Admiral Sir Alexander Edward Bethell GCMG KCB (28 August 1855 – 13 June 1932) was a British naval officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth of the Royal Navy.

[3] He was given command of the cruiser HMS Naiad serving in the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1901, and landed the Somaliland Field Force in East Africa[1] before returning to the United Kingdom to become assistant director of torpedoes.

[2] In that capacity he attended the famous CID meeting on 23 August, at which the government rejected the Royal Navy's proposal that 5 divisions guard Britain whilst one land on the Baltic coast in the event of war with Germany.

[2] He was appointed Officer Commanding the Royal Navy War College at Portsmouth in 1913.

[2] He was President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, from 1914 to 1915 and was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, in 1916 and Admiral commanding the Coastguards and Reserves in 1918.