and John Fownes the elder were for in the early eighteenth century and another ancestor went on to marry an heiress of the Somerville family of Dinder House, changing their surname to Somerville in 1831 in honour of this connection. Through his paternal grandmother, he was descended from the Hood family, which had a long tradition of naval service and which counted as members Vice Admiral , and Admiral .
This page is based on “James Somerville” from English Wikipedia, (r1379832632) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
In 1913, Somerville married Mary Main; they had a daughter and a son.5 His son Lieutenant-Commander John Arthur Fownes Somerville, CB, CBE served in the Royal Navy and became the deputy director of GCHQ.6 The news reader Julia Somerville is one of their granddaughters.7
Somerville stayed in the service after the war, becoming Executive Officer in the battleship HMS Ajax in the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1920 and then Executive Officer in the battleship HMS Emperor of India also in the Mediterranean Fleet.13 Promoted to captain on 31 December 1921,14 he joined the Admiralty as Deputy Director of Signals in early 1922, before becoming Flag Captain to Sir John Kelly, commanding the 4th Battle Squadron, in the battleship HMS Benbow in August 1922.13 He returned to the Admiralty as Director of Signals in February 1925 before becoming Flag Captain to Sir John Kelly in his new role as Commander of the 1st Battle Squadron in early 1927, first in the battleship HMS Warspite and then, after the Warspite struck a rock, in the battleship HMS Barham.13 He joined the directing staff at the Imperial Defence College in 1929 and became commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Norfolk in the Home Fleet in December 1931.13 Promoted to commodore on 14 October 1932, he became commander of the Royal Navy Barracks at Portsmouth later that month and then, after promotion to rear admiral on 12 October 1933, he became Director of Personnel Services at the Admiralty in May 1934.13 As Director of Personnel Services he introduced a seaman's welfare scheme following the Invergordon Mutiny.13 He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1935.15
With the approach of the Second World War, Somerville was recalled to duty on special service to the Admiralty later in 1939 and performed work on naval radar development.16 In May 1940, Somerville served under Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, helping organize the Dunkirk evacuation.13 His next major assignment was as commander of the newly formed Force H based in Gibraltar, with his flag in the battlecruiser HMS Hood.13 After the French armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralizing the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. They were to attack and destroy the French ships if all other options failed. Churchill wrote to him:
You are charged with one of the most disagreeable tasks that a British Admiral has ever been faced with, but we have complete confidence in you and rely on you to carry it out relentlessly.18
Although Somerville privately felt that such an attack would be a mistake, he carried out his orders. The French refused to comply with British conditions and so on 3 July 1940, Force H attacked French ships at Mers-el-Kébir. Somerville's forces inflicted severe damage on their erstwhile allies, most notably sinking the battleship Bretagne with heavy loss of life. Several other major French ships were damaged during the bombardment. The operation was judged a success, but he admitted privately to his wife that he had not been quite as aggressive in the destruction as he could have been.19 He was Mentioned in Despatches on 16 August 1940.20
Somerville transferred his flag to the battlecruiser HMS Renown in August 1940 and led the British forces in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November; Churchill was outraged at Somerville for not continuing the pursuit of the Italian Navy after that battle and dispatched the Earl of Cork to conduct an inquiry, but Cork found that Somerville had acted entirely appropriately.21 Force H bombarded Genoa on 9 February 1941, and Somerville, still in HMS Renown in May 1941, also played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck later that month.21 Somerville transferred his flag to the battleship HMS Nelson in August 1941 and also played a major role in protecting Malta from enemy attack in autumn 1941.22 He transferred his flag to the battleship HMS Rodney and then to the battleship HMS Malaya.21 He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his service with Force H on 21 October 1941.23
Indian Ocean, 1942–1944
Somerville became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet, with his flag in the battleship HMS Warspite in March 1942 and was promoted to full admiral on 6 April 1942.24 Following the fall of Singapore and the Indian Ocean Raid, Somerville transferred his fleet headquarters from Trincomalee in Ceylon to Kilindini in Kenya.21 In April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful 1st Air Fleet (Kidō Butai) centered around five fleet carriers launched the Indian Ocean raid that inflicted heavy losses on Somerville's fleet including a light aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, one corvette, five other vessels, and 45 aircraft. The damage inflicted upon Royal Navy and allied Commonwealth forces in the Indian Ocean was nonetheless minimized, being forewarned by intelligence so their heavy units sailed from their bases prior to the Japanese air attacks. Somerville avoided a direct confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Navy, preserving the Eastern Fleet's two fleet carriers and one battleship.25
For most of the rest of 1942, Somerville's fleet avoided any major operations against the Japanese, barring a brief sortie into the Bay of Bengal in late July and early August 1942 during which he turned back after being spotted by a Japanese flying boat on 2 August 1942. Somerville's unwillingness to risk his ships in a diversionary attack against the Japanese in Southeast Asia during mid- and late 1942, which he saw as necessary to preserve its precariously limited strength and its ability to guard merchant convoys in the Indian Ocean, was met with derision by US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King, as King believed that the Eastern Fleet doing so would greatly assist the Americans in their own operations against the Japanese as they clashed at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and throughout the Guadalcanal campaign.26
MacIntyre, Donald (1961). Fighting Admiral: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville. Evans Brothers, London. - a detailed biography, written with the help of his family and professional colleagues, and with access to his private letters and diaries
Somerville, James (1996). The Somerville Papers: Selections from the Private and Official Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville, GCB, GBE, DSO. Navy Records Society, London. ISBN 978-1859282076.
Notes
Footnotes
Fox-Davies (1905), p. 1203; Venn (1953), p. 159 for her father's full name. ↩
According to Venn (1953), p. 591, Arthur Fownes Somerville was the son of James Curtis né Fownes (later Somerville); born in 1807, he was the son of James Somerville né Fownes (later Somerville), JP (see Venn (1944)); Burke (1847), p. 1262, then states that this James Somerville Somerville was the son of the Rev. Thomas Fownes, son of John Fownes, MP for Dartmouth from 1715 to 1722, who was son of John Fownes, MP for the same from 1714 to 1715. Burke, ibid., also states that the Rev. Thomas married a daughter and heiress of the Hon. George Somerville of Dinder House, and describes the inheritance of that estate as well as the name change. ↩
Simpson (2004); Venn (1953), p. 159 gives his mother as Emily Piriam Hood, daughter of Sir Alexander Hood, Baronet. He was the second Baronet and his family is outlined in Burke (1865), pp. 583–584, which also refers to the connection with the Viscounts Hood. ↩
Admiral of the FleetSir James Fownes Somerville (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy admiral. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval support for the Gallipoli Campaign. He also served in the Second World War as commander of the newly formed Force H: after the French armistice with Germany, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralising the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. After he had destroyed the French Battle fleet, Somerville played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.
Somerville later became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet. In April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful Indian Ocean raid inflicted heavy losses on his fleet. However, in spring 1944, with reinforcements, Somerville was able to go on the offensive in a series of aggressive air strikes in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies. He spent the remainder of the war in charge of the British naval delegation in Washington, D.C.
Early life and family
Somerville was born on 17 July 1882, the second son of Arthur Fownes Somerville, of Dinder House, Somerset, and his wife Ellen Somerville (née Sharland, daughter of William Stanley Sharland of New Norfolk, Tasmania). His father had studied at , was called to the bar as a barrister in 1875 and had then become recorder of in 1916. Later he was President of the . Somerville was descended in the male-line from the Fownes family of Nethway and Kittery Court, his ancestors being John Fownes the younger and John Fownes the elder were for in the early eighteenth century and another ancestor went on to marry an heiress of the Somerville family of Dinder House, changing their surname to Somerville in 1831 in honour of this connection. Through his paternal grandmother, he was descended from the Hood family, which had a long tradition of naval service and which counted as members Vice Admiral , and Admiral .
In 1913, Somerville married Mary Main; they had a daughter and a son.5 His son Lieutenant-Commander John Arthur Fownes Somerville, CB, CBE served in the Royal Navy and became the deputy director of GCHQ.6 The news reader Julia Somerville is one of their granddaughters.7
Somerville stayed in the service after the war, becoming Executive Officer in the battleship HMS Ajax in the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1920 and then Executive Officer in the battleship HMS Emperor of India also in the Mediterranean Fleet.13 Promoted to captain on 31 December 1921,14 he joined the Admiralty as Deputy Director of Signals in early 1922, before becoming Flag Captain to Sir John Kelly, commanding the 4th Battle Squadron, in the battleship HMS Benbow in August 1922.13 He returned to the Admiralty as Director of Signals in February 1925 before becoming Flag Captain to Sir John Kelly in his new role as Commander of the 1st Battle Squadron in early 1927, first in the battleship HMS Warspite and then, after the Warspite struck a rock, in the battleship HMS Barham.13 He joined the directing staff at the Imperial Defence College in 1929 and became commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Norfolk in the Home Fleet in December 1931.13 Promoted to commodore on 14 October 1932, he became commander of the Royal Navy Barracks at Portsmouth later that month and then, after promotion to rear admiral on 12 October 1933, he became Director of Personnel Services at the Admiralty in May 1934.13 As Director of Personnel Services he introduced a seaman's welfare scheme following the Invergordon Mutiny.13 He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1935.15
With the approach of the Second World War, Somerville was recalled to duty on special service to the Admiralty later in 1939 and performed work on naval radar development.16 In May 1940, Somerville served under Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, helping organize the Dunkirk evacuation.13 His next major assignment was as commander of the newly formed Force H based in Gibraltar, with his flag in the battlecruiser HMS Hood.13 After the French armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralizing the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. They were to attack and destroy the French ships if all other options failed. Churchill wrote to him:
You are charged with one of the most disagreeable tasks that a British Admiral has ever been faced with, but we have complete confidence in you and rely on you to carry it out relentlessly.18
Although Somerville privately felt that such an attack would be a mistake, he carried out his orders. The French refused to comply with British conditions and so on 3 July 1940, Force H attacked French ships at Mers-el-Kébir. Somerville's forces inflicted severe damage on their erstwhile allies, most notably sinking the battleship Bretagne with heavy loss of life. Several other major French ships were damaged during the bombardment. The operation was judged a success, but he admitted privately to his wife that he had not been quite as aggressive in the destruction as he could have been.19 He was Mentioned in Despatches on 16 August 1940.20
Somerville transferred his flag to the battlecruiser HMS Renown in August 1940 and led the British forces in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November; Churchill was outraged at Somerville for not continuing the pursuit of the Italian Navy after that battle and dispatched the Earl of Cork to conduct an inquiry, but Cork found that Somerville had acted entirely appropriately.21 Force H bombarded Genoa on 9 February 1941, and Somerville, still in HMS Renown in May 1941, also played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck later that month.21 Somerville transferred his flag to the battleship HMS Nelson in August 1941 and also played a major role in protecting Malta from enemy attack in autumn 1941.22 He transferred his flag to the battleship HMS Rodney and then to the battleship HMS Malaya.21 He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his service with Force H on 21 October 1941.23
Indian Ocean, 1942–1944
Somerville became Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet, with his flag in the battleship HMS Warspite in March 1942 and was promoted to full admiral on 6 April 1942.24 Following the fall of Singapore and the Indian Ocean Raid, Somerville transferred his fleet headquarters from Trincomalee in Ceylon to Kilindini in Kenya.21 In April 1942 Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful 1st Air Fleet (Kidō Butai) centered around five fleet carriers launched the Indian Ocean raid that inflicted heavy losses on Somerville's fleet including a light aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, one corvette, five other vessels, and 45 aircraft. The damage inflicted upon Royal Navy and allied Commonwealth forces in the Indian Ocean was nonetheless minimized, being forewarned by intelligence so their heavy units sailed from their bases prior to the Japanese air attacks. Somerville avoided a direct confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Navy, preserving the Eastern Fleet's two fleet carriers and one battleship.25
For most of the rest of 1942, Somerville's fleet avoided any major operations against the Japanese, barring a brief sortie into the Bay of Bengal in late July and early August 1942 during which he turned back after being spotted by a Japanese flying boat on 2 August 1942. Somerville's unwillingness to risk his ships in a diversionary attack against the Japanese in Southeast Asia during mid- and late 1942, which he saw as necessary to preserve its precariously limited strength and its ability to guard merchant convoys in the Indian Ocean, was met with derision by US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King, as King believed that the Eastern Fleet doing so would greatly assist the Americans in their own operations against the Japanese as they clashed at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and throughout the Guadalcanal campaign.26
MacIntyre, Donald (1961). Fighting Admiral: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville. Evans Brothers, London. - a detailed biography, written with the help of his family and professional colleagues, and with access to his private letters and diaries
Somerville, James (1996). The Somerville Papers: Selections from the Private and Official Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville, GCB, GBE, DSO. Navy Records Society, London. ISBN 978-1859282076.
Notes
Footnotes
Fox-Davies (1905), p. 1203; Venn (1953), p. 159 for her father's full name. ↩
According to Venn (1953), p. 591, Arthur Fownes Somerville was the son of James Curtis né Fownes (later Somerville); born in 1807, he was the son of James Somerville né Fownes (later Somerville), JP (see Venn (1944)); Burke (1847), p. 1262, then states that this James Somerville Somerville was the son of the Rev. Thomas Fownes, son of John Fownes, MP for Dartmouth from 1715 to 1722, who was son of John Fownes, MP for the same from 1714 to 1715. Burke, ibid., also states that the Rev. Thomas married a daughter and heiress of the Hon. George Somerville of Dinder House, and describes the inheritance of that estate as well as the name change. ↩
Simpson (2004); Venn (1953), p. 159 gives his mother as Emily Piriam Hood, daughter of Sir Alexander Hood, Baronet. He was the second Baronet and his family is outlined in Burke (1865), pp. 583–584, which also refers to the connection with the Viscounts Hood. ↩