Captain James Dick, RN

Jon Saunders (jcs_gfc@hotmail.com) has provided this career summary of the last Captain of HMS Vanguard (lost 9 July 1917), Captain James Dick from the records available in the Public Record Office.

Some high (and one low) lights of James Dick's career are as follows:

James Douglas Dick

born 1 August 1871, Alverstoke, Hampshire.
15 Jan 1887 he joined the training establishment Britannia and remained there until 6 Dec 1887. On passing out from Britannia he "gained 12 months time" (a boost in his seniority because of his performance).
10 Jan 1887 he joined his first commission, HMS Minotaur, which formed part of the Oman Squadron.
Jan 1891 he was first appointed Acting Sub-Lt. and this appears to have been confirmed later the same month.
Jan 1892 he was promoted to full Lieutenant. This promotion may not have been ratified until after April 1892 as I believe from the papers that his promotion was reward for obtaining five first class certificates in; Seamanship (Jan 91), College (Sept 91), Torpedo (Nov 91), Gunnery (Feb 92) and Pilotage (Apr 92).
June 1894 gained first class certificate in his final examination for gunnery.
1902(?) comment made on his record "unsatisfactory prize firing of Gibralter 1902 - should have obtained better results".
31 Dec 1902 promoted Commander (despite the above comment made on his record)!
April 1906 he was given 6 weeks sick leave and was to return to the UK but was then considered unfit to travel. It appears he did not return to duty until almost a year later, 15 March 1907, (presumably having been returned to the UK when fit to travel).
31 December 1908 promoted Captain.
December 1910 "Landing of armed party at Dubai, Persian Gulf. Faced difficult situation with coolness and courage and extricated his men from a very dangerous position with great judgement."
22 June 1912 he was appointed Assistant Director of Naval Ordnance. He retained this position until 3 Jan 1915, when he was commissioned to HMS Black Prince (as Captain).
22 Jan 1916 - joined HMS Vanguard.
31 May 1916 in command of HMS Vanguard at Battle of Jutland and was Mentioned in Dispatches by Admiral Jellicoe. The MiD was a blanket award for all ships captains involved at Jutland given by Jellicoe.
9 July 1917 - was sadly killed by the internal explosion that destroyed HMS Vanguard at Scapa Flow.

He had been awarded the Africa General Service Medal with clasp "Somaliland 1908-10" and was gazetted 29 August 1917 (so possible posthumous award) with Japanese Order of the Rising Sun (3rd Class). (This may have a link to Commander Eto having been an official observer of the Japanese Imperial Navy and aboard Vanguard and under JDD's command when she was destroyed).

Jon has provided scans of Captain Dick's service record (the quality isn't perfect, unfortunately):

Last Updated: 2 September, 2002.

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