Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield

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Ernle Chatfield
27 September 1873 – 15 November 1967
Image:Echatfield.jpg Admiral of the Fleet Sir Ernle Chatfield
Place of birth	Southsea, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Place of death	Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Allegiance	Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Service/branch	Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Navy
Years of service	1886 - 1938
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands	Atlantic Fleet Mediterranean Fleet
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO

Admiral of the Fleet Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC, RN (27 September 1873 - 15 November 1967) was a British naval officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1938. He subsequently served as Minister for Coordination of Defence between 1939 and 1940.

Contents 1 Early Royal Navy Career 2 Minister for Coordination of Defence 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Early Royal Navy Career

Chatfield was born in Southsea, the only son of Admiral Alfred John Chatfield, and entered the Royal Navy in 1886. During the First World War he served as Flag Captain of HMS Lion and was present at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914, at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) in 1915 and at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

After the war Chatfield served as Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy from 1925 to 1928, as Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet from 1929 to 1930 and of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1930 to 1932, and as First Sea Lord from 1933 until 1938. He was promoted to Admiral in 1930 and to Admiral of the Fleet in 1935, and in 1937 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Chatfield, of Ditchling in the County of Surrey.

[edit] Minister for Coordination of Defence

In 1939 Lord Chatfield succeeded Sir Thomas Inskip as Minister for Coordination of Defence in the government of Neville Chamberlain, despite having a non-political background. In this role his view of Russia in 1939 as a possible ally against Germany was that she "would be of considerable, though not of great, military value". However as the Cabinet continued to discuss a possible alliance he said that:

"...if for fear of making an alliance with Russia we drove that country into the German camp we should have made a mistake of vital and far-reaching importance".

Chatfield chaired the Expert Committee on the Defence of India which, using the work of the 1938 Auchinleck Committee, outlined in 1939 the re-equipment, modernisation and expansion of the British Indian Army (which grew to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war from 183,000 in 1939). He also advocated transforming the British economy into war production before war broke out in 1939 by curtailing domestic consumption. However Oliver Stanley at the Board of Trade refused, arguing that such a move would be 'revolutionary' in peacetime. Chatfield served as Minister for Coordination of Defence through the outbreak of the Second World War, but exercised little influence. He was asked to resign in April 1940 and the post was abolished.

[edit] References

• Heathcote, T. A. (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995. Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0 85052 835 6
• Murfett, Malcolm H.(1995). The First Sea Lords from Fisher to Mountbatten. Westport. ISBN 0-275-94231-7

[edit] External links

• Transcription of Official Service Records on www.admirals.org.uk

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Frederick Field	First Sea Lord 1933–1938	Succeeded by Sir Roger Backhouse
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Thomas Inskip	Minister for Coordination of Defence 1939–1940	Succeeded by Office abolished
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Chatfield 1937–1967	Succeeded by Ernle David Lewis Chatfield

v • d • e Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy

The Earl Howe • Sir Peter Parker • Prince William, Duke of Clarence • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Thomas Hardy • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas • Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir William Parker • Sir Charles Adam • James Whitley Deans Dundas • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • Hyde Parker • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • William Fanshawe Martin • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Sydney Dacres • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Hastings Yelverton • George Wellesley • Sir Astley Cooper Key • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Lord John Hay • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton • Sir Anthony Hoskins • Sir Frederick Richards • Lord Walter Kerr • Sir John A. Fisher • Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson • Sir Francis Bridgeman • Prince Louis of Battenberg • The Baron Fisher of Kilverstone • Sir Henry Jackson • Sir John Jellicoe • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss • The Earl Beatty • Sir Charles Madden, Bt • Sir Frederick Field • The Lord Chatfield • Sir Roger Backhouse • Sir Dudley Pound • The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope • Sir John Cunningham • The Lord Fraser of North Cape • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor • The Earl Mountbatten of Burma • Sir Charles Lambe • Sir Caspar John • Sir David Luce • Sir Varyl Begg • Sir Michael Le Fanu • Sir Peter Hill-Norton • Sir Michael Pollock • Sir Edward Ashmore • Sir Terence Lewin • Sir Henry Leach • Sir John Fieldhouse • Sir William Staveley • Sir Julian Oswald • Sir Benjamin Bathurst • Sir Jock Slater • Sir Michael Boyce • Sir Nigel Essenhigh • Sir Alan West • Sir Jonathon Band •

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