Was Beatty A Good Admiral?
Military History
Like Mountbatten (who seems to have modelled himself on Beatty, to an extent), he was a good desk man, who was, perhaps, out of his depth at sea. Had the First World War not come, or not come when it did, he would probably have had the option of serving at the Admiralty again (Third Sea Lord, probably), or on an overseas station.
If that had been the North America and West Indies, his wife would probably have been happy.
If it had been the China Station, then the marriage would have spiraled to destruction, and his mental health with it.
Beatty was a seriously ill man, and in the modern Royal Navy (or any similar service) he would have been discharged.
Whether his depression was chronic or bipolar, it’s impossible to say, however it almost certainly accounted for some of his judgement calls (the phantom periscope at Dogger Bank, the bizarre maneuvering across the face of the Grand Fleet at Jutland). Of course, if he had not been a seagoing admiral for the entire course of WW1, he wouldn’t have been First Sea Lord. A job which probably only he could have done in the 1920’s. It was, perhaps, just as well that he died relatively young, before WW2.
As an eminence grise, he would undoubtedly have been an awkward presence in the House of Lords, for Churchill and the Admiralty. That’s hindsight, though.
The man undoubtedly best suited for command of the Battle Cruisers at Jutland was Hood. He would have done everything that Beatty did right, but not done most of the things he did wrong.
Written by Hadrian Jeffs
Was Beatty A Good Admiral?
