Christopher Cradock

Sir Christopher Cradock
Christopher Cradock
Born	2 July 1862 Hartforth, North Yorkshire, England
Died	1 November 1914(1914-11-01) (aged 52) HMS Good Hope, off Coronel, Chile
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1875–1914
Rank	Rear-Admiral
Commands held	HMS Alacrity HMS Andromeda HMS Bacchante HMS Leviathan HMS Swiftsure Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth North America and West Indies Station
Battles/wars	Boxer Rebellion Battle of the Taku Forts (1900) World War I Naval campaign Atlantic Ocean campaign Battle of Coronel  †
Awards	Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of the Bath Order of the Crown (Prussia)

Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Cradock KCVO CB SGM (2 July 1862 – 1 November 1914) was an English senior officer of the Royal Navy. He earned a reputation for great gallantry.^[1]

Appointed to the royal yacht, he was close to the British royal family. Prior to the First World War, his combat service during the Mahdist War and the Boxer Rebellion was all ashore. Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station before the war, his mission was to protect Allied merchant shipping by hunting down German commerce raiders.

Late in 1914 he was tasked to search for and destroy the East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy as it headed home around the tip of South America. Believing that he had no choice but to engage the squadron in accordance with his orders, despite his numerical and tactical inferiority, he was killed during the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile in November when the German ships sank his flagship.