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Bruce Austin Fraser
5 February 1888 – 12 February 1981
Bruce Fraser on board HMS Duke of York at Guam.
Place of birth	Acton, Middlesex
Place of death	London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1904 - 1951
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands	Home Fleet British Pacific Fleet First Sea Lord
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	GCB, KBE

Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, GCB, KBE, (5 February 1888 – 12 February 1981) was a senior British admiral during World War II.

He joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet on 15 January 1904. Fraser rapidly marked himself out as a young man who had the potential to go far in the service and achieved first class passes in all this Sub-Lieutenant's exams, which he took between March 1907 and December 1908. He was promoted Sub-Lieutenant on 15 March 1907 and Lieutenant on 15 March 1908. His time in these ranks was mainly spent in the Channel and Mediterranean Fleets. He returned to the Home Fleet in August 1910 and remained there serving in HMS Bodicea until the end of July the following year. On 31 July 1911 Fraser joined HMS Excellent, the Royal Navy's school of Gunnery at Whale Island in Portsmouth harbour where he commenced the 'long course' to qualify as a specialist Gunnery Lieutenant.

Fraser was Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet during the later stages of the naval war in Europe, and during that period he commanded the Royal Navy force that destroyed the Scharnhorst at the Battle of North Cape in December 1943. That battle took place whilst Fraser's forces were escorting a convoy to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.Following his command of the Home Fleet, he went east in the summer of 1944 to take command of the powerful British Pacific Fleet. Unlike his time in command of the Home Fleet this was not a seagoing command. He commanded from ashore in Australia. The BPF took part in the assault on Okinawa and the final strikes on the Japanese home islands. Fraser was the British signer of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945.

Statue of Admiral Fraser in Portsmouth Dockyard

He was enobled as Baron Fraser of North Cape in 1946.

Following the war he became First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in 1948. He retired in 1951 with the rank of Admiral of the Fleet.

• Murfett, Malcolm H.(1995). The First Sea Lords from Fisher to Mountbatten. Westport. ISBN 0-275-94231-7
• Heathcote T. A. (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995. Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0 85052 835 6

• Transcription of Official Service Records on www.admirals.org.uk

v • d • e First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy

The Earl Howe • Sir Peter Parker • Prince William, Duke of Clarence • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Thomas Hardy • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas • Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir William Parker • Sir Charles Adam • James Whitley Deans Dundas • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • Hyde Parker • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • William Fanshawe Martin • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Sydney Dacres • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Hastings Yelverton • George Wellesley • Sir Astley Cooper Key • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Lord John Hay • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton • Sir Anthony Hoskins • Sir Frederick Richards • Lord Walter Kerr • Sir John A. Fisher • Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson • Sir Francis Bridgeman • Prince Louis of Battenberg • The Baron Fisher of Kilverstone • Sir Henry Jackson • Sir John Jellicoe • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss • The Earl Beatty • Sir Charles Madden, Bt • Sir Frederick Field • The Lord Chatfield • Sir Roger Backhouse • Sir Dudley Pound • The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope • Sir John Cunningham • The Lord Fraser of North Cape • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor • The Earl Mountbatten of Burma • Sir Charles Lambe • Sir Caspar John • Sir David Luce • Sir Varyl Begg • Sir Michael Le Fanu • Sir Peter Hill-Norton • Sir Michael Pollock • Sir Edward Ashmore • Sir Terence Lewin • Sir Henry Leach • Sir John Fieldhouse • Sir William Staveley • Sir Julian Oswald • Sir Benjamin Bathurst • Sir Jock Slater • Sir Michael Boyce • Sir Nigel Essenhigh • Sir Alan West • Sir Jonathon Band •