Francis Harvey
Encyclopedia
Major Francis John William Harvey, VC
(29 April 1873 – 31 May 1916) was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
, the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions at the height of the Battle of Jutland
. A long serving Royal Marine officer descended of a military family, during his career Harvey became a specialist in naval artillery, serving on many large warships as gunnery training officer and gun commander. Specially requested for HMS Lion
, the flagship of the British battlecruiser
fleet, Harvey fought at the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank
and Jutland
.
At Jutland, Harvey, although mortally wounded by German shellfire, ordered the magazine of Q turret on the battlecruiser Lion to be flooded. This action prevented the tons of cordite
stored there from catastrophically detonating in an explosion that would have destroyed the vessel and all aboard her. Although he succumbed to his injuries seconds later, his dying act may have saved over a thousand lives and prompted Winston Churchill
to later comment: "In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this".
, Kent
, the son of Commander John William Francis Harvey, RN
and Elizabeth Edwards Lavington Harvey née Penny. At age 11 in 1884, Harvey moved with his family to Southsea
and he attended Portsmouth Grammar School, achieving excellent academic results and showing proficiency in languages and debating. Harvey was descended from a military family; his great-great-grandfather John Harvey
had been killed in the Glorious First of June
in 1794 and his great-grandfather Admiral Sir Edward Harvey
, GCB, RN and grandfather Captain John Harvey of the 9th Regiment of Foot
were also prominent military figures.
After leaving school, Harvey chose a military career and was accepted by both the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich for officer training. Choosing the latter school as a Royal Marines officer cadet, Harvey graduated in 1892 and the following year was made a full lieutenant
, joining HMS Wildfire for his first seagoing commission. After just a year at sea, Harvey was back on shore attending gunnery courses at HMS Excellent, qualifying in 1896 as an instructor first class in naval gunnery. Harvey was appointed to the cruiser
HMS Phaëton
when she was commissioned at Devonport on 8 June 1897 for service on the Pacific Station. In 1898, whilst on the Phaëton, he was reprimanded by the Admiralty
for an unfavourable report he released on San Diego Harbour. Returning home the same year, Harvey was given the position of Assistant Instructor for Gunnery at Plymouth Division. During this period, Harvey married Ethel Edye and had one son, John.
Between 1898 and 1904 Harvey spent much of his time attached to the Channel Fleet
, aboard HMS Edgar
and HMS Diadem
, practising and instructing in gunnery. In 1900 he was promoted to captain
. In 1903 he was posted aboard HMS Royal Sovereign
, the first of a string of big ship appointments teaching gunnery to the heavy units of the Channel Fleet. By 1909, Harvey had served on HMS Duke of Edinburgh
, HMS St George
and the new battlecruiser HMS Inflexible
. In 1910 Harvey became Instructor of Gunnery at Chatham Dockyard
and the following year was promoted to major
, a report on the gunnery school commenting "Degree of efficiency in Gunnery Establishment at Chatham is very high both as regards general training and attention to detail. Great credit is due all concerned particularly to Major F.J.W. Harvey, the I of G".
The strength of this report subsequently gained Harvey a position as senior marine officer aboard HMS Lion
, the 27,000 ton flagship of the British battlecruiser fleet. Lion had eight 13.5-inch guns and Harvey was stationed in an office under Q turret directing their operation and fire. Under her new commander, Admiral David Beatty
, Harvey served as the senior marine officer on board into the First World War, his first military campaign.
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Harvey did not have to wait long to see action, seeing combat for the first time at the Battle of Heligoland Bight just weeks into the war. On 28 August 1914, Lion and her squadron of HMS Queen Mary
and HMS Princess Royal
, swept into the Heligoland Bight
where German and British cruiser forces were already engaged in a bitter struggle. One German cruiser had already been sunk by the time Beatty's force arrived, but the German flagship Köln and cruiser Ariadne
were surprised in the fog and destroyed by heavy calibre shells from Beatty's battlecruisers. German Admiral Leberecht Maass
and over 1,000 of his sailors were killed, Harvey's guns scoring several hits on the cruisers.
Six months later, Harvey's guns again caused severe damage to a German force at the Battle of Dogger Bank
. Over the previous months, a German battlecruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral Hipper
had crossed the North Sea
and bombarded British coastal towns on several occasions. On 24 January 1915 another attempt was made, but this time British signals analysts had detected the German movement and using this information the Admiralty
dispatched Beatty's force to intercept and destroy them. Beatty and Hipper's squadrons collided at 09:00 and during the engagement that followed, Lion was left exposed by mis-communication between the ships, which led to HMS Tiger
engaging the wrong ship, leaving SMS Moltke uncovered and so able to fire more accurately. The British flagship was hard pressed until one of Lion' s shots penetrated one of Seydlitz's turrets. A huge explosion destroyed the neighbouring turret as well and killed 160 men, the German flagship only surviving due to the actions of sailor Wilhelm Heidkamp
, who wrenched open the water valves to the magazines despite their glowing red hot.
Lion was badly damaged in the action by shells from the passing SMS Derfflinger
and with her engines failing, dropped back to engage the already sinking SMS Blücher
. Misread signals resulted in the rest of the British fleet returning to support Lion in this task, allowing the rest of the battered German fleet to retire as the British destroyed the hapless Blücher and 792 of her crew. Following the battle, Harvey remained aboard Lion at Rosyth
for the whole of 1915 and the first five months of 1916, continuing his gunnery training and preparations for major fleet action. His preparations came to fruition on the last day of May, when the British fleet sailed to engage the main body of the German High Seas Fleet
at the Battle of Jutland
.
Just after Dogger Bank, Harvey had written to a fellow RMLI officer in HMS Orion
describing his experiences:
Beatty's battlecruisers led the British fleet in its attack, casting south into the North Sea to find the enemy during the afternoon of 31 May 1916. At 14:15, scouting cruisers spotted the German vanguard and Beatty closed to attack the enemy with his main force. Given time to prepare, Hipper was ready for Beatty with his battlecruisers in line to face Beatty's approaching ships with their full broadsides. Hipper was also encouraged by the main German battleship fleet under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer
, which was steaming northwards close behind him. At 15:45 Beatty came within range of the German fleet and the vanguards engaged one another with their opening fusillades. As the two squadrons closed, the Germans found the range better and faster than the British, who were silhouetted against the sun. As a result, German shells pounded the British ships while the German ships remained untouched for the first 10 minutes of the engagement. During this stage of the battle Lion was hit by nine shells from SMS Lützow
. One shell at 16:00 struck the right upper corner of the left hand gun port at the junction of the face plate and the roof, and punched a piece of the 9-inch face plate into the turret before detonating, blowing off the armoured roof of the turret and starting a fire, which a damage control party working from outside the turret fought to put out.
The initial explosion killed or wounded everyone stationed in the gun house itself. Harvey, despite severe wounds and burns, realised that the shell hoist leading to the ship's main forward magazine was jammed open. With the hatch open, the flash fire would rapidly travel down to the main magazine resulting in an explosion that would tear the ship in two and kill everyone on board. Staggering across the wreckage of the turret, Harvey gave orders down the voice pipe for the magazine doors to be closed and the magazine compartments to be flooded, an action which would prevent the cordite in the magazines detonating. Turning to his sergeant, the one man still standing, Harvey instructed him to proceed to the bridge and give a full report to the ship's captain Ernle Chatfield
(a standard drill in damage exercises). Seconds later, Harvey collapsed and died from his wounds. The sergeant went immediately to the bridge and notified the captain of Harvey's actions before being taken below to have his wounds dressed.
As soon as the turret had been hit the captain had ordered Q magazine doors closed and the magazine flooded, the order passing to the Transmitting Station below the armoured deck where Stoker 1st Class William Yeo was entrusted with passing the order on. The magazine was consequently flooded and locked up within minutes of the hit. However the cordite charges which had fallen down from gun house after the hit were not removed to safety, and there were still ready charges in the working chamber. A large number of crewmen still remained in the shell room, magazine handing room and working chamber. The fire which was thought to have been put out after the hit on the turret gained strength and ignited the remaining cordite charges, setting off a large explosion at 16:28 which killed the turret crewmen, the flame of the explosion reaching as high as the top of the ship's masts. Even with the precautions taken in hand, the magazine doors were later found to be severely buckled – only the seawater in the magazine behind it prevented the blast reaching inside. Other ships of the battlecruiser fleet were less lucky; at about the same time as Harvey's death, HMS Indefatigable
was torn to pieces by a series of magazine explosions that claimed 1,013 lives and just minutes after that HMS Queen Mary exploded "like a puffball" in one huge column of grey smoke, killing 1,275 sailors. Hours later during the main battlefleet engagement, Admiral Horace Hood
's flagship HMS Invincible
was destroyed with 1,032 lives. All three ships were lost as the result of magazine explosions similar to the one narrowly avoided on Lion.
post-battle dispatch and he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
. Harvey's widow Ethel was presented with the award at Buckingham Palace
by King George V
on 15 September 1916. The award was later presented to the Royal Marines Museum
, Eastney Barracks by his son Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm Harvey of the King's Regiment in 1973. Harvey's name is inscribed on the Chatham Naval Memorial
to those with no known grave, administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
.
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
(29 April 1873 – 31 May 1916) was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions at the height of 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...
. A long serving Royal Marine officer descended of a military family, during his career Harvey became a specialist in naval artillery, serving on many large warships as gunnery training officer and gun commander. Specially requested for HMS Lion
HMS Lion (1910)
HMS Lion was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class, which were nicknamed the "Splendid Cats". They were significant improvements over their predecessors of the in terms of speed, armament and armour...
, the flagship of the British battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
fleet, Harvey fought at the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank
Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)
The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet....
and 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...
.
At Jutland, Harvey, although mortally wounded by German shellfire, ordered the magazine of Q turret on the battlecruiser Lion to be flooded. This action prevented the tons of cordite
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...
stored there from catastrophically detonating in an explosion that would have destroyed the vessel and all aboard her. Although he succumbed to his injuries seconds later, his dying act may have saved over a thousand lives and prompted Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
to later comment: "In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this".
Gunnery expert
Harvey was born in Upper SydenhamSydenham
Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the son of Commander John William Francis Harvey, RN
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...
and Elizabeth Edwards Lavington Harvey née Penny. At age 11 in 1884, Harvey moved with his family to Southsea
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire in England. Southsea is within a mile of Portsmouth's city centre....
and he attended Portsmouth Grammar School, achieving excellent academic results and showing proficiency in languages and debating. Harvey was descended from a military family; his great-great-grandfather John Harvey
John Harvey (Royal Navy officer)
Captain John Harvey was an officer of the British Royal Navy whose death in the aftermath of the battle of the Glorious First of June where he had commanded the HMS Brunswick terminated a long and highly successful career and made him a celebrity in Britain, a memorial to his memory being raised...
had been killed in the Glorious First of June
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June [Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars...
in 1794 and his great-grandfather Admiral Sir Edward Harvey
Edward Harvey
Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and continued in the service during the first half of the nineteenth century during which he participated in the bombardment of Acre in 1840...
, GCB, RN and grandfather Captain John Harvey of the 9th Regiment of Foot
9th Regiment of Foot
The 9th Regiment of Foot was a infantry line regiment of the British Army from 1751 to 1881. It became the Norfolk Regiment following the Army reforms of 1881.-Early history:...
were also prominent military figures.
After leaving school, Harvey chose a military career and was accepted by both the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich for officer training. Choosing the latter school as a Royal Marines officer cadet, Harvey graduated in 1892 and the following year was made a full lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
, joining HMS Wildfire for his first seagoing commission. After just a year at sea, Harvey was back on shore attending gunnery courses at HMS Excellent, qualifying in 1896 as an instructor first class in naval gunnery. Harvey was appointed to the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
HMS Phaëton
HMS Phaeton (1883)
HMS Phaeton was a second class cruiser of the Leander class which served with the Royal Navy.-Construction:She was built by Napier in Glasgow, being laid down in 1880, launched in 1883 and completed in 1886.-Acceptance Trials:...
when she was commissioned at Devonport on 8 June 1897 for service on the Pacific Station. In 1898, whilst on the Phaëton, he was reprimanded by 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...
for an unfavourable report he released on San Diego Harbour. Returning home the same year, Harvey was given the position of Assistant Instructor for Gunnery at Plymouth Division. During this period, Harvey married Ethel Edye and had one son, John.
Between 1898 and 1904 Harvey spent much of his time attached to 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...
, aboard HMS Edgar
HMS Edgar (1890)
HMS Edgar was a first class cruiser of the Royal Navy, and lead ship of the Edgar class. She was built at Devonport and launched on 24 November 1890...
and HMS Diadem
HMS Diadem (1896)
HMS Diadem was the lead ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She was built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Govan and launched on 21 October 1896. She served in the First World War with her sisters. In 1914 she was a stokers' training ship, and was...
, practising and instructing in gunnery. In 1900 he was promoted to captain
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...
. In 1903 he was posted aboard HMS Royal Sovereign
HMS Royal Sovereign (1891)
HMS Royal Sovereign was a Royal Sovereign class battleship of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of the class, and the largest warship in the world at the time of her construction. The ships were designed by Sir William White and were the most potent battleships in the world until HMS Dreadnought...
, the first of a string of big ship appointments teaching gunnery to the heavy units of the Channel Fleet. By 1909, Harvey had served on HMS Duke of Edinburgh
HMS Duke of Edinburgh (1904)
HMS Duke of Edinburgh was the lead ship of the armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1900s. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser and light cruiser...
, HMS St George
HMS St George (1892)
HMS St George was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class. She was launched on June 23, 1892.She took part in the 40 minute long Anglo-Zanzibar War and served in the First World War. She was designated as a depot ship in 1909, and sold for breaking up at Plymouth on July 1, 1920.-References:*...
and the new battlecruiser HMS Inflexible
HMS Inflexible (1907)
HMS Inflexible was an of the British Royal Navy. She was built before World War I and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiser and the light cruiser in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship sank the German armoured...
. In 1910 Harvey became Instructor of Gunnery at Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
and the following year was promoted to major
Major (UK)
In the British military, major is a military rank which is used by both the British Army and Royal Marines. The rank insignia for a major is a crown...
, a report on the gunnery school commenting "Degree of efficiency in Gunnery Establishment at Chatham is very high both as regards general training and attention to detail. Great credit is due all concerned particularly to Major F.J.W. Harvey, the I of G".
The strength of this report subsequently gained Harvey a position as senior marine officer aboard HMS Lion
HMS Lion (1910)
HMS Lion was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class, which were nicknamed the "Splendid Cats". They were significant improvements over their predecessors of the in terms of speed, armament and armour...
, the 27,000 ton flagship of the British battlecruiser fleet. Lion had eight 13.5-inch guns and Harvey was stationed in an office under Q turret directing their operation and fire. Under her new commander, Admiral David Beatty
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
, Harvey served as the senior marine officer on board into the First World War, his first military campaign.
First World War
HMS Queen Mary
HMS Queen Mary was a battlecruiser built by the British Royal Navy before World War I, the sole member of her class. She was similar to the s, though she differed in details from her half-sisters. She was the last battlecruiser completed before the war and participated in the Battle of Heligoland...
and HMS Princess Royal
HMS Princess Royal (1911)
HMS Princess Royal was the second of two s built for the Royal Navy before World War I. Designed in response to the s of the German Navy, the ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding...
, swept into the Heligoland Bight
Heligoland Bight
The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river...
where German and British cruiser forces were already engaged in a bitter struggle. One German cruiser had already been sunk by the time Beatty's force arrived, but the German flagship Köln and cruiser Ariadne
SMS Ariadne
SMS Ariadne was a light cruiser of the Gazelle class in the Imperial German Navy, with 2,700 tons displacement and 10 × 10.5 cm guns...
were surprised in the fog and destroyed by heavy calibre shells from Beatty's battlecruisers. German Admiral Leberecht Maass
Leberecht Maass
Leberecht Maass was the rear admiral who commanded the German naval forces at the first Battle of Heligoland Bight...
and over 1,000 of his sailors were killed, Harvey's guns scoring several hits on the cruisers.
Six months later, Harvey's guns again caused severe damage to a German force at the Battle of Dogger Bank
Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)
The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet....
. Over the previous months, a German battlecruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral Hipper
Franz von Hipper
Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...
had crossed the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and bombarded British coastal towns on several occasions. On 24 January 1915 another attempt was made, but this time British signals analysts had detected the German movement and using this information 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...
dispatched Beatty's force to intercept and destroy them. Beatty and Hipper's squadrons collided at 09:00 and during the engagement that followed, Lion was left exposed by mis-communication between the ships, which led to HMS Tiger
HMS Tiger (1913)
The 11th HMS Tiger was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, built by John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1913. Tiger was the most heavily armoured battlecruiser of the Royal Navy at the start of the First World War although she was still being finished when the war began...
engaging the wrong ship, leaving SMS Moltke uncovered and so able to fire more accurately. The British flagship was hard pressed until one of Lion
Wilhelm Heidkamp
Pumpenmeister Wilhelm Heidkamp was a German sailor who fought in World War I.Heidkamp was born in Herkenrath and joined the German Navy as a machinist in 1902. He transferred to SMS Seydlitz in 1912....
, who wrenched open the water valves to the magazines despite their glowing red hot.
Lion was badly damaged in the action by shells from the passing SMS Derfflinger
SMS Derfflinger
SMS Derfflinger"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine built just before the outbreak of World War I. She was the lead vessel of her class of three ships; her sister ships were and...
and with her engines failing, dropped back to engage the already sinking SMS Blücher
SMS Blücher
SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser to be built by the German Imperial Navy . She was designed to match what German intelligence incorrectly believed to be the specifications of the British s...
. Misread signals resulted in the rest of the British fleet returning to support Lion in this task, allowing the rest of the battered German fleet to retire as the British destroyed the hapless Blücher and 792 of her crew. Following the battle, Harvey remained aboard Lion at Rosyth
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
for the whole of 1915 and the first five months of 1916, continuing his gunnery training and preparations for major fleet action. His preparations came to fruition on the last day of May, when the British fleet sailed to engage the main body of the German High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
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...
.
Just after Dogger Bank, Harvey had written to a fellow RMLI officer in HMS Orion
HMS Orion (1910)
HMS Orion was a dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1910, she was the lead ship of her class; she was the first so-called "super-dreadnought", being the first British dreadnought to mount guns of calibre greater than twelve inches, and the first British dreadnought to have...
describing his experiences:
Jutland
| "The armoured roof of Q turret had been folded back like an open sardine tin, thick yellow smoke was rolling up in clouds from the gaping hole and the guns were cocked up in the air awkwardly". |
| Lieutenant W. S. Chambers, HMS Lion's bridge. |
Reinhard Scheer
Reinhard Scheer was an Admiral in the German Kaiserliche Marine. Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet; he progressed through the ranks, commanding cruisers and battleships, as well as major staff positions on land. At the outbreak of World War I, Scheer was the commander of the II...
, which was steaming northwards close behind him. At 15:45 Beatty came within range of the German fleet and the vanguards engaged one another with their opening fusillades. As the two squadrons closed, the Germans found the range better and faster than the British, who were silhouetted against the sun. As a result, German shells pounded the British ships while the German ships remained untouched for the first 10 minutes of the engagement. During this stage of the battle Lion was hit by nine shells from SMS Lützow
SMS Lützow
SMS Lützow"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was the second built by the German Kaiserliche Marine before World War I. Ordered as a replacement for the old protected cruiser , Lützow was launched on 29 November 1913, but not completed until 1916...
. One shell at 16:00 struck the right upper corner of the left hand gun port at the junction of the face plate and the roof, and punched a piece of the 9-inch face plate into the turret before detonating, blowing off the armoured roof of the turret and starting a fire, which a damage control party working from outside the turret fought to put out.
Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield
Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC was a Royal Navy officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1939...
(a standard drill in damage exercises). Seconds later, Harvey collapsed and died from his wounds. The sergeant went immediately to the bridge and notified the captain of Harvey's actions before being taken below to have his wounds dressed.
HMS Indefatigable (1909)
HMS Indefatigable was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy and the lead ship of her class. Her keel was laid down in 1909 and she was commissioned in 1911...
was torn to pieces by a series of magazine explosions that claimed 1,013 lives and just minutes after that HMS Queen Mary exploded "like a puffball" in one huge column of grey smoke, killing 1,275 sailors. Hours later during the main battlefleet engagement, Admiral Horace Hood
Horace Hood
Rear Admiral the Honourable Sir Horace Lambert Alexander Hood KCB, DSO, MVO was a British Royal Navy admiral of the First World War, whose lengthy and distinguished service saw him engaged in operations around the world, frequently participating in land campaigns as part of a shore brigade...
's flagship HMS Invincible
HMS Invincible (1907)
HMS Invincible was a battlecruiser of the British Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class of three, and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. She participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers...
was destroyed with 1,032 lives. All three ships were lost as the result of magazine explosions similar to the one narrowly avoided on Lion.
Remembrance
Harvey's charred corpse was taken from the wreckage of Q turret in the aftermath of battle and buried at sea with full honours alongside the other 98 fatal casualties Lion had suffered. His bravery in the face of certain death did not go unnoticed; he was mentioned by name in Admiral Jellicoe'sJohn Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO was a British Royal Navy admiral who commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in World War I...
post-battle dispatch and he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. Harvey's widow Ethel was presented with the award at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
on 15 September 1916. The award was later presented to the Royal Marines Museum
Royal Marines Museum
The Royal Marines Museum is located in Eastney , England, and is open to the public every day of the week throughout the year apart from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day...
, Eastney Barracks by his son Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm Harvey of the King's Regiment in 1973. Harvey's name is inscribed on the Chatham Naval Memorial
Chatham Naval Memorial
Chatham Naval Memorial is a large obelisk situated in the town of Chatham, Kent, which is in the Medway Towns.Chatham was a principal manning port of the Royal Navy during the First World War and thus was dedicated as the site of one of three memorials to sailors of the Royal Navy killed during the...
to those with no known grave, administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
.