Thomas Webster Kemp

Thomas Webster Kemp CB CMG CIE (27 September 1866 – 13 January 1928) was an Admiral of the Royal Navy.

Career

Kemp joined the Royal Navy and waspromoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1890.^[1] He served in China, and for his services was promoted to commander on 9 November 1900.^[2]

He was appointed in command of the special service vessel HMS Sphinx on the East Indies Station in October 1901, and remained in command for three years until October 1904. During this time he served as Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf.^[3]

In 1917 Rear Admiral Kemp was given command of the British North Russia Squadron.^[4] As commander of the naval forces in North Russia, Admiral Kemp directed light cruiser HMS Attentive (1904) and seaplane carrier HMS Nairana (1917) in the seizing of Mudyug Island.^[5] These action against Bolshevik-controlled batteries on Mudyug island constituted the first combined sea-air attack ever performed by British forces.^[6]

References

1. "No. 26007". The London Gazette. 31 December 1889. p. 7553.
2. "No. 27245". The London Gazette. 9 November 1900. p. 6855.
3. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36979. London. 16 January 1903. p. 8.
4. Clifford Kinvig (23 November 2007), Churchill's Crusade, Hambledon & London, ISBN 9781847250216, OCLC 747256147, OL 9819337M, 1847250211
5. E. Altham, "The Dwina Campaign," Journal of the Royal United Service Institution 68 (February 1923): 232.
6. Anna Reid, A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War (New York: Basic Books, 2024), 52.