DASHING NAVAL LEADER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23839, 14 December 1940, Page 9 (Supplement)

DASHING NAVAL LEADER

BRITAIN'S Prime Minister tells the House of Commons that once again the British Fleet unmolested has swept the Mediterranean from end to end. British troops and supply convoys sweep through "Mare Nostrum" in perfect safety. Shells from our naval guns rain on Mussolini's impregnable bases on (he Dodecanese. Islands. The British Fleet shell the Italian columns moving along the coast of the Western desert. The man who can truly say without boasting, the Mediterranean is my sea, is Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, Commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet. Cunningham made his name ns the destroyer commander sans peur at sans reproehe. When not long ago the Italian Fleet fled before his warships, Cunningham remarked, "A most disappointing action." .There are some commanders who Mould have uttered such words for effect, relieved and contented in actuality that they had brushed the enemv from the seas, but Cunningham's men knew that ho meant what, lie said. He lives for a naval scrap, as lie has always lived for n naval scrap. Mo is one ol those silent men —cer tni illy with strangers, generally with his subordinates and always in society, lie is a spare man and of medium height, and looks his fifty-seven years. A stranger is immediately struck bv his piercing blue eyes and tight, thin mouth. Sonus think he is a hard' man, while otlie rs w ■ho know him better say he is bluff and kindly. But if he is sometimes exacting tiie cause is his burning enthusiasm for the Navy and all it stands for. Knows What He Wants At all events, Cunningham is a. grand man to serve under in wartime. Me knows what lie wants to do and how to do it; so nobody need worry. All hands know where they are and an exciting time is had by all. Cunningham is probably the nearest thing the Navy has to-day for Horatio. Lord Nelson —the man who worsted Napoleon. rho father ol Andrew Cunningham was a professor of anatomy at Dublin I niversity. and in that ancient eitv Andrew was born. He spent his boyhood in Scotland, and got his education at I'.dinburgh University. Andrew had 110 naval connections, nor family naval traditions, but he set his heart'on the Navy, and his parents did not resist him. His first sea job took him to the South African station at the time when the Boor War broke out. and he served with the naval guns which were landed to reinforce the Boyal Artillerv on the veldt. It was after the war that Andrew's senior officers began to realise that this young ofliccr was keen. There was zeal here which cut like a knife. Possibly he was a little bit forward

The Mediterranean Command

By E. E. P. TISDALL

(Copyright Reserved) for a junior officer, and his openly expressed dislike ot "red tape," though shocking, made its impression. It did not take them long to decide that he was the ideal man for gunboats and destroyers, the place in those days where a young officer got his only chance of displaying initiative and originality. Cunningham's work justified expectations, lie was marked down as a young officer with a future. In liHl he was given command of the Scorpion, one of the finest destroyers in the service. 11e was twenty-eight.. The Croat War came and by 191 f> ihe Scorpion had become our most famous destroyer, thanks to the dash and imagination of her commander. Cunningham himself became well known in the Navy for the dare-devil-officer. He was to receive the D.S.O. with two bars. The Scorpion's crew did 'wonderful work at CSallipoli. Night after night Scorpion slipped inshore at the Dardanelles, swept mines, carried out hazardous demolition under withering shore fire, and patrolled the dangerous coast. Inshore work was what Cunningham played for. Yet Scorpion, in spite ot the plastering she so often underwent, in spite of the continual activity on her decks, and the fierce strain imposed on her crew, was the smartest, a ltd most cheerful small craft in the Fleet, Cunningham had a mania for paint, metal polish and holystones, which sometimes filled his hard-worked crew with despair. He was later appointed to Ihe famous Dover Patrol, another of the dangerous naval jobs of the "Creat War. Once again, his resourcefulness ~and daring exploits earned him a name. Cunningham (■omniaruled the Termagant, and Sir Roger Keyes, recognising in Cunningham an adventurous officer of his own ilk, selected Termagant for Jiis flagship. As Sir Roger remarked to iriends. he could invariably expect a good "close quarter show" with Cunningham on the bridge. Naturally. Cunningham's career after the Great War was not especially spectacular, but his reputation stayed with him and as he passed from the command of one cruiser to another, it; began to he realised that he had a brain — a brain capable of combining dash with complicated naval strategy. Cunningham was given command of Rodney, one of the finest battleships, and it became generally accepted in the

service that this was the first step marking him as selected for high responsibilities. In I9.'W he was promoted Rear-Ad-miral, and took over command of the Mediterranean destroyer flotillas and battle cruisers. It had already been recognised ihat the Mediterranean was a danger point of the future, and that to allow in peacetime an energetic officer of great dash and strategic ability to make; himself familiar with M editerranean waters and teach himself the strategic possibilities would be the best insurance for Britain's future in lliat vital sphere. The job perfectly suited Cunningham, and he set himself to study the problem with an enthusiasm which affected those under his command. He was recalled to the Admiralty in I!)3r> in take up the appointment of Deputy-Chief of Naval Staff, a sure sign that tins men at the top were satisfied with bis work in the Mediterranean, and that he was to he kept in hand for big responsibilities in the future. When Sir Dudley Pound, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet was summoned home to become First Sea Lord, nobody who knew of Cunningham's record was surprised when he was entrusted with Sir Dudley's command. Sir Andrew Cunningham is a married man and like so many men of fierce action, Ins is reputed to be much attached to quiet family life of which in his whole career he has experienced comparatively little. He is very interested in the welfare of his garden at his home near Portsmouth, though he does not see much of it and most of the responsibility for its upkeep falls on Lady ( uimiiighani. Sir Andrew is always ready to engage in the contemplative and generally tranquil sport of fishing. Like gardening, it offers the most soothing change possible" to his usual life of tense activity and mental a lertness.