Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, was a Royal Navy officer best known for his service during World War II. He was widely known by his initials, "ABC".
Cunningham was born in Rathmines in the south side of Dublin on 7 January 1883. After starting his schooling in Dublin and Edinburgh, he enrolled at Stubbington House School, at the age of ten. He joined the Royal Navy in 1897 as a naval cadet in the officers' training ship Britannia, passing out in 1898. He commanded a destroyer during World War I and through most of the interwar period. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and two Bars, for his performance during this time, specifically for his actions in the Dardanelles and in the Baltics.
In the Second World War, as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, Cunningham led British naval forces to victory in several critical Mediterranean naval battles. These included the attack on Taranto in 1940, the first completely all-aircraft naval attack in history, and the Battle of Cape Matapan in 1941. Cunningham controlled the defence of the Mediterranean supply lines through Alexandria, Gibraltar, and the key chokepoint of Malta. He also directed naval support for the various major Allied landings in the Western Mediterranean littoral.
In autumn 1943, on the death of the incumbent, Sir Dudley Pound, Cunningham was promoted to First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy, a position he held until his retirement in 1946. He was ennobled as Baron Cunningham of Hyndhope in 1945 and made Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope the following year. After his retirement, Cunningham enjoyed several ceremonial positions, including Lord High Steward at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. He died on 12 June 1963, aged 80.
Childhood
Cunningham was born at Rathmines, County Dublin, on 7 January 1883, the third of five children born to Professor Daniel John Cunningham and Elizabeth Cumming Browne, both of Scottish ancestry. General Sir Alan Cunningham was his younger brother. His parents were described as having a "strong intellectual and clerical tradition," both grandfathers having been in the clergy. His father was a Professor of Anatomy at Trinity College Dublin, whilst his mother stayed at home. Elizabeth Browne, with the aid of servants and governesses, oversaw much of his upbringing; as a result he reportedly had a "warm and close" relationship with her.After a short introduction to schooling in Dublin he was sent to Edinburgh Academy, where he stayed with his aunts Doodles and Connie May. At the age of ten he received a telegram from his father asking "would you like to go into the Navy?" At the time, the family had no maritime connections, and Cunningham only had a vague interest in the sea. Nevertheless, he replied "Yes, I should like to be an Admiral". He was then sent to a Naval Preparatory School, Stubbington House, which specialised in sending pupils through the entrance examinations. Cunningham passed the exams, showing particular strength in mathematics.
Early naval career
Along with 64 other boys Cunningham joined the Royal Navy as a cadet aboard the training ship Britannia at Dartmouth on 15 January 1897. One of his classmates was future Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville. Cunningham was known for his lack of enthusiasm for field sports, although he did enjoy golf and spent most of his spare time "messing around in boats". He said in his memoirs that by the end of his course he was "anxious to seek adventure at sea". Although he committed numerous minor misdemeanours, he still obtained a very good for conduct. He passed out tenth in April 1898, with first class marks for mathematics and seamanship.His first service was as a midshipman on in 1899, serving at the Cape of Good Hope Station when the Second Boer War began. By February 1900, he had transferred into the Naval Brigade as he believed "this promised opportunities for bravery and distinction in action." Cunningham then saw action at Pretoria and Diamond Hill as part of the Naval Brigade. He then went back to sea, as midshipman in in December 1901. The following November he joined the protected cruiser. Beginning in 1902, Cunningham took sub-lieutenant courses at Portsmouth and Greenwich; he served as sub-lieutenant on the battleship, in the Mediterranean, for six months in 1903. In September 1903, he was transferred to to serve as second-in-command. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1904, and served on several vessels during the next four years. In 1908, he was awarded his first command, HM Torpedo Boat No. 14.
First World War
Cunningham was a highly decorated officer during the First World War, receiving the Distinguished Service Order and two bars. In 1911 he was given command of the destroyer, which he commanded throughout the war. In 1914, Scorpion was involved in the shadowing of the German battlecruiser and cruiser Goeben and Breslau. This operation was intended to find and destroy the Goeben and the Breslau but the German warships evaded the British fleet, and passed through the Dardanelles to reach Constantinople. Their arrival contributed to the Ottoman Empire joining the Central Powers in November 1914. Although a bloodless "battle", the failure of the British pursuit had enormous political and military ramifications; in the words of Winston Churchill, they brought "more slaughter, more misery and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship."Cunningham stayed on in the Mediterranean and in 1915 Scorpion was involved in the attack on the Dardanelles. For his performance, Cunningham was rewarded with promotion to commander in July 1915. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order, gazetted in March 1916. Cunningham spent much of 1916 on routine patrols. In late 1916, he was engaged in convoy protection, a duty he regarded as mundane. He had no contact with German U-boats during this time, on which he commented; "The immunity of my convoys was probably due to sheer luck". Convinced that the Mediterranean held few offensive possibilities he requested to sail for home. Scorpion paid off on 21 January 1918. In his seven years as captain of the Scorpion, Cunningham had developed a reputation for first class seamanship. He was transferred by Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes to, part of Keyes' Dover Patrol, in April 1918. For his actions with the Dover Patrol, he was awarded a bar to his DSO the following year.
Interwar years
Association with Cowan
Cunningham saw much action in the interwar years. In 1919, he commanded the S-class destroyer, on duty in the Baltic. The Communists, the White Russians, several varieties of Latvian nationalists and the Germans were trying to control Latvia; the British Government had recognised Latvia's independence after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was on this voyage that Cunningham first met Admiral Walter Cowan. Cunningham was impressed by Cowan's methods, specifically his navigation of the potentially dangerous seas, with thick fog and minefields threatening the fleet.Throughout several potentially problematic encounters with German forces trying to undermine the Latvian independence movement, Cunningham exhibited "good self control and judgement". Cowan was quoted as saying "Commander Cunningham has on one occasion after another acted with unfailing promptitude and decision, and has proved himself an Officer of exceptional valour and unerring resolution."
He was promoted to the rank of captain, effective 31 December 1919. For his actions in the Baltic, Cunningham was awarded a second bar to his DSO, gazetted in March 1920. His first appointment as a Captain was President of the Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control in Heligoland. On his return from the Baltic in 1922, he was appointed captain of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, then the 1st Destroyer Flotilla later in the year, and the naval base,, at Port Edgar in the Firth of Forth, from 1924 to 1926. Cunningham renewed his association with Vice Admiral Cowan between 1926 and 1928, when Cunningham was flag captain and chief staff officer to Cowan while serving on the North America and West Indies Squadron, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, with shore headquarters at Admiralty House in Pembroke. In his memoirs Cunningham made clear the "high regard" in which he held Cowan, and the many lessons he learned from him during their two periods of service together.
The late 1920s found Cunningham back in the UK participating in courses at the Army's Senior Officers' School at Sheerness, as well as at the Imperial Defence College. While Cunningham was at the Imperial Defence College, in 1929, he married Nona Byatt. After a year at the College, Cunningham was given command of his first big ship; the battleship. Eighteen months later, he was appointed commodore of, the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham.
Promoted to flag rank
In September 1932, Cunningham was promoted to flag rank, and aide-de-camp to the King. He was appointed Rear Admiral in the Mediterranean in December 1933 and was made a Companion of the Bath in 1934. Having hoisted his flag in the light cruiser, Cunningham used his time to practise fleet handling for which he was to receive much praise in the Second World War. There were also fleet exercises in the Atlantic Ocean in which he learnt the skills and values of night actions that he would also use to great effect in years to come.On his promotion to vice admiral in July 1936, due to the interwar naval policy, further active employment seemed remote. However, a year later due to the illness of Sir Geoffrey Blake, Cunningham assumed the combined appointment of commander of the Battlecruiser Squadron and second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet, with as his flagship. After his long service in small ships, Cunningham considered his accommodation aboard Hood to be almost palatial, even surpassing his previous big ship experience on Rodney.
He retained command until September 1938, when he was appointed to the Admiralty as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, although he did not actually take up this post until December 1938. He accepted this shore job with reluctance since he loathed administration, but the Board of Admiralty's high regard of him was evident. For six months during an illness of Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse, the then First Sea Lord, he deputised for Backhouse on the Committee of Imperial Defence and on the Admiralty Board. In 1939 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, becoming known as Sir Andrew Cunningham.