KENNEDY, Adm Francis William (1862-1939)

Papers relating to Kennedy's service as Capt of the battlecruiser HMS INDOMITABLE during World War One, including brief diary of the war training of the British Mediterranean Fleet, 1913-1914; narratives describing the shadowing, chase and escape of the German battlecruiser GOEBEN and its companion ship BRESLAU from the British Mediterranean Fleet, Aug 1914; a personal description of the first bombardment of the Dardanelles, Nov 1914; intelligence reports of the positions of the warships of various nations, 1915; summary of information received from survivors of the German battlecruiser BLUCHER sunk during the Battle of Dogger Bank, Jan 1915; a brief personal memoir of the Battle of Jutland, May 1916.

Born 1862; educated Uppington and Royal Academy, Gosport, Hampshire; Mid on HMS SULTAN during the Egyptian War, 1882; Lt on cruiser HMS PHOEBE, 1895-1898; took part in the capture of M'Weli (Mwele), East Africa, 1895; served with the Benin Expedition, East Africa, 1897; Cdr, 1898; Cdr on HMS VIVID, with command of VALIENT, a depot ship for torpedoboat destroyers, and the Fleet Reserve at Devonport, 1898-1904; Capt, 1904; commanded cruiser HMS MEDUSA, 1905-1906; commanded light cruiser HMS THETIS, 1905; commanded battlecruiser HMS INDOMITABLE, 1912-1916; participated in the shadowing, chase and escape of the German battlecruiser GOEBEN and its companion ship BRESLAU by the British Mediterranean Fleet, Aug 1914; the bombardment of the Dardanelles, Nov 1914; the Battle of Dogger Bank, Jan 1915, including the sinking of the German battlecruiser BLUCHER and towed home V Adm Sir David Beatty's disabled Flagship HMS LION; the Battle of Jutland, May 1916, where Kennedy assumed command of 3 Battlecruiser Sqn following the death of R Adm the Hon Sir Horace Hood; R Adm, 1916; in charge of Peterhead area off east coast of Scotland, 1917-1919; promoted V Adm and retired, 1920; Adm, 1925; died 1939.

Arranged chronologically.

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1966.

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/archives/cats/, and detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.