Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

(1900—1979)

One of the famed British mariners to hold a membership in the Drake Navigators Guild (DNG) was Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten. Mountbatten was a British statesman, naval leader, and the last viceroy of India. He also had a keen interest in Francis Drake.

Over the course of his life, Mountbatten had an extensive career which included numerous naval commands. He commanded several ships during World War II including the HMS Illustrious. In 1943, Winston Churchill appointed him the Supreme Allied Commander for the Southeast Asia theater, and he served there for the duration of the war. In 1952, he was given command the Mediterranean Fleet, and served as Britain’s First Sea Lord in 1955-1959. He promoted in 1956 to an admiral of the fleet. From 1959–1965, Mountbatten worked in the capacities of chief of the United Kingdom Defense Staff and chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

In 1954, Mountbatten donated an anchor to the DNG that is now part of a monument at Drake’s Cove. It is from HMS Drake—Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Devonport—and was sent to the DNG’s Honorary Chairman, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz to mark the 375th anniversary of Drake’s landing. Mountbatten was one of the few who was an honorary member of the Guild.

In 1979, just offshore from a small seaside village in County Sligo, Ireland, he was assassinated by Provisional Irish Republican Army terrorists who had planted a bomb in his boat.

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