Richard Saunders Dundas

Infobox Military Person
name= Richard Saunders Dundas
lived= 11 April 1802 – 3 June 1861
placeofbirth=
placeofdeath=London, United Kingdom


caption= Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Dundas
nickname=
allegiance= flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
serviceyears=
rank= Vice-Admiral
branch=
branch
commands= First Naval Lord
unit=
battles= First Opium War
awards= KCB
laterwork=
Vice Admiral Sir Richard Saunders Dundas, KCB (11 April 1802 – 3 June 1861) was a British naval officer and was the British First Sea Lord from 1857 to 1858 and again from 1859 until 1861.

Early life

The son of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, he was born on 11 April 1802 and educated at Harrow School and became a captain in the Royal Navy in 1824. He commanded HMS "Volage" on the South American Station, 1825, and HMS "Warspite" in Australia, 1827. From 1828-1830 he was secretary to his father, who was serving a second term as First Sea Lord. He later served in the Mediterranean, South Africa and the East Indies, including the First Opium War, for his services in which he was awarded a Companion of the Bath in 1841: ships he commanded at this time were HMS "Belvidera" and HMS "Melville". He was then again (1845-6) Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, this time Lord Haddington, and from 1848 served in the Mediterranean as Captain of HMS "Powerful". He became a Rear Admiral in July 1853.

ea Lord

He was Third Naval Lord in 1853. On 19 February 1855 he was appointed to the command of the Fleet in the Baltic Sea in succession to Sir Charles Napier. Relations between Napier and the Admiralty had been strained to say the least, and in Dundas they were appointing one of their own, with the requisite diplomatic and management skills. As Napier had before him, Dundas enforced a blockade of Russian ports and his ships raided along the coast of Finland, co-operating also with a French Fleet under Admiral Penaud. Dundas knew he was expected to attack the fortress of Sveaborg, which Napier had declined to do, and duly did so in August. Although he inflicted heavy casualties and some material damage, the fortifications were virtually unaffected and the Anglo-French fleet exhausted its entire ammunition in the attempt. Nevertheless this was judged a success, and Dundas would have continued to command the fleet in 1856 had peace not been negotiated.

He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1856 and was made a grand officer of the Legion of Honour and a Vice Admiral in 1858. He served as First Sea Lord from 1857 until 1858 until he was briefly replaced. He served again as First Sea Lord from 1859 until his death. He died, unmarried, of a heart attack at 13 New Street, Spring Gardens, London, on 3 June 1861.

References

* [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=189 Service record]