Francis Martin-Leake

Vice-Admiral Francis Martin-Leake (16 March 1869 – 21 January 1928) was a British Royal Navy officer. During the First World War. He commanded HMS Achilles during the Action of 16 March 1917 and managed to sink the SMS Leopard. He also commanded HMS Pathfinder and was a survivor of its sinking on 5 September 1914. Francis was the older brother of Arthur Martin-Leake.

Early military career Leake joined the Royal Navy and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 April 1892. He was then promoted to Commander on 31 December 1903 and Captain on 22 June 1911. Leake stayed in the ship as it was sinking but was picked up and saved as he states:

The torpedo got us in our forward magazine and evidently sent this up, thereby killing everyone forward... She (Pathfinder) then fell over and disappeared leaving a mass of wreckage all around, but I regret very few men amongst it, for at the time they were all asleep on the mess decks and the full explosion must have caught them, for no survivors came from forward. Leake also participated at the Action of 16 March 1917 while commanding HMS Achilles and managed to sink and killing Korvettenkapitän Hans von Laffert.

Later years Leake's appointment in Ireland expired on 1 June 1919 and was sent to command HMS King George V as Chief Staff Officer to Vice-Admiral Henry Francis Oliver as Leake was promoted to Vice-Admiral at some point after the war. On 25 May 1920 Leake got himself injured in a motorcycle accident but recovered on 5 August. Leake was placed on the retirement list on 19 November 1921 and died in Ware, Hertfordshire on 21 January 1928 after a three-year battle with dementia paralytica.