Hastings Yelverton

Sir Hastings Yelverton
As depicted by James Tissot in Vanity Fair, June 1877. Caption read "Spanish Ironclads"
Birth name	Hastings Reginald Henry
Born	8 March 1808 Kildare, Ireland
Died	24 July 1878(1878-07-24) (aged 70) Bath, Somerset
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1823–1877
Rank	Admiral
Commands	First Naval Lord Mediterranean Fleet Channel Squadron HMS Conqueror HMS Brunswick HMS Arrogant HMS Aigle HMS Queen
Battles/wars	Portuguese Civil War Crimean War Cantonal Revolution
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Hastings Reginald Yelverton, GCB (born Hastings Reginald Henry; 21 March 1808^[1] – 24 July 1878) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and was involved in protecting British interests during the Portuguese Civil War during the early 1830s. He saw action in the Crimean War as Captain of one of the two ships that captured a Russian barque beneath the batteries at Ekenäs in Finland in May 1854. Then in July 1873 he took part in the suppression of the Cantonal Revolution in Cartagena. He became First Naval Lord in September 1876 and in that role implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad Ajax-class battleships.