Admiral

Admiral (United Kingdom)

Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank Admiral of the Fleet...

 Sir Herbert Leopold Heath KCB

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...

 MVO

Royal Victorian Order

The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...

 (27 December 1861 – 1954) was Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel

Second Sea Lord

The Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command , commonly just known as the Second Sea Lord , is one of the most senior admirals of the British Royal Navy , and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establishments.-History:In 1805, for the first time, specific functions were...

 in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

Military career

Born the son of Vice Admiral Sir Leopold Heath

Leopold Heath

Vice Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station.-Naval career:...

 and educated at Brighton College

Brighton College

Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...

, Heath was commissioned into the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1874. In 1877 he took part in an engagement with the Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian rebel ship Huáscar

Huáscar (ship)

Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of...

. He was on board the battleship, HMS Victoria

HMS Victoria (1887)

HMS Victoria was the lead ship in her class of two battleships of the Royal Navy. On 22 June 1893, she collided with near Tripoli, Lebanon during manoeuvres and quickly sank, taking 358 crew with her, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon...

, when it was involved in a collision with the battleship, HMS Camperdown

HMS Camperdown (1885)

HMS Camperdown was an Admiral-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown.She was a full sister to , and was an improved version of the earlier and . In comparison to these earlier ships, she had an increased thickness of barbette armour, and a...

, and sank in 1893 with the loss of 372 lives.

In 1902 he was appointed Assistant-Director of Naval Intelligence at the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 and in 1904 he was made Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of the torpedo boat depot ship, HMS Vulcan

HMS Vulcan (1889)

HMS Vulcan was a torpedo boat depot ship launched on 13th June 1889, converted to a training hulk. She was renamed HMS Defiance III in 1931 and used for training at Torpoint, Cornwall. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955....

, in the Mediterranean. Later he commanded the battleship, HMS Repulse

HMS Repulse (1892)

HMS Repulse was a Royal Sovereign-class predreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. She was the tenth ship to bear the name HMS Repulse.-Technical Characteristics:HMS Repulse was ordered under the Naval Defence Act Program of 1889...

, and the cruiser, HMS Lancaster

HMS Lancaster (1902)

HMS Lancaster was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong and launched on 22 March 1902. She served in the First World War with most of her sisters, and survived to be sold for scrap on 3 March 1920 to Ward of Birkenhead & Preston....

. In 1908 he became naval attaché in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. In 1910 he took command of the battleship, HMS Superb

HMS Superb (1907)

HMS Superb was a of the British Royal Navy. She was built in Elswick at a cost of £1,744,287, and was completed on 19 June 1909. She was only the fourth dreadnought-type battleship to be completed anywhere in the world, being preceded only by and by her two sister-ships and -Origin:The advent of...

 and around this time he was appointed the Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King. In 1912 he was appointed Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard

HMNB Portsmouth

Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...

 remaining in that post until 1914.

He served in 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...

 and in 1915 took command of the Second Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet and as such he was the senior admiral of the cruiser line at the Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

 in May 1916. At the end of the year he was appointed to the command of the Channel Fleet

Channel Fleet

The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...

.

In 1917 he became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel

Second Sea Lord

The Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command , commonly just known as the Second Sea Lord , is one of the most senior admirals of the British Royal Navy , and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establishments.-History:In 1805, for the first time, specific functions were...

. After the War he was made Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Scotland

Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England, Northern Ireland

The Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland is a senior post in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is based at HM Naval Base Clyde and the holder of the post is the Royal Navy’s senior officer in Scotland with representational duties everywhere north of the M4. The...

. He retired in 1922.

Honours and awards

• Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
• Member of the Royal Victorian Order
• Commander of the Legion of Honour (France)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
  Order of the Rising Sun
  The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
  
   (Japan)
• Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
  Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
  The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...