George Churchill ( Royal Navy officer ) Admiral of the Blue George Churchill ( 1654 – 1710 ) , was the younger brother of John Churchill , first Duke of Marlborough . Life . He served as a lieutenant aboard the HMS " Delft " ( a prize taken from the Dutch ) from 10 April 1666 to 19 June 1666 , during the Second Dutch war of 1665 - 67 . During the Third Dutch war of 1672 – 74 he served as a lieutenant aboard the HMS " York " and then from 28 August 1672 to 10 December 1673 aboard the HMS " Fairfax " and from 26 March 1674 aboard the fireship HMS " Castle " . Following the close of the war he became a lieutenant aboard HMS " Swan " ( another prize from the Dutch ) from 2 April 1675 until 2 May 1677 , and on 10 April 1678 was appointed to command HMS " Dartmouth " , taking up his post on 14 May , until 6 September 1680 . On 11 September 1680 he took command of HMS " Falcon " , in which he went , in charge of convoy , as far as the Canaries ; he remained with this ship until 25 April 1684 . On 26 September 1688 he was appointed to command HMS " Newcastle " . It is difficult to believe that these appointments involved active service . If Churchill had really served , or wished to serve , afloat , there can be little question but that , with his brother ' s court interest , his promotion would have been very much more rapid . Guided by his brother , he was one of the first of the officers of the fleet to offer his services to the Prince of Orange , and was shortly afterwards advanced to be captain of the HMS " Windsor Castle " , which he commanded in the Battle of Beachy Head . With greater opportunity of distinction he commanded HMS " St . Andrew " in the Battle of Barfleur . In 1693 Churchill withdrew from the service . His withdrawal was commonly attributed to jealousy at the promotion of Captain Matthew Aylmer to flag rank over his head , but appears to have been rather the effect of the King ' s dislike of the family of Churchill , and of ill - will towards Russell , then First Lord of the Admiralty , whom Churchill believed to have influenced the King ' s decision ( Add . MS . 31958 , ff . 45 – 6 ) . In 1699 , when Russell , then Earl of Orford , retired from the Admiralty , and Marlborough had made his peace with the King , Churchill was appointed to a seat at the Admiralty , which he held till January 1701 – 2 , when the Earl of Pembroke was made Lord High Admiral . On the accession of Anne and the appointment of Prince George as Lord High Admiral , Churchill was appointed to the council of his Royal Highness ( 23 May 1702 ) . His interest sufficed to make him chief , and his first step was to promote himself at a bound to be Admiral of the Blue , thus placing himself above Aylmer , who was then Vice - Admiral of the Red . At the same time , to give the promotion an air of reality , as well as , perhaps , to ensure the pay of the rank , he hoisted his flag for a few days at Portsmouth , on board HMS " Triumph " . This and a similar parade the following year were his whole service as a flag officer ; but the star of the house of Churchill was just then in the ascendant , and for the next six years Churchill governed the navy , as his brother , the Duke of Marlborough , governed the army . Complaints of the mismanagement of the navy were loud and frequent . The trade , it was alleged , was inefficiently protected ; even the convoys were insecure . The activity of the French privateers was notorious ; and the English Admiralty , with a force at their disposal immeasurably superior to that of France , so managed it that at the point of attack they were always inferior . The exploits of Duguay - Trouin , or Forbin , in the Channel brought this home to the popular mind , and permitted Lord Haversham to say in the House of Lords : So also the attempted invasion by the Pretender in 1708 must have been utterly crushed , it was stoutly argued , if Byng ' s ships had been clean and effective . These numerous failures all brought discredit on the Prince ' s naval administration , the head and real autocrat of which was Churchill , and added to the many causes of ill - will which were accumulating against the Duke of Marlborough . Churchill , indeed , seems to have been ignorant , incapable , and overbearing , and to have rendered himself hated by almost all who came in contact with him . He accumulated a large fortune , no doubt garnered from the thousand nameless perquisites of office . On the death of Prince George in October 1708 he retired from the Admiralty and lived mostly at a villa in Windsor Park , where he occupied himself with the care of a magnificent aviary , which at his death , 8 May 1710 , he bequeathed to the Duke of Ormonde and the Earl of Torrington . He was never married , and the bulk of his large fortune was inherited by a natural son . He was Tory MP for St Albans 1685 – 7 , and 1689 – 1708 , and at the time of his death was member for Portsmouth . His portrait , by Sir Godfrey Kneller , is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich , having been presented to its predecessor ( the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall ) by George IV . See also . List of deserters from James II to William of Orange