Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane

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Lieutenant-Commander Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane, M.A., Sc.D, F.I.E.E., F.I.C.E., F.A.I.E.E., M.Cons.E. Royal Navy, Retired (14 December, 1897 – 24 June, 1981) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Life & Career

Haldane passed out of the Training Establishment at the outbreak of war and was appointed to the second class protected cruiser Doris.[1]

He left Doris when he was appointed to the battleship H.M.S. Valiant on 20 January, 1916. He would see action in the ship at the Battle of Jutland as part of the Fifth Battle Squadron, and recorded his experiences in a written account. Haldane served in the battlecruiser Tiger from 23 October 1916 through the end of the war, being made an Acting Lieutenant on 15 May 1918.[2]

Haldane "devised a new type of electrical rangefinder on the Wheatstone Bridge principle, using the whole length of the ship as the base." This was not a new notion in itself, having been found enticing due to the enormously long base length the ship's hull would provide. Previous incarnations of the idea had failed when the unpredictable contortions of a flexible ship hull on the waves were added to the angle of convergence to be measured to make a "cut".[3] In addition, he also invented a Torpedo Calculator and Result[?] of Shot Instrument in 1918.[4]

Haldane transferred to the Emergency List on 15 March, 1919 and made a Lieutenant. He retiring from the Naval Service to study Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge, finally being promoted to Lieutenant-Commander on the Emergency List on 15 March, 1927.[5]

Perspectives on Jutland

In his autobiographical writings, entitled Some Recollections and Reflections (p. 14), he writes: "…I met Admiral Jellicoe and his family on a more social occasion at Invergordon. Jellicoe was, I thought, much more of a thinker than Beatty, very approachable and blessed with a charming family. So, though my knowledge was obviously inadequate, I tended to support Jellicoe in all the controversy there was about Jutland and the merits of these two famous Admirals."

Bibliography

  • "Dr Graeme Haldane" (Obituaries). The Times. Saturday, 4 July, 1981. Issue 60971, col G, pg. 14.

Service Records

 

Footnotes

  1. Haldane Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/120/60. f. 60.
  2. Haldane Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/120/60. f. 60.
  3. Obituary.
  4. Haldane Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/120/60. f. 60.
  5. Haldane Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/120/60. f. 60.