Kennedy, Francis William

Captain Kennedy was the senior Captain on the Navy List at the time of the Battle of Jutland. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral with effect from 1 June 1916 following the Battle, and left the ship on 7 June 1916. He was succeeded by Captain Michael H. Hodges, who signed off the report of her Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant Commander Lachlan Donald Ian MacKinnon.

Report of Senior Officer, 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron Captain - HMS “Indomitable”

No. 363/16. HMS "Indomitable," 2nd June 1916.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to report that HM Battle Cruisers "Invincible," "Indomitable," and "Inflexible," HM Light Cruisers "Chester," and "Canterbury," and HM Destroyers "Christopher," “Ophelia,” "Shark," and "Acasta" left the Pentland Firth at 9.35 p.m. on 30th May 1916, just ahead of the Grand Fleet, with which visual touch kept was by the late Rear-Admiral Commanding Third Battle Cruiser Squadron, the Honourable Horace Lambert Alexander Hood, C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., through “Chester” till we were in Latitude 57° 49' North, 4° 42' East at 2.23 p.m. on 31st May. 2. At 2.23 p.m. we received from “Galatea” our first intimation that the enemy were actually at sea; we were then steering 115o, speed of advance 14 knots; the speed of advance during the night had been 16.8 knots. Telefunken signals of strength 10 had just previously been heard. From then onwards many signals giving various positions of the enemy were received. At 3.13 p.m. the Rear-Admiral Commanding 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron increased speed to 22 knots; at 3.18 p.m. he ordered ships to “Action Stations”; 3.45 p.m. he altered course to 137o, the squadron was then in single line ahead with “Canterbury” ahead distant 5 miles, “Chester” on starboard side bearing 256o to 212o distant 5 miles and the four destroyers ahead of the Battle Cruisers as submarine screen. By 4.12 p.m. we were steaming at full speed. 3. As usual, the positions of the enemy received in the W/T signals did not agree, but they all pointed to the enemy steering 345o or 298o, and it is evident that the late Rear-Admiral acted on this; at 3.57 p.m. we received signals from the Senior Officer, Battle Cruiser Fleet: “Am engaging enemy 1500.” At 5.30 p.m. the sound of gunfire was plainly heard. At this time the visibility greatly decreased owing to the mist, the density of which was various degrees; for, on some bearings, one could see 16,000 yards, whilst on others only 2,000 yards. From then t5ill dark the visibility ranged from 14,000 to 5,000 yards, which was, in my opinion, a great handicap to us, the attacking force; in fact much more of a handicap to the attacker than the defenders.

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