John H. D. Cunningham
| Sir John Cunningham | |
|---|---|
The then Vice Admiral John Cunningham
|
|
| Born |
13 April 1885 Demerara, British Guiana |
| Died | 13 December 1962 (aged 77) London, United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1900–1948 |
| Rank | Admiral of the fleet |
| Commands held |
First Sea Lord Mediterranean Fleet Levant Fleet 1st Cruiser Squadron HMS Resolution HMS Adventure |
| Battles/wars |
First World War Second World War |
| Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Member of the Royal Victorian Order Mentioned in Despatches Legion of Merit (United States) Order of St Olav (Norway) Legion d'honneur (France) Croix de Guerre (France) Order of George I (Greece) War Cross (Greece) |
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham GCB, MVO, DL (13 April 1885 – 13 December 1962) was a Royal Navy officer. A qualified senior navigator, he became Director of Plans at the Admiralty in 1930. He saw action as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the Second World War with responsibility for the allied landings at Anzio and in the south of France. He served as First Sea Lord in the late 1940s: his focus was on implementing the Government's policy of scrapping a large number of serviceable ships.
Born the son of Henry Hutt Cunningham QC and Elizabeth Mary Cunningham (née Park), Cunningham was educated at Stubbington House School. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in January 1900 and was posted as a midshipman to the cruiser HMS Gibraltar on the Cape of Good Hope Station in June 1901.
Cunningham was promoted to sub lieutenant on 30 July 1904; he returned home to take the qualifying examinations for promotion, achieved a first-class top certificate in all five subjects and was therefore promoted to lieutenant on 30 October 1905. He qualified as a navigator at the Royal Navy Navigation School and he was appointed as assistant navigator for the battleship HMS Illustrious in May 1906. He graduated to the role of senior navigator of the gunboat HMS Hebe in September 1906, of the cruiser HMS Indefatigable in the West Indies Station in January 1908 and then of the minelayer HMS Iphigenia in the Home Fleet in April 1909. He undertook an instructor's course and became an instructor at the Royal Navy Navigation School in 1910. He became navigator on the cruiser HMS Berwick on the West Indies Station in May 1911 and was promoted to lieutenant commander on 30 October 1913.
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