Francis Bridgeman ( Royal Navy officer ) Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman GCB , GCVO ( 7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929 ) was a Royal Navy officer . As a Captain he commanded a battleship and then an armoured cruiser and then , after serving as second - in - command of three different fleets , he twice undertook tours as Commander - in - Chief of the Home Fleet with a stint as Second Sea Lord in between those tours . He became First Sea Lord in November 1911 but clashed with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on technical issues as well as matters relating to a perceived overriding of naval traditions by Churchill : this led to Bridgeman ' s resignation just a year later . Naval career . Born the son of Reverend William Bridgeman Simpson and Lady Frances Laura Wentworth FitzWilliam ( herself daughter of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam ) , Francis Bridgeman Simpson joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS " Britannia " in 1862 . He was posted to the sloop HMS " Blanche " on the Australia Station in 1868 and , having being promoted to sub - lieutenant in 1869 and to lieutenant on 8 April 1873 , he specialised in gunnery . He was posted to the corvette HMS " Encounter " on the China Station as gunnery officer in 1874 and then to the battleship HMS " Temeraire " in the Mediterranean Fleet also as gunnery officer . Promoted to commander on 30 June 1884 , he joined the battleship HMS " Triumph " on the Pacific Station in 1885 and then went to the gunnery training ship HMS " Excellent " in 1888 . Simpson ( as he was then known ) was promoted to captain on 1 January 1890 . He became Captain of the battleship HMS " Ramillies " and Flag Captain of the Mediterranean Fleet in October 1893 . Having changed his name to Bridgeman in 1896 , he became Flag Captain at Portsmouth Command in September 1897 . Appointed Naval Aide - de - Camp to the King on 24 May 1901 , he was given command of the armoured cruiser HMS " Drake " in January 1903 and was appointed a Member of the 4th Class of the Royal Victorian Order on 5 May 1903 . Promoted to rear admiral on 12 August 1903 , he became Second - in - Command of the Channel Fleet in June 1904 , Second - in - Command of the Atlantic Fleet in December 1904 and Second - in - Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1906 . Promoted to vice - admiral on 20 February 1907 and advanced to Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 27 February 1907 , Bridgeman went on to be Commander - in - Chief of the Home Fleet in March 1907 , hoisting his flag in the battleship and then in the battleship HMS " Dreadnought " . Having been advanced to Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 3 August 1907 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 26 June 1908 , he became Second Sea Lord in March 1909 . Having taken part in the funeral of King Edward VII in May 1910 , he became Commander - in - Chief of the Home Fleet again in March 1911 . He was promoted to full admiral on 12 April 1911 and was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 24 June 1911 . Bridgeman became First Sea Lord in November 1911 , and allegedly " got the job by default . From a thin list , Bridgeman had one unusual quality in the pre - 1914 navy : a willingness to delegate " . By October 1912 Bridgeman had clashed with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on technical issues as well as matters relating to a perceived overriding of naval traditions by Churchill . Bridgeman , stating that Churchill ' s actions were denigrating the authority of senior officers and harming the efficiency of the service , threatened to take his case to Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and King George V . Churchill acted on reports of personal correspondence from Bridgeman to other officers concerning his attacks of appendicitis and bronchitis , and advised the Bridgeman on 2 December 1912 that his resignation would be accepted . He was replaced that month . It was subsequently acknowledged , in response to questions in Parliament , that the initiative for resignation on grounds of health emanated from Churchill rather than from Bridgeman himself . In the opinion of one historian : " The combination of frequent change and weak appointees ( Wilson , Bridgeman and Battenberg ) ensured that the professional leadership of the Royal Navy lost its direction in the four years preceding the war . " However , others have taken a more nuanced view of these men . Arthur Marder wrote that while Bridgeman and Battenberg " were not especially forceful and allowed Churchill a good deal of rope " , Bridgeman " did possess sound judgement and he might have made a moderately successful First Sea Lord had he served under anybody but Churchill . " Indeed it was Bridgeman ' s efforts to blockade some of Churchill ' s more controversial schemes that led to his dismissal , as he himself recognized in a letter to Francis Hopwood : " I was forced out " without " warning , but it was not because I was too weak , but because I was too strong ! " Following his resignation Bridgeman was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 10 December 1912 . In retirement he lived at Copgrove Hall near Burton Leonard in North Yorkshire and officiated as Vice - Admiral of the United Kingdom from 1920 until his death at Nassau in The Bahamas on 17 February 1929 . Family . On 6 November 1889 , he married Emily Charlotte Shiffner , daughter of Thomas Shiffner ; they had no children .