Philip Clayburgh, Ninth Marquess of Westergate

Philip James Alexander Howard Clayburgh, more famously known as Admiral the Marquess of Westergate, was the last aristocratic commander of Iansisle's Home Fleet before the Gull Flag Revolution. He was also the last aristocratic lord to rule over the small Ianapalis suburb of Westergate.

Early Life

Born on August 27th, 1889, Philip was the first of seven children born to James Alexander Clayburgh, Eighth Marquess of Westergate and Mary Howard Clayburgh. Named in honor of his great-grandfather Philip Edward Clayburgh, Sixth Marquess of Westergate, a fighting-admiral of the Dénian War, there was never any doubt that Philip would follow his ancestors to the sea in the name of the King. He was taken as a midshipman in the light cruiser HIMS Aeneas at the age of eleven and never looked back.

Naval Career

Aided greatly by his famous name and the family fortune, Clayburgh swiftly moved through the ranks, receiving his lieutenant's commission in 1906 at the tender age of nineteen. During the Pax Iansulae, where promotion in the Navy had largely stagnated for lack of a war to wipe out the higher ranks, this was nearly unthinkable. Made a commander following the disastrous Battle of Salvador in 1911, Clayburgh took command of the destroyer HIMS Patriotic, then left on a five-year tour of duty in Gallaga. On that voyage, he met his future wife, the daughter of a wealthy Gallagan planter, and took the title Marquess of Westergate when his father passed away in 1913. Returning to Iansisle, Westergate was posted to the torpedo school at Mansmouth, where he and the other young officers keenly followed the events of the Great War for indications of what future naval conflict might look like.

His papers and memos on the use of torpedoes in modern warfare caught the attention of the Sir Richard Tri, who was then the Third Sea Lord. In 1922, still just 33 years of age, Westergate was made post captain and given command of the elderly light cruiser HIMS Hector. Westergate there acquitted himself well, earning the reputation as a cold and ruthless yet highly efficient leader. That reputation was maintained in several subsequent commands. His organizational talents were noticed, again by Tri, sending Captain Lord Westergate to the Admiralty as Chief of Staff to the new First Sea Lord. After five years in this capacity, Westergate was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1938 and made the Fifth Sea Lord, in charge of ship and weapons design.

He might have continued a highly successful and highly boring career as a behind-the-desk Admiral had not he been responsible for designing and overseeing the launch of the Salvador-class Mobile Aeroflyer Docks. Iansisle’s first MAFDs since the original and venerable Vanguard, the Salvadors required a whole new school of tactical thought. Lord Westergate, now a Vice Admiral, managed to convince Tri to spare him from the Admiralty and give him command of the South China Sea Station in 1944, compromising Salvador itself, Vanguard, and the ancient battleship Undauntable. The South China Sea Station, based in Fort Manly, was charged with the protection of Batam, Galla-China, and Sarawak as well as the invaluable trade routes flowing between Iansisle and Gallaga.

In his first year as Commander-in-Chief, South China Sea, Admiral Lord Westergate welded the polyglot fleet into an efficient fighting-force. He devised many of the MAFD tactics still used by the Iansislean Navy today as well as improving communication between the Navy, the Naval Aeroflight Unit, and the Flying Corps’ Coastal Command. However, war with Chiang Maï thrust Westergate’s theories into practice and the desk Admiral into a fighting man’s role.

The War

Westergate received early scorn when, forced to choose between Undauntable and the two MAFDs, he sacrificed the old battleship to save his aerowing. The criticism intensified after Galla-China was conquered with embarrassing ease; 12,000 army troops, outmaneuvered with their backs to the sea and unable to be rescued while Westergate licked his wounds in Sarawak, surrendered after only a token resistance.

However, Tri’s confidence in Lord Westergate never wavered and the desk Admiral soon proved his detractors wrong. With supplies extremely limited by Iansisle’s global commitments in the war, Westergate was forced to make do with only his two MAFDs and a handful of cruisers and destroyers. If the Chiangese ever gained control of the South China Sea, they could invade Sarawak, lay waste to the relatively thin Iansislean ground forces, and convert Borneo into a huge, unsinkable MAFD directly astride Iansisle’s lifeline to the rest of the world.

Westergate brilliantly kept his ships moving almost constantly, retreating only occasionally to Fort Manly or Port Laughlin, forcing the Chiangese to concentrate enormous resources in finding and destroying him that would have been better utilized elsewhere. Westergate also kept up hit-and-run guerilla raids against Chiangese industrial centers and seaports with his small aerowing, seriously disrupting their war effort and providing some relief to the beleaguered troops attempting to hold Nusheld in Gallaga. Sarawak never fell; the lifelines remained open.

After the war, the South China Sea fleet proved to be the single most decorated unit in any branch of the military. Lord Westergate continued his steady ascent through the ranks, winning a certain amount of popular acclaim for his role in the Chiangese War and subsequent Walmies War, where he led the last-to-date confrontation of two lines of battle in Iansisle’s history.

Westergate and the Revolution

Admiral Lord Westergate was the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet when the Gull Flag was raised over Ianapalis. A natural reactionary, he was instantly suspicious of the revolutionaries, but begrudgingly followed his King in appeasing them.

When James fled Ianapalis, Westergate was torn. On one hand, he longed to sail his fleet to Ianapalis to bombard Jameston Place in support of the counterrevolution; on the other hand, he knew that any action on his part would bring the revolutionary secret police down on his head. Instead, he decided to wait and see what happened; if the King did break into Shadoran and threaten Ianapalis, he could dispose of his watchdogs and sail to the support of his liege. If James was captured, a man loyal to the Republic would not be suspected of attempting to help the King escape.

Death

After it became that regicide was the mood of the nation and the National Assembly, Westergate -- plotting with President Jeff Williams of Larkinia -- belatedly attempted to rescue James. However, the plot failed through James’ own stubbornness. Westergate was found out by Lawrence Madders, tried as a traitor to the Republic, and hanged two weeks after King James.