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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Admiral of the Fleet Prince Lo…
Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Admiral of the Fleet Prince Louis of Battenberg
Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Admiral of the Fleet Prince Lo…
Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Admiral of the Fleet Prince Louis of Battenberg

Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Admiral of the Fleet Prince Louis of Battenberg

Associated (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)
Medallist
DateMay 2004
Object NameMedal
MediumSterling Silver
ClassificationsMedals
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS072500.77
About MeFrom the age of fourteen, Prince Louis of Battenberg made his career in the British Navy. He was devoted to the Service and rose by merit to become one of the most experienced, as well as the most competent, officers of his era. To seamanship and to exceptional administrative qualities were added powers of creative invention not often to be met with in those with executive talent. During the winter of 1891-1892, when he was a captain, Prince Louis devised a Course Indicator for use in a ship manoeuvering at speed which soon became widely used. The principles of this device were adopted for gun fire control instruments. Much later on, the principle was applied to aircraft bomb sights.

Prince Louis rose to become First Sea Lord and thus professional head of the Navy in 1912, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. On the internationally agreed date for the Fleet Test Mobilisation to stop in July 1914 Cabinet Ministers were out of London, and he took the responsibility of keeping the Fleet mobilised and thus ready for war. Unfortunately, during the winter of 1914, irresponsible newspaper agitation drew attention to the fact that Prince Louis was of German descent,- and he felt forced to resign his office, though it nearly broke his heart to do so. More representative feeling was later expressed in The Times by Lord Selborne, who wrote, 'I would as soon mistrust Lord Roberts as Prince Louis and that anyone should have been found to insinuate suspicions against him is nothing less than a national humiliation.'

Prince Louis' kinsman King George V, who in earlier years had served with the Admiral at sea, made him a member of the Privy Council. For the last seven years of his life Lord Milford Haven, as he had become, lived in retirement. The loss of his services in high Naval office was an undoubted loss to the Nation.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.

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