David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty

Admiral of the Fleet The Right Honourable The Earl Beatty
The Earl Beatty while a vice admiral
Born	(1871-01-17)17 January 1871 Stapeley, Cheshire, England
Died	12 March 1936(1936-03-12) (aged 65) London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1884–1927
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	First Sea Lord (1919–27) Grand Fleet (1916–18) Battle Cruiser Fleet (1915) 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (1913–16) HMS Queen HMS Suffolk HMS Arrogant HMS Juno
Battles/wars	Mahdist War Battle of Dongola Battle of Omdurman Boxer Rebellion First World War Battle of Heligoland Bight Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) Battle of Jutland
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Member of the Order of Merit Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Order

Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC (17 January 1871 – 12 March 1936) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Mahdist War and then the response to the Boxer Rebellion, he commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, a tactically indecisive engagement after which his aggressive approach was contrasted with the caution of his commander Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He is remembered for his comment at Jutland that "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today", after two of his ships exploded. Later in the war he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, in which capacity he received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of the war. He then followed Jellicoe's path a second time, serving as First Sea Lord—a position that Beatty held longer (7 years 9 months) than any other First Sea Lord. While First Sea Lord, he was involved in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 in which it was agreed that the United States, Britain and Japan should set their navies in a ratio of 5:5:3, with France and Italy maintaining smaller ratio fleets of 1.75 each.