13 Facts About Bertram Ramsay

Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO was a Royal Navy officer.

On 26 February 1929, Bertram Ramsay married Helen Margaret Menzies, daughter of Colonel Charles Thomson Menzies.

Bertram Ramsay was promoted to lieutenant on 15 December 1904.

In 1935 Bertram Ramsay resigned his post as Chief of Staff to Sir Roger Backhouse C-in-C, Home Fleet who had refused to delegate his authority.

Bertram Ramsay retired from the navy in 1938, but was coaxed out of retirement by Winston Churchill one year later to help deal with the Axis threat.

Bertram Ramsay's duties included overseeing the defence against possible destroyer raids, the protection of cross-Channel military traffic and the denial of the passage through the Straits of Dover by submarines.

Bertram Ramsay was in command when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau together with escorts passed through the Channel in February 1942.

Bertram Ramsay was to be appointed the Naval Force Commander for the invasion of Europe on 29 April 1942, but the invasion was postponed and he was transferred to become deputy naval commander of the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Bertram Ramsay was reinstated to the Active List on 26 April 1944 and promoted to the rank of admiral on 27 April 1944.

Bertram Ramsay was appointed Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion.

Bertram Ramsay cited the danger to both the King and the Prime Minister, the risks of the planned operational duties of HMS Belfast, and the fact that both the King and Churchill would be needed at home in case the landings went badly and immediate decisions were required.

On 2 January 1945, Bertram Ramsay was killed when his plane crashed on takeoff at Toussus-le-Noble Airport southwest of Paris.

Bertram Ramsay was en route to a conference with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in Brussels.