Francis Mitchell (Royal Navy officer)

Mitchell was the son of Colonel Herbert Leonard Mitchell and Mary Arabella Susan Reynolds, the grandnephew of Major-General John William Reynolds, and the great grandson of General Charles Reynolds,[1] Mitchell joined the Royal Navy in 1889,[2] and was appointed lieutenant for gunnery duties on the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Mars on 10 May 1902.[3]

He served in World War I, and as commanding officer of the protected cruiser HMS Eclipse, saw action in the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915.[2] He went on to be Naval Adviser to Commander-in-Chief Forces in Egypt in 1915, commanding officer of the training ship HMS Exmouth in 1916 and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1917.[2] After that he became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Bellerophon in 1918, commanding officer of the gunnery school HMS Excellent in 1920 and commanding officer of the battleship HMS Ramillies in 1922.[2]

His final appointments were as Commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron in 1926[4] and Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in 1928, before retiring in 1933.[2]

In between these commissions, the Admiralty created a committee of officers in early 1919 to identify and summarize important lessons learned from the First World War. Then Commodore Mitchell was appointed the President of this Dardanelles Committee, entrusted to investigate the Attacks Delivered on and the Enemy Defenses of the Dardanelles Straits.[5] Submitted in October 1919, the "Mitchell Report" as it became known drew a number of conclusions that were of relevance to future amphibious landings, including those of D Day.[6][7]

Mitchell married Marion Russell in September 1901, daughter of Dr. Henry Russell. Their eldest son was Major General Francis Mitchell CB CBE DSO. Mitchell lost both his youngest son, Lieutenant-Commander David Reynolds Mitchell DSC DSO, one week before the end of World War II (VE Day), and his brother, Major Charles Johnstone Mitchell DSO, three weeks before the end of World War I (Armistice Day).[1] His first cousin was Maj. Douglas Reynolds VC.[8]