More about Charles Mitchell

For reasons unknown this man is not listed on the original Dundee Roll of Honour.

Charles was serving aboard H.M.S. Monmouth which was an armoured Cruiser, part of the 5th Cruiser Squadron patrolling the Central Atlantic to search for German Raiders and protect Allied Shipping. She was later ordered to the South Atlantic to join Rear Admiral Craddock’s Squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. He found the German Squadron on 1st November of the coast of Chile. The German Squadron outnumbered Craddock’s force and were individually more powerful. They sank Craddock’s 2 Armoured Cruisers. Monmouth was lost with all hands.

Charles Mitchell was the son of Mr James Mitchell of Auchterhouse, Dundee and was a Labourer when he enlisted into the Royal Marines Light Infantry in March 1898 at Dundee. After training at Deal he was drafted to the Naval Base in Devonport, Plymouth in Devon. He served in several HM Ships including Hogue, Hyacinth, Blake, Europa, Emerald, Hood and Dartmouth with spells in the Marine Barracks in Plymouth. His Service Record states that he got married on 30 September 1913 whilst serving in the Plymouth Barracks. He was drafted to the cruiser HMS Monmouth just before the outbreak of war and his ship was sent to the Pacific to search for the German Asiatic Squadron. The British and German Navies clashed during the Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile, and the Monmouth and HMS Good Hope were sunk with all hands. Charles Mitchell is named on the Plymouth Royal Naval Memorial and the Forfar War Memorial. Ships of the German Squadron were sunk by the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December and the remaining ships scattered. Later, they were all hunted down and sunk.