Britain’s Here of Taranto

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 2, 3 January 1941, Page 2

Britain’s Here of Taranto

ACCUSTOMED TO “TOUGH JOBS’* The man who directed the remarkibly successful British attack upon the Italian Fleet in Taranto harbour on he night of November 11/12 was Adniral Sir Andrew Browne Cunninglam, commander-in-chief of the British Fleet in the Mediterranean. Admiral Cunningham is a sailor used to “tough obs” and upon him has fallen one of :he most exacting and important tasks n the present phase of Britain’s iight against Germany and Italy. l - , v* - r* A Scot, endowed with that silent an 4 lour determination which is traditionally associated with the Scottish race. Admiral Cunningham made his early reputation in the Navy commanding small ships in difficult areas during the World War. A great deal of hie war service. was undertaken in the Mediterranean, where his .small restroyer Scorpion made a reputation foj* audacity and he himself tyas rewarded with promotion and the D.S.O. Admiral Cunningham was appointed Mediterranean Commander-in-Chicf a little over a year ago. In this ca, pacity, he hoisted his first flag not on a warship in the Mediterranean but on the wooden H.M.S. President, moored alongside the Thames Embankment, London, at Blackffiars Bridge. At

ADMIRAL -CUNNINGHAM. the time of his appointment he was acting at Deputy Chief of Naval Staff at the Admiralty and had to remain on duty in London for a short whll£. Like all British Naval chiefs, Admiral Cunningham entered the service as a boy. His first active duty was on the South Africa Station, before he had attained his majority. During the Eoer War he was a midshipman on the cruiser Doris. After that he served almost exclusively on the Navy’s small ships, being given command of the destroyer Scorpion, 900 tons, before he was 30. The work of the Scorpion at tfc* Dardanelles become famous. Wherever the Scorpion went, she stung, and stung hard. After serving in like manner throughout the Gallipoli campaign, Commander Cunningham, D. 5.0., as he had then become, was given the destroyer Termagent and a place in the famous i Dover Patrol, which kept the narrow channel clear for Britain and raided the enemy’s harbours on the nearby , Belgian coast. Commander Cunningham became Captain Cunningham in 1919, at on early age, and only 13 years later, Cap-.-in Cunningham had been promited to Rear-Admiral. For three years ho ! commanded the destroyer flotillas in ; the Mediterranean, until, becoming | Vice-Admiral, he was given command , of the battle eruisers in the same sea. ; Now, after a spell in London aa Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Cunningham is back again in tho Mediterranean. They say there is no i sailor in the British Navy who knows that sea so well. i So It Seems ! Neighbour; What does your husband j want for breakfast? | Next Door: Anything that 1 don’t | happen to have in the house. 1 • ' '