Роджер Джон Браунлоу Киз: Британдық Әскери-теңіз Флотиласының адмиралы және өмірінің шолуы

19th/20th century British Royal Navy Officer

Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, (4 October 1872 – 26 December 1945) was a British naval officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Early in the Boxer Rebellion, he led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. He was one of the first men to climb over the Peking walls, to break through to the besieged diplomatic legations and to free them. During the First World War Keyes was heavily involved in the organisation of the Dardanelles Campaign. Keyes took charge in an operation when six trawlers and a cruiser attempted to clear the Kephez minefield. The operation was a failure, as the Turkish mobile artillery pieces bombarded Keyes' minesweeping squadron. He went on to be Director of Plans at the Admiralty and then took command of the Dover Patrol: he altered tactics and the Dover Patrol sank five U boats in the first month after implementation of Keyes' plan compared with just two in the previous two years. He also planned and led the famous raids on the German submarine pens in the Belgian ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend. Between the wars Keyes commanded the Battlecruiser Squadron, the Atlantic Fleet and then the Mediterranean Fleet before becoming Commander in Chief, Portsmouth. He was elected to Parliament in 1934. During the Second World War he initially became liaison officer to Leopold III, King of the Belgians. Wearing full uniform in the House of Commons, he played an important role in the Norway Debate which led to the resignation of Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister. He went on to be the first Director of Combined Operations and implemented plans for the training of commandos and raids on hostile coasts.

Born the second son of General Sir Charles Patton Keyes of the Indian Army and Katherine Jessie Keyes (née Norman), Keyes told his parents from an early age: "I am going to be an Admiral". After being brought up in India and then the United Kingdom, where he attended preparatory school at Margate, he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship on 15 July 1885. He was appointed to the cruiser , flagship of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, in August 1887. and to lieutenant on 28 August 1893, he joined the sloop on the Pacific Station later that year. In June 1900, early in the Boxer Rebellion, Keyes led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. Together with another junior officer, he took boarding parties onto the Chinese destroyers, captured the destroyers and secured the wharf. Keyes was one of the first men to climb over the Peking walls, to break through to the besieged diplomatic legations and to free them. For this he was promoted to commander on 9 November 1900. Keyes later recalled about the sack of Beijing: "Every Chinaman was treated as a Boxer by the Russian and French troops, and the slaughter of men, women, and children in retaliation was revolting".

From his return to the United Kingdom and for a couple of years, Keyes served briefly in command of various ships in the instructional flotilla. He was appointed in May 1901 to the command of the destroyer serving in the Devonport instructional flotilla. In January 1902 he was appointed in command of the destroyer , which took Bat crew and her place in the flotilla, and four months later he again brought his crew and was appointed in command of the destroyer , which served in the flotilla from May 1902. Another change of ship came in January 1903, when he transferred to , then a brief month with in April 1903, until he was posted to for Naval manouevres during summer 1903. Keyes was posted to the intelligence section at the Admiralty in 1904 and then became naval attaché at the British Embassy in Rome in January 1905. he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order on 24 April 1906. He took up command of the cruiser in the Atlantic Fleet in 1908 before going on to be Inspecting Captain of Submarines in 1910 and, having been appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 19 June 1911, he became commodore of the Submarine Service in 1912.

When the First World War broke out, Keyes took command of the Eighth Submarine Flotilla at Harwich. Keyes took charge in an operation in March 1915 when six trawlers and the cruiser attempted to clear the Kephez minefield. The operation was a failure, as the Turkish mobile artillery pieces bombarded Keyes' minesweeping squadron. Heavy damage was inflicted on four of the six trawlers, while HMS Amethyst was badly hit and had her steering gear damaged. After another abortive attempt to clear the mines a few days later, the naval attempt to force the straits was abandoned and instead troops were landed to assault the guns. For his service during the Dardanelles Campaign, Keyes was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 1 January 1916 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 3 June 1916. Keyes took command of the battleship in the Grand Fleet in June 1916 and, having been promoted to rear admiral on 10 April 1917, became second in command of the 4th Battle Squadron with his flag in the battleship in June 1917. He went on to be Director of Plans at the Admiralty in October 1917 and then became Commander in Chief, Dover and commander of the Dover Patrol in January 1918. After Keyes took control, he altered tactics, and the Dover Patrol sank five U boats in the first month after implementation of Keyes' plan. In April 1918 Keyes planned and led the famous raids on the German submarine pens in the Belgian ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend. and promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 24 April 1918. In May 1918 he was involved in remote control trials of unmanned aerial vehicles by the Royal Navy's D. C. B. Section. He was then advanced to Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 10 December 1918 and made a baronet on 29 December 1919. In March 1919 he was appointed (Acting) Vice Admiral in command of the Battle Cruiser Force until it was disbanded in April 1919.

Keyes was given command of the new Battlecruiser Squadron hoisting his flag at Scapa Flow in the battlecruiser in March 1919. Promoted to vice admiral on 16 May 1921, he became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff in November 1921 and then Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet in June 1925 with promotion to full admiral on 1 March 1926. In January 1928 at a dance on the quarterdeck of the battleship , Rear Admiral Bernard Collard, Second in command of the 1st Battle Squadron, openly lambasted Royal Marine Bandmaster, Percy Barnacle, and allegedly said "I won't have a bugger like that in my ship" in the presence of ship's officers and guests. Captain Kenneth Dewar and Commander Henry Daniel accused Collard of "vindictive fault finding" and openly humiliating and insulting them before their crew, referring to an incident involving Collard's disembarkation from the ship in March 1928 where the admiral had openly said that he was "fed up with the ship"; Collard countercharged the two with failing to follow orders and treating him "worse than a midshipman". Letters of complaint from Dewar and Daniel were passed on to Keyes. The press picked up on the story worldwide, describing the affair—with some hyperbole—as a "mutiny". Keyes was thought by the Admiralty to have handled the matter badly and this may have adversely affected his chances of becoming First Sea Lord. He became Commander in Chief, Portsmouth in May 1929, was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 8 May 1930 and was advanced Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 3 June 1930. He then bought a house at Tingewick in Buckinghamshire and retired in May 1935. Keyes was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North in January 1934. In his closing remarks Keyes invoked Horatio Nelson. Chamberlain's government fell two days later, and Churchill became prime minister. Keyes suffered a detached retina in early 1944. He then undertook a goodwill tour of Canada, Australia and New Zealand at the request of the British government in July 1944. During his visit to the amphibious warfare ship Appalachian he suffered smoke inhalation following an attack by Japanese aircraft and never fully recovered. He died at his home in Tingewick on 26 December 1945 and was buried at the Zeebrugge corner of St James's Cemetery in Dover.