Bailey joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in September 1896.[1][2] As a midshipman in HMS Centurion, he took part in the Seymour Expedition for the relief of Peking legations in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion,[3][2][1] for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant on 27 August 1901 and subsequently confirmed in that rank from the same date.[4] In November 1902 he was posted to the protected cruiserHMS Doris, but was first lent for a couple of weeks to HMS Hogue for sea-trials.[5] He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 February 1903.[3] He qualified as a gunnery lieutenant from 1905 to 1907, and served in the battleship HMS Africa from 1908 to 1910 and in the cruiser HMS Leviathan from 1911 to 1912.[2] Following two periods on the staff of the Whale Island gunnery school at Whale Island, he was promoted to commander in June 1914.[2]
Bailey served as gunnery officer in HMS Erin during the first years of the First World War.[2] In 1916 he was appointed to the staff of Vice Admiral David Beatty and served as a fleet gunnery officer on HMS Lion, having been recommended by Flag-Captain Ernle Chatfield as "one of the best gunnery officers in the Navy".[6][7] In November 1916 he was appointed Flag Commander to Beatty when the latter was appointed to the command of the Grand Fleet, first in HMS Iron Duke and then the new fleet flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth.[1][3][8][9] Bailey was promoted to captain in December 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919.[2] He then worked as deputy director of the Operations Division of the Naval Staff.[2]
During training exercises off the Spanish coast on 23 January 1935, the Hood and HMS Renown collided. Bailey and the captains of both ships were court-martialed for the incident.[3][12] It was the first court-martial of an admiral since the First World War.[3] Following acrimonious proceedings, Bailey and the captain of the Hood were both acquitted, while the court found the captain of the Renown guilty. However, the Admiralty subsequently reviewed of the verdicts and declined "to absolve Rear-Admiral Bailey from all blame".[12][3] In 1936, the Hood needed to be refitted and recommissioned.[3] The Admiralty had planned for Bailey to transfer his flag to the Renown. However, there were continued bad feelings about the collision and courts-martial among the officers of the Renown, and Bailey pleaded successfully to be allowed to remain with the Hood until she returned to Portsmouth.[3]
Bailey was recalled to active service after the outbreak of the Second World War.[16] In June 1940, the Admiralty created a secret committee, named the Bailey Committee for its chair, which examined the level of naval assistance to be sought from the United States.[16][17] The American admiral Robert L. Ghormley was given a copy of the report in August 1940, and Bailey, the committee and Ghormley met regularly through the autumn, and developed important processes for the exchange of information about intelligence, technical and operational matters.[17]
Personal life
In 1922, Bailey married Mildred Bromwell; they had a daughter and a son.[2] Bailey died on 27 March 1942 after a short illness.[2][18]
^ abJohnsen, William Thomas, 1952– (13 September 2016). The origins of the grand alliance : Anglo-American military collaboration from the Panay incident to Pearl Harbor. Lexington, Kentucky. ISBN978-0-8131-6835-7. OCLC953695512.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abFlorence, Gregory J. (2004). Courting a reluctant ally : an evaluation of U.S./UK naval intelligence cooperation, 1935–1941. [Washington, D.C.]: Center for Strategic Intelligence Research, Joint Military Intelligence College. ISBN0-9656195-9-1. OCLC55945689.