After promotion to captain and service as Deputy Director of Signals, Somerville was selected as John Kelly's flag captain in HMS Benbow. This was only the second ship he had commanded, roughly eighteen years after TB 95. The scale changed from a 140-foot torpedo boat to an Iron Duke-class battleship nearly 623 feet long. The appointment shows how strongly the Navy valued his communications expertise and years of observed command experience despite his limited record of independent ship handling. By the account given here, he made the unusual leap successfully.
Chapter · 48:12-50:38
From a torpedo boat to flag captain of HMS Benbow
Somerville's second ship command leapt from a 140-foot torpedo boat to the Iron Duke-class battleship HMS Benbow after an eighteen-year gap.