Francis Cromie
Encyclopedia
Captain
(Acting.) Francis Newton Allen Cromie, CB
, DSO
, (30 January 1882 – 31 August 1918, Petrograd) was the commander of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic
during World War I
.
He took part in suppressing the Boxer Uprising in Peking.
He joined the Royal Navy Submarine Service
in 1903. In 1915 he navigated the submarine HMS E19
through Oresund
into the Baltic Sea
, to prey on iron ore transports from Sweden
to Imperial Germany. In May 1917 he was appointed the naval attaché in Petrograd (now known as Saint Petersburg
). On 31 August 1918 he was shot in front of the British Embassy in Petrograd when he tried to prevent a detachment of Cheka
from entering and searching the embassy in an attempt to break the British intelligence network there. He is buried at the Archangel Memorial in Arkhangelsk
.
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
(Acting.) Francis Newton Allen Cromie, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, (30 January 1882 – 31 August 1918, Petrograd) was the commander of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic
British submarine flotilla in the Baltic
A British submarine flotilla operated in the Baltic Sea for three years during the First World War. The squadron of nine submarines was attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. The main task of the flotilla was to prevent the import of iron ore from Sweden to Imperial Germany...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
He took part in suppressing the Boxer Uprising in Peking.
He joined the Royal Navy Submarine Service
Royal Navy Submarine Service
The Royal Navy Submarine Service is the submarine element of the Royal Navy. It is sometimes known as the "Silent Service", on account of a submarine being required to operate quietly in order to remain undetected by enemy sonar...
in 1903. In 1915 he navigated the submarine HMS E19
HMS E19
HMS E19 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1914 at Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. During World War I she was part of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic....
through Oresund
Oresund
The Sound , is the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania. Its width is just at the narrowest point between Helsingør, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden...
into the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, to prey on iron ore transports from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
to Imperial Germany. In May 1917 he was appointed the naval attaché in Petrograd (now known as Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
). On 31 August 1918 he was shot in front of the British Embassy in Petrograd when he tried to prevent a detachment of Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
from entering and searching the embassy in an attempt to break the British intelligence network there. He is buried at the Archangel Memorial in Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
.
Literature
- Roy Bainton Honoured by strangers