Basil Richard Brooke

Captain (retired) Basil Richard Brooke, D.S.O. (27 November, 1882 – 8 October, 1929) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Brooke was born in Shifnal, Shropshire.

He gained seven month's time on passing out of Britannia. His father died one year after he was promoted to the rank of Midshipman, leaving him to be raised by Lady Wilhelmina Brooke.

Brooke was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 31 December, 1903.

Brooke was appointed to H.M.S. Vulcan in 1904. Captain Heath offered Brooke a positive evaluation and appreciated that Brooke had skills in wireless. Brooke was appointed to the third class protected cruiser Sapphire on 6 March 1905 to act as her gunnery officer. Here, he was not so well regarded. In January, 1907 outgoing Captain Cecil Foley Lambert described Brooke as "Disappointing. To[o] careless." Brooke's gunnery work proved so unsatisfactory that Lambert felt obliged to hand these duties to another man. Brooke was appointed to Diamond at the end of the month as first and gunnery officer and performed much better, with Commander Onslow offering lavish praise in his evaluation of February, 1908.

Brooke was appointed in command of the gunboat Widgeon on the China Station on 27 April, 1910. He gave up command on 23 April, 1912.

Brooke was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 31 December, 1911.

Upon being superseded in command of Speedwell on 9 August, 1913, Brooke was appointed to join the battleship Dominion. He served in the pre-dreadnought until being appointed in command of the torpedo gunboat Gossamer on 17 July, 1915.

Superseded in Gossamer on 20 November, 1915, Brooke was appointed in command of the sweeping sloop Myrtle some time before the end of the year. Minesweeping would prove to become his forte.

Brooke was promoted to the rank of Acting Commander on 7 September, 1916.

Brooke was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31 December, 1916.

In 1917, he was awarded a D.S.O. for his work in mine clearance, it being noted that "[h]is minesweeping ability is of the highest order, and his his quick judgment and prompt action has on several occasions been the means of expeditiously clearing a mined area when delay would otherwise have occurred."

Post-War

Brooke assisted in the arduous effort to clear the seas of mines, in December 1918 being appointed as Mine Clearance Officer in Area III. In February, 1919, this appointment was broadened to include command of the Seventh Fleet Sweeping Flotilla.

In June, 1921, Brooke was cautioned to be more careful after some rifles from Magnolia went missing.

Brooke was placed on the Retired List at his own request on 4 July, 1922 and subsequently promoted to the rank of Captain on the Retired List on 27 November, 1927.

Brooke succumbed to stomach cancer at Fountain Street Nursing Home in Ulverston.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia

Naval Appointments
Preceded by William C. O'G. Cochrane	Captain of H.M.S. Speedwell 28 Feb, 1913 – 9 Aug, 1913	Succeeded by Aubrey E. D. Moore
Preceded by F. C. Guy St. Clair	Captain of H.M.S. Gossamer 17 Jul, 1915 – 20 Nov, 1915	Succeeded by Charles E. Aglionby
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M.S. Myrtle 2 Dec, 1915 – 18 Apr, 1918	Succeeded by Maurice Ewbank
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Penarth 26 May, 1918 – Dec, 1918	Succeeded by Kenneth M. Greig
Preceded by ?	Senior Officer, Seventh Fleet Sweeping Flotilla 26 May, 1918 – Dec, 1918	Succeeded by Peter A. C. Sturrock
Preceded by Alexander Finlayson	Captain of H.M.S. Sherborne 10 Feb, 1919 – 27 Oct, 1919	Succeeded by John N. Benbow
Preceded by Robert B. Lyness	Captain of H.M.S. Foxglove 22 Nov, 1919 – 24 Nov, 1919	Succeeded by Gerald H. Brady
Preceded by Herbert E. W. C. Whyte	Captain of H.M.S. Magnolia 24 Nov, 1919 – 15 Oct, 1921	Succeeded by Ralph V. Eyre
Preceded by Ralph V. Eyre	Captain of H.M.S. Magnolia 27 Dec, 1921 – Feb, 1922	Succeeded by David Wardlaw-Ramsay