The Deputy First Sea Lord (D.F.S.L.) was a senior Royal Navy flag officer on the Board of Admiralty of the Royal Navy. [1]
| Office of the Deputy First Sea Lord | |
|---|---|
 Ensign of the Royal Navy | |
| Department of the Admiralty | |
| Member of | Board of Admiralty |
| Reports to | First Sea Lord |
| Nominator | First Lord of the Admiralty |
| Appointer | Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council |
| Term length | 1-4 years |
| Inaugural holder | Rosslyn E. Wemyss |
| Formation | 1917-1919, 1942-1946 |
Vice-Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty as Second Sea Lord on 6 September 1917. before being relieved on 27 September by Vice-Admiral Herbert L. Heath. [2] In his memoirs, he described the circumstances of his appointment:
In 1919, Jellicoe wrote that, "This appointment was frankly made more as a matter of expediency than because any real need had been shown for the creation of such an office." [4] He later claimed in his autobiographical notes that,
In August, 1919, when Rear-Admiral Hope was appointed to command the Third Light Cruiser Squadron, the position of Deputy First Sea Lord was not filled. [6]
As of 1917: [7]
According to authors Harley and Lovell "There can be no doubt that the appointment of Wemyss as Deputy First Sea Lord was to insert an officer amenable to Geddes into a senior position on the Board of Admiralty. The position was completely superfluous to the structure which had evolved at the end of May, 1917. It is no wonder, therefore, that all Wemyss had to do, in his own words" It was give Jellicoe", [8] "an extra opinion on dockets which could well be dispensed with." [9] It is indicative that when Wemyss succeeded Jellicoe as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in December, 1917, the position of Deputy First Sea Lord was filled by a junior Rear-Admiral with responsibility for "Policy and Foreign" matters. [10] Only the D.O.D. (F) and the Director of Training and Staff Duties reported to him. [11] "As before, the duties of the professional head of the Royal Navy if absent fell upon the shoulders of the Second Sea Lord. After Rear-Admiral Hope was appointed to a sea-going command in August, 1919, the position was allowed to lapse". [12]
In 1942, the post was revived again [13] to alleviate the workload of the First Sea Lord during World War II and was held by Admiral Sir Charles Kennedy-Purvis until 1946.
DFSL's included: [14]
| Rank | Name | Image | In office | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vice Admiral | Sir Rosslyn Wemyss |  | 6 – 26 September 1917 | [15] | |
| Vice Admiral | Sir Herbert Leopold Heath |  | 27 September–December 1917 | [16] | |
| Rear Admiral | George Hope |  | 10 January 1918– 5 August 1919 | [17] | |
| Admiral | Sir Charles Kennedy-Purvis |  | 29 July 1942–May 1946 | [18] | |
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 during the First World War. His handling of the fleet at that battle was controversial. Jellicoe made no serious mistakes and the German High Seas Fleet retreated to port, at a time when defeat would have been catastrophic for Britain, but the public was disappointed that the Royal Navy had not won a more dramatic victory given that they outnumbered the enemy. Jellicoe later served as First Sea Lord, overseeing the expansion of the Naval Staff at the Admiralty and the introduction of convoys, but was relieved at the end of 1917. He also served as the governor-general of New Zealand in the early 1920s.
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{{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Primary source for this article is by Harley Simon, Lovell Tony, (2015), Deputy First Sea Lord, dreadnoughtproject.org, http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org.
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