Henry Harwood
Sir Henry Harwood (born January 19, 1888 in London - † June 9, 1950 in Goring-on-Thames , Oxfordshire ) was a British admiral, best known for his role as British commander of the cruiser flotilla in the destruction of the Admiral Graf Spee in December 1939 in the mouth of the Río de la Plata .
Life
Harwood attended the Britannia Royal Naval College , entered the Royal Navy in 1902 and became a lieutenant in 1909, with top marks in all subjects of his examination. He specialized in torpedoes in 1911. Although he saw no combat deployment in service at sea in World War I, he became Lieutenant-Commander in 1916 and received the OBE in 1919 . In 1919 he served on the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign. In 1921 he became commander and in 1928 he became captain and was in command of the destroyer HMS Warwick in 1929/30. After attending the staff course in 1931/32 at Imperial Defense College, he became flag captain on the heavy cruiser HMS London, which he commanded from 1932 to 1934, and a staff officer of the 1st Cruiser Squadron. From 1934 to 1936 he was an instructor at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich (London) . In September 1936 he became a commodore and commander of the South America area. His flagship was the HMS Exeter , which in 1939 joined his flotilla at the beginning of the Second World War , with which he was supposed to confront Graf Spee, who was in a trade war in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Harwood guessed from the statistics on shipping losses approximate surgical site of the Graf Spee in front of Montevideo and after a battle in which his ships were (near the Exeter two light cruisers Achilles and Ajax) heavily damaged, which also damaged Graf Spee ran under Hans Langsdorff to Repair the neutral port of Montevideo. Forced to sail again by diplomatic pressure, the Graf Spee submerged herself in the belief that she was facing superior British forces. Harwood, who was lying in wait in front of the estuary, learned of the sinking over the radio.
Because of this success, exploited by British propaganda, Harwood became KCB and Rear Admiral in 1939 . He also enjoyed the protection of Winston Churchill from then on . From December 1940 he was in London in the staff service of the Admiralty (Lord Commissioner of the Admirality, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff) and in April 1942 he was Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, succeeding Andrew Cunningham . In view of his previous experience, that was a major leap forward in his career, and he was temporarily admiral for the command. The main task was to support and supply the British 8th Army in North Africa. He proved to be less successful on this command (his health also deteriorated) and he was replaced when the command was regrouped in February 1943. Harwood was deported on command in the Orkney and Shetland Islands area. He retired in August 1945 as an admiral for health reasons.
His granddaughter, Kate Harwood, is a television producer for the BBC.
literature
- Alastair Wilson, Joseph Callo: Who's who in naval history . Routledge 2004.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Collection, Royal Maritime Museum , with biography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harwood, Henry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 19, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 9, 1950 |
| Place of death | Goring-on-Thames |