IN GOOD HANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 107, 1 November 1940, Page 7

IN GOOD HANDS

BRITISH NAVAL OPERATIONS

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, October 30.

In view of the unprovoked Italian attack upon Greece, naval operations are likely to assume major importance. With Sir Andrew Cunningham as Com-mander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet and Vice-Admiral J. C. Tovey as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, the conduct of operations is in good hands.

Sir Andrew Cunningham is a man of wide knowledge, and is possessed of fierce energy, power of quick decision, and infinite resource. He holds what is probably a record in the sev y vice, as from 1911 to 1914 he was in continuous command of one ship—the destroyer Scorpion. In the last war Sir Andrew Cunningham distinguished himself in the Gallipoli campaign, and, after the evacuation, commanded a small detached force in the Aegean. After various appointments he became Admiral Commanding Destroyers in the Mediterranean, and in 1938 ViceAdmiral Commanding Battle Cruiser Squadrons, becoming Commander-in-Chief about a year later.

Vice-Admiral Tovey is another destroyer officer. He distinguished himself greatly at Jutland when commanding the Onslow, and this ship was referred to in a dispatch by the RearAdmiral commanding the light cruiser squadron in the battle. "I should like," the rear-admiral reported, "to bring to your attention the action of a destroyer—name unknown —which passed close in a disabled condition soon after 6 p.m. She was hardly able to struggle ahead again, but made straight for the Derfflinger to attack her. The incident appeared so courageous it seems desirable to investigate it further."

The destroyer was the Onslow