{{Short description|Royal Navy officer (1887–1959)}} {{Other people}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Admiral | name = Sir Robert Burnett | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|KCB|DSO|CStJ}} | image = Rear Admiral Sir Robert L Burnett, November 1942 TR416.jpg | image_size = 300px | alt = | caption = Burnett, then a rear admiral, on board Destroyer Depot Ship HMS Tyne | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1887|07|22|df=yes}} | birth_place = Old Deer, Buchan, Aberdeenshire | death_date = {{death date and age|1959|07|02|1887|07|22|df=yes}} | death_place = 116 Pall Mall, Westminster, London | burial_place = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Royal Navy | service_years = 1902–1950 | rank = Admiral | unit = | commands = Plymouth Command (1947–50)<br/>South Atlantic Station (1944–46)<br/>10th Cruiser Squadron (1943)<br/>Home Fleet Destroyer Flotillas (1942)<br/>Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham (1939–40)<br/>HMS ''Amphion'' (1935–39)<br/>{{HMS|Curacoa|D41|6}} (1933)<br/>8th Destroyer Flotilla (1931–33)<br/>{{HMS|Keppel|D84|6}} (1931–33)<br/>HMS Wallflower (1925–27) | battles = {{Tree list}} * World War I ** Battle of Heligoland Bight ** Battle of Dogger Bank * World War II ** Battle of the Barents Sea ** Battle of North Cape {{Tree list/end}} | awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>Distinguished Service Order<br/>Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John<br/>Order of Suvorov, 1st Class (USSR)<br/>Order of George I (Greece)<br/>Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) | other_work = }}

Admiral '''Sir Robert Lindsay Burnett''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|KCB|DSO|CStJ}} (22 July 1887 – 2 July 1959) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

==Naval career== Educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy and Bedford School, Burnett joined the Royal Navy in 1902.<ref name=odnb>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101032189/ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]</ref><ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BURNETT5.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> He served on the China Station from 1904 and then with the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets from 1908.<ref name=lh/> He became an instructor at the Navy Physical Training Schools in 1911.<ref name=lh/>

[[File:Burnett, Alexander and Tovey on HMS Belfast June 1942 IWM A 13926.jpg|thumb|Burnett, left, with First Lord of the Admiralty A. V. Alexander and Admiral Sir John Tovey, C.-in-C. Home Fleet, on board {{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}} in January 1943]] Burnett served in World War I and saw action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914, at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 and served in destroyers in the Grand Fleet.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=lh/> He was promoted to lieutenant commander in April 1918, commander in December 1923 and captain in December 1930.<ref>[http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersB6.html Robert Burnett]</ref>

In 1933 Burnett was made Director of Physical Training and Sports.<ref name=lh/> He was promoted rear admiral in January 1941, appointed flag officer of minelayers and from March 1942 flag officer of the Destroyer Flotillas of the Home Fleet.<ref name=lh/> From January 1943 he was flag officer of the 10th Cruiser Squadron and was promoted to vice admiral in that role on 9 December 1943. Flying his flag in {{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}}, he saw action in the North Sea and in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Norway in convoy escort duty, particularly on 26 December at the Battle of North Cape, where he played a major role in the sinking of the {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst}}<ref name=odnb/> (in most accounts of the battle he is described as a rear admiral). He was Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station from 1944.<ref name=lh/> He became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1947 and retired from active service in May 1950.<ref name=lh/> He then served as the first director of the White Fish Authority, from its foundation in 1951 until his retirement in November 1954.

==Family== In 1915 Burnett married Ethel Constance Shaw; they had no children.<ref name=odnb/> He was the younger brother of Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Admiral Sir Robert Burnett}} * [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersB6.html#Burnett_RL RL Burnett at unithistories.com]

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef | before=Sir Campbell Tait}} {{s-ttl | title=Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station | years=1944–1946}} {{s-aft | after=Sir Clement Moody}} |- {{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth | years=1947–1950 | before=Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell| after=Sir Rhoderick McGrigor}} {{end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnett, Robert}} Category:1887 births Category:1959 deaths Category:Military personnel from Aberdeenshire Category:People educated at Bedford School Category:Royal Navy admirals Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Commanders of the Order of St John Category:People from Old Deer Category:People educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II Category:Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class