Kirkwall by Night
Warship Wednesday will be back next week! I am on the road with limited access to the interwebs.
Until then, enjoy this shot, some 115 years ago this evening.
How about this great shot of the RN’s 1st Destroyer Flotilla illuminated at anchor in Orkney’s Kirkwall Bay, 27 May 1911, on the lead up to HM George V’s coronation. The greyhounds in attendance include HMS Amazon, HMS Blenheim, HMS Swift, HMS Tartar, and others.
At the time, the 1st Destroyer Flotilla’s flag was held by Commodore (Capt, D) Robert Keith Arbuthnot. Arbuthnot, 47 when the above photo was snapped, was a career officer and the eldest son of Sir William Wedderburn Arbuthnot, Third Baronet, late a major in the 18th Hussars.
Passing his cadetship exam 42nd out of 46, the younger Arbuthnot walked onto the training ship Britannia at age 13 and was soon serving as a midshipman on service around the globe. Earning high marks, he was one of Lord Fisher’s favorite mids and picked up his first command, that of H.M. T.B. 59, in 1889. By 1910, he was commander of the battleship HMS Lord Nelson and would soon become ADC to George V himself.
Arbuthnot
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, Fourth Baronet, K.C.B., M.V.O., Royal Navy, perished at Jutland at the head of his rushing First Cruiser Squadron, which was one of the most terribly mauled British units at the battle, going down with HMS Defence, his flagship. Only 10 of Defence’s 903-man crew survived the clash.
Sir Rosslyn E. Wemyss, then Commander-in-Chief on the East Indies Station, wrote to Captain Roger J. B. Keyes on 17 July:
It is difficult to judge what Robert Arbuthnot & all those cruisers were doing—Poor Robert—anyway, I expect he died perfectly happy in a blaze of glory and gallantry.