Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope

Fleet Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, October 1944

Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, KT , GCB , OM , DSO with two clasps (born January 7, 1883 in Rathmines, County Dublin , Ireland , † June 12, 1963 in London ) was British Naval Admiral ; 1939–42 and 1943 Commander in Chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet ; 1943–46 First Sea Lord and Chief of the Navy Admiralty. His younger brother was the general Sir Alan Cunningham .

Life

Cunningham joined the Royal Navy in January 1897 . During the First World War he took part in the Dardanelles campaign as commander of the destroyer HMS Scorpion . During the next twenty years he served primarily with the destroyer flotillas. At the beginning of the Second World War he was Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. In this capacity he commanded the British naval forces in the air raid on the Italian battle fleet in Taranto on November 12, 1940 and in the battle of Cape Matapan on March 28, 1941. In July 1943, Cunningham was Commander in Chief of the Allied naval forces on the landing in Sicily (see Operation Husky ), in October 1943 he was appointed First Sea Lord and Chief of the Admiralty's Staff.

After he had been ennobled as Baronet , of Bishop's Waltham in the County of Southampton, in July 1942 , he was promoted to Baron Cunningham of Hyndhope , of Kirkhope in the County of Selkirk, and accepted into the Order of Thistles in 1945 . A hereditary seat in the House of Lords was associated with the baron title . In 1946 he was finally promoted to Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope , of Kirkhope in the County of Selkirk. In the same year he retired. His successor, Sir John Cunningham, was not related to him. At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, Cunningham acted as Lord High Steward , making him the highest ranking Great Officers of State .

Cunningham is considered one of the most famous British admirals of the 20th century. He wrote the sentence: “ It takes three years to build a ship; it takes three centuries to build a tradition ”(German:“ It takes three years to build a ship, but three centuries to build a tradition ”), which he said when the British Army raised concerns during the Battle of Crete came up that the Navy would cancel the evacuation of the troops after heavy ship losses due to air strikes.

Since his marriage to Nora Christine Byath, which he entered into in 1929, remained childless, his title of nobility expired on his death in 1963.

Works

• Admiral AB Cunningham, A Sailor's Odyssey . Hutchinson & Co, London 1952.

literature

• John Winton: Cunningham. The Greatest Admiral since Nelson . John Murray, London 1998, ISBN 0-7195-5765-8 .

Web links

• Mr Andrew Cunningham at Hansard (English)
• Newspaper article about Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st and last Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope on thepeerage.com

predecessor	Office	successor
Sir Dudley Pound	Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet 1939–42 and 1943	Sir John Cunningham
Sir Dudley Pound	First sea lord 1943–1946	Sir John Cunningham
New title created	Baronet, of Bishop's Waltham 1942-1963	Title expired
New title created	Baron Cunningham of Hyndhope 1945–1963	Title expired
New title created	Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope 1946-1963	Title expired