Bertram Ramsay

Sir Bertram Home Ramsay
20 January 1883(1883-01-20) – 2 January 1945 (aged 61)
Place of birth	London, England
Place of death	Toussus-le-Noble, France
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1898 - 1945
Rank	Admiral
Battles/wars	World War I Second Ostend Raid Zeebrugge Raid World War II Operation Dynamo Operation Torch Operation Husky Operation Neptune
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Member of the Royal Victorian Order Mention in Despatches (2) Légion d'honneur (France) Legion of Merit (United States) Order of Ushakov (USSR)

Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB, KBE, MVO (20 January 1883 - 2 January 1945) was a British admiral during World War II. He was an important contributor in the field of amphibious warfare.

Early life

He was born in London, into an old Scottish family, and attended the Colchester Royal Grammar School. In 1898, he joined the Royal Navy. Serving on HMS Britannia, he became an midshipman within a year.^[1] Following his promotion, he was transferred to HMS Crescent.

World War I

During World War I he was assigned his first command, the "M 25", a small monitor, in August 1915. For two years his ship was part of the Dover Patrol off the Belgian coast. On October 1917 he took command of another Dover Patrol vessel, the destroyer HMS Broke.^[1][2]

On 9 May 1918, his ship took part in the Second Ostend Raid, a follow up to the Zeebrugge Raid, and he was mentioned in despatches.^[1]

Resigning from the Navy in 1938, he was coaxed out of retirement by Winston Churchill one year later to help deal with the Axis threat.^[1]

World War II

Promoted to Vice-Admiral, he was placed in charge of the Dover area of operations on 24 August 1939. His duties included overseeing the defense against possible destroyer raids, protection of cross-Channel military traffic and the denial of the passage through the Straits of Dover to submarines.^[1]

Operation Dynamo

As Vice-Admiral Dover he was responsible for the Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo. Working from the underground tunnels beneath Dover Castle, he and his staff worked for nine days straight to rescue troops trapped in France by the German forces.^[3]

For his success in bringing home 338,226 British and allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, he was asked to personally report on the operation to the King and was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.^[1]

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.^[1]

Operation Torch

Ramsay was to be appointed as 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.^[1]

Under the Allied Naval Commander of the Expeditionary Force, Sir Andrew Cunningham, Ramsay planned the landing efforts.

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 from onboard HMS Belfast, a British cruiser assigned to bombardment duty for the operation. The King, himself a seasoned sailor and a veteran of the battle of Jutland 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 the responsibility for the safety of either of these two luminaries. 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 ashore in case the landings went badly and immediate decisions were required. This settled the matter and both Winston Churchill and King George VI remained ashore on D-Day.

Operation Husky

During the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, he was Naval Commanding Officer, Eastern Task Force and prepared the amphibious landings.^[1]

Operation Neptune

Although the men fighting on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day richly deserve the attention given to their efforts, the job of the naval forces was also of vital importance. In 1944, Ramsay was appointed Naval Commander in Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion.^[1]

Death

On 2 January 1945, he was killed when his plane crashed on takeoff at Toussus-le-Noble. He was on route to a conference with General Bernard Montgomery in Brussels.^[1]

Awards

A statue of Ramsey in the grounds of Dover Castle

• Mentioned in Despatches - 1918, 1940
• Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) - 1940
• Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE)
• Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO)
• Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur^[1]
• Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) For gallant and distinguished service whilst in command of the invasion operations on Normandy

A statue of Ramsay was erected in November 2000 at Dover Castle, close to where he had planned the Dunkirk evacuation.^[1]

References

• Woodward, David: Ramsay at War. The Fighting Life of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. – London: W. Kimber, 1957