Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman, (born Bridgeman-Simpson; 7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929) was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain he commanded a battleship and then an armoured cruiser and then, after serving as second-in-command of three different fleets, he twice undertook tours as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet with a stint as Second Sea Lord in between those tours. He became First Sea Lord in November 1911 but clashed with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on technical issues as well as matters relating to a perceived overriding of naval traditions by Churchill: this led to Bridgeman's resignation just a year later.
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Naval career
Born the son of Reverend William Bridgeman-Simpson and Lady Frances Laura Wentworth FitzWilliam (herself daughter of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam), as Francis Simpson he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in 1862. He was posted to the sloop HMS Blanche on the Australia Station in 1868 and, having been promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1869 and to lieutenant on 8 April 1873, he specialised in gunnery. He was posted to the corvette HMS Encounter on the China Station as gunnery officer in 1874 and then to the battleship HMS Temeraire in the Mediterranean Fleet also as gunnery officer. Promoted to commander on 30 June 1884, he joined the battleship HMS Triumph on the Pacific Station in 1885 and then went to the gunnery training ship HMS Excellent in 1888.
He was promoted to captain on 1 January 1890, and that year requested he be referred to as Bridgeman-Simpson. He became Captain of the battleship HMS Ramillies and Flag Captain of the Mediterranean Fleet in October 1893.
Having shortened his name to Bridgeman in 1896, he became Flag Captain at Portsmouth Command in September 1897. Appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King on 24 May 1901, he was in June 1902 posted to HMS Duke of Wellington for service during the 1902 Coronation Fleet review, but the appointment was cancelled when the coronation was postponed. He was given command of the armoured cruiser HMS Drake on its first commission in January 1903, and was appointed a Member of the 4th Class of the Royal Victorian Order on 5 May 1903. Promoted to rear admiral on 12 August 1903, he became Second-in-Command of the Channel Fleet in June 1904, Second-in-Command of the Atlantic Fleet in December 1904 and Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1906.