Admiral Sir Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley VC, KCB, DSC, DL (2 November 1893 – 24 January 1986) was a British naval officer.

After the battle Captain Roger Keyes assumed command of Centurion and acquired a highly favorable impression of Crutchley.

When a propeller was damaged on the quay, preventing the vessel fully closing the canal, Crutchley ordered its scuttling and personally oversaw the evacuation under fire.

Crutchley oversaw bailing operations, standing in water up to his waist, until the destroyer HMS Warwick, carrying Admiral Keyes, came to its aid.

Although the second raid also failed fully to close the Bruges Canal to submarine traffic, Crutchley, Drummond and Rowland Bourke were awarded Victoria Crosses for the action.

During the final months of the war, Crutchley served on HMS Sikh in the Dover Patrol, the Channel force commanded by Keyes.

In 1930, he married Joan Elisabeth Loveday of Pentillie Castle, Cornwall, the sister of Air Chief Marshal Alec Coryton.

Additional engineering work on the steering gear (which still suffered from damage taken at Jutland) and other equipment resulted in weekend leaves for the crew being curtailed, leading to very low morale.

Crutchley disagreed with the findings of the Inquiry and made sure that the confidential report on his executive officer would lead to a promotion to captain.

Due to the lack of anti-submarine precautions at the North Sea naval bases, it was some time before she reached Scapa Flow, the main fleet anchorage.

After this action, Crutchley was appointed commodore of Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport, overseeing the preparation of crews for assignment to ships.

[4]After the opening of hostilities with Japan, Crutchley was promoted to rear admiral and lent to the Royal Australian Navy for service in the South West Pacific Area.

On 13 June 1942 Crutchley succeeded Rear Admiral John Crace in command of Task Force 44, the Australian Squadron, based in Brisbane, the last Briton to do so.

He summoned Crutchley and Major General Alexander Vandegrift (commander of the troops on Guadalcanal) to an evening conference on his flagship.

In the wake of the disaster, Crutchley was heavily criticised, both for leaving his command, and for an ineffective deployment which allowed the Japanese to get close without being detected by radar.

In 1945, Crutchley had bought two paintings (Capriccio: The Lagoon, Venice and La Torre di Marghera) by the landscape artist Bernardo Bellotto.