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 Hugh Dudley Richards Watson (20 April 1872 – 22 May 1954) 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 who became Naval Secretary.

Naval career

Watson joined the

in 1885. From 6 May 1902 he served as 1st

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 the armoured cruiser HMS ''Sutlej'', soon to be commissioned for service on the China station. He was promoted to the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 1 January 1903, and later appointed Commander of the School of Physical Training before becoming Naval Attaché in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1910Senior Royal Navy Appointments
. (PDF). gulabin.com. Retrieved 5 June 2012. and then serving in

World War I 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 ...

as Captain of the cruiser HMS ''Essex'' from 1914, the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

HMS ''Bellerophon'' from 1915, and the battleship HMS Canada from 1918. He played one

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

match for the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1908. After the War, he served with the Allied Post War Control Commission and then became Naval Secretary in 1921 before becoming Commander of the 4th Battle Squadron (renumbered the 3rd Battle Squadron in November 1924) and Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1923. His last appointment was as Admiral commanding the

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...

in 1926 before he retired in 1928.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Hugh 1872 births 1954 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers British naval attachés Royal Navy officers of World War I Military personnel from Lincolnshire 19th-century Royal Navy personnel