Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO (20 January 1883 – 2 January 1945) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer. He commanded the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was responsible for the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

in 1940 and planning and commanding the naval forces in the invasion of France in 1944.

Personal life

Ramsay was born in

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, into an old family (see Ramsay Baronets). He attended Colchester Royal Grammar School. On 26 February 1929, Ramsay married Helen Margaret Menzies, daughter of Colonel Charles Thomson Menzies. They had two sons, * David Francis Ramsay (1 October 1933 – 2 January 2021) who wrote two books and had two children, Michael Ramsay and James Ramsay. * Major General Charles Alexander Ramsay CB OBE (12 October 1936 – 31 December 2017) was educated at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

and rose to become Director General of the Territorial Army and was a member of the Queen's Body Guard for Scotland.

Early naval career

Ramsay joined the

in 1898. As a naval cadet, he was posted to in April 1899. Later serving on HMS ''Britannia'', he became a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

within a year. By the middle of 1902 he was an acting sub-lieutenant, and he was confirmed in this rank on 15 September 1902. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 15 December 1904. The 1911 census reveals him serving as Flag Lieutenant to Rear Admiral Douglas Gamble on in the Mediterranean. The ship was captained at the time by Reginald Tyrwhitt.

First World War

During the First World War, Ramsay was given his first command, , a small

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

, in August 1915. For two years his ship was part of the Dover Patrol off the Belgian coast. Promoted to commander on 30 June 1916, in October 1917 he took command of another Dover Patrol vessel, the

. On 9 May 1918, his ship took part in the Second Ostend Raid, a follow-up to the

Zeebrugge Raid The Zeebrugge Raid (; ) on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgium, Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. The British intended to sink obsolete ships in the canal entrance, to prevent German vessels from leaving port. ...

, for which he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

Between the wars

In 1935 Ramsay resigned his post as Chief of Staff to Sir Roger Backhouse C-in-C, Home Fleet who had refused to delegate his authority.

Second World War

Ramsay retired from the navy in 1938, but was coaxed out of retirement by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

one year later to help deal with the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

threat. Promoted to

vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

, he was named Commander-in-Chief, Dover, on 24 August 1939. His duties included overseeing the defence against possible destroyer raids, the protection of cross- Channel military traffic and the denial of the passage through the

Straits of Dover The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows, is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

Operation Dynamo

As Vice-Admiral Dover, Ramsay was responsible for the

, codenamed Operation Dynamo. Working from the tunnels beneath

Dover Castle Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some writers say it is the ...

, he and his staff worked for nine days straight to rescue troops trapped in France by the German forces. For his success in bringing home 338,226 British and allied soldiers from the mole and beaches of

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

, he was asked to personally report on the operation to

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

and was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

Defending Dover

After Operation Dynamo was completed, he was faced with the enormous problems of defending the waters off Dover from the expected German invasion. For nearly two years, he commanded forces striving to maintain control against the Germans, gaining a second

Mention in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. Ramsay was in command when the German battleships and together with escorts passed through the Channel in February 1942. Though the British had made plans to deal with this (Operation Fuller), British forces were taken by surprise, and failed in their efforts to stop them.

Operation Torch

Ramsay was to be appointed the Naval Force Commander for the invasion of Europe on 29 April 1942, but the invasion was postponed and he was transferred to become deputy naval commander of the Allied invasion of

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

Operation Husky

During the Allied invasion of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

(Operation Husky) in July 1943, Ramsay was Naval Commanding Officer, Eastern Task Force, and prepared the amphibious landings.

Operation Neptune

Ramsay was reinstated to the Active List on 26 April 1944 and promoted to the rank of admiral on 27 April 1944. He was appointed Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion. In this, he executed what has been described by historian Correlli Barnett as a "never surpassed masterpiece of planning" — coordinating and commanding a fleet of almost 7,000 vessels to delivering over 160,000 men onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day alone, with over 875,000 disembarked by the end of June. He defused a potential conflict between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the British Sovereign, King George VI, when Churchill informed the King that he intended to observe the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

from aboard , a

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

assigned to bombardment duties for the operation. The King, himself a seasoned sailor and a veteran of the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

in the First World War, likewise announced that he would accompany his Prime Minister. The two were at civil loggerheads until meeting with Admiral Ramsay, who flatly refused to take responsibility for the safety of either of them. Ramsay cited the danger to both the King and the Prime Minister, the risks of the planned operational duties of HMS ''Belfast'', and the fact that both the King and Churchill would be needed at home in case the landings went badly and immediate decisions were required. This settled the matter and both Churchill and King George VI remained ashore on D-Day. While the port of Antwerp was vital for the Allies after D-Day, Admirals Cunningham and Ramsay warned SHAEF and Montgomery that the port was of no use while the Germans held the approaches. But Montgomery postponed the

Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations to open up the Scheldt river between Antwerp and the North Sea for shipping, so that Antwerp's port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. The oper ...

, and the delay in opening the port was a grave blow to the Allied build-up before winter approached.

Death

On 2 January 1945, Ramsay was killed when his plane crashed on takeoff at Toussus-le-Noble Airport southwest of Paris. He was en route to a conference with Field Marshal

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Ramsay was interred in

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. ...

New Communal Cemetery. A memorial to all who died in the crash was erected at Toussus-le-Noble in May 1995.

Awards

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

– 1918, 1940 * Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) – 1940 *

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(KBE) *

Member of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(MVO) * Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur *Chief Commander of the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

(United States) ''For gallant and distinguished service whilst in command of the invasion operations on Normandy'' * Order of Ushakov, First Class (USSR) – 1944

Legacy

A statue of Ramsay was erected in November 2000 at Dover Castle, close to where he had planned the Dunkirk evacuation. His name also appears on the Colchester Royal Grammar School war memorial and a portrait hangs in the school. A secondary school in Middlesbrough was named in his honour, but has since been renamed at least twice. In February 2020, the

Scottish Borders Council The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the ...

announced plans to build a museum at the family home of Admiral Ramsay. "A former garden store will be converted at Bughtrig House in

Coldstream Coldstream () is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream was where the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army, originated. Description Coldstream li ...

to create the museum in his honour,"

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

reported. Admiral Ramsay's legacy has been remembered by the Royal Navy; they have used his name for the Apprenticeship Centre at in Fareham, the Ramsay Building which was opened by his son in March 2012.

Portrayals

* Nicholas Hannen (1958) ''Dunkirk'' * John Robinson (1962) '' The Longest Day'' * Noel Johnson (1979) '' Churchill and the Generals'' * Richard Bremmer (2004) ''

'' * Kevin J. Wilson (2004) '' Ike: Countdown to D-Day'' * George Anton (2017) '' Churchill'' *

David Bamber David James Bamber (born 19 September 1954) is an English actor. His credits include '' Privates on Parade'' (1983), '' Juliet Bravo'' (1983), '' Crown Court'' (1984), '' Call Me Mister'' (1986), '' The Buddha of Suburbia'' (1993), '' Pride an ...

(2017) '' Darkest Hour''

References

External links

"D-Day's 'forgotten man' "
''

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

'', 2014. Short film on Ramsay's role in the Allied invasion of occupied France.
The Papers of Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay
held at Churchill Archives Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, Bertram 1883 births 1945 deaths People educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School Royal Navy admirals of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Royal Victorian Order Chief Commanders of the Legion of Merit Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of Ushakov, 1st class Military personnel from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Royal Navy officers of World War I Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1945 Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit English people of Scottish descent 19th-century Royal Navy personnel