FIRST SEA LORD

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 9, 6 October 1943, Page 5

FIRST SEA LORD

Admiral Cunningham’s Appointment SIR DUDLEY POUND RETIRES (British Official Wireless.), RUGBY, October 4.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound! has asked to ‘be relieved of his appointment as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, on the ground

of ill-health. He will be succeeded by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham has had a longer and more varied experience in the Mediterranean than any other British naval, officer. Like many who have risen to high command in this' war, he is a “destroyer man.” He entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1898, and as a lieutenant he gained his first command in January, .1911, when he was appointed to H.M.S. Scorpion, in the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet. This proved to be a remarkable appointment in several ways. It wag the beginning of Cunningham’s loug service in the Mediterranean. He held command of the Scorpion for seven years, from January, 1911, to January, 1918, u period that is believed to be a record for length of service in one ship in the Royal Navy. The whole of his term of command of the Scorpion was spent in the Mediterranean, including three years and five months, of the war of 1914-18. He commanded the Scorpion as lieutenant, lieu-tenant-commander, and commander, being promoted to the last-mentioned rank in June, 1915. He went through the Gallipoli campaign from start to finish, and his ship was well known to New Zealanders at Anzac, where he frequently supported their operations with gunfire. Finally,, after seven years of continuous service in the Scorpion, Commander Cunningham returned to England in January, 1918. Two months later he was appointed in command of the destroyer Termagant, and her division of a flotilla operating in the Dover Patrol. He served in that ship till after the Armistice and was awarded a bar to the D.S.O. he had gained at Gallipoli. A short period of service in command, of the destroyer Safari and her division during the naval operations against, the Bolshevist forces in the Baltic gained him a second bar to his D.S.O. Promoted cajstain in December, 1919, his first sea-going appointment in that

SIR ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, rank was to H.M.S. Wallace, as captain (D) of the First Destroyer Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet. In October, 1924, he w flS appointed captain-iu-charge of the 1 ort Edgar destroyer base in the Firth of Forth.. In May, 1926, he was appointed in command of H.M.S. Calcutta as flagcaptain and chief of stall to Vice-Admiral Sir Walter Cowan, commander-in-chief of the American and West Indies Station. „ . , Two years later Captain Cunningham attended the Imperial Defence College course, ou completion of which he commanded H.M.S. Rodney for 12 montns. His next duty was as commodore commanding the Royal Naval barracks at Chatham, where he remained till January, 1933. Promotion to the rank of rear-admiral came m September, 1932. In December, 1933, he was appointed rear-admiral (D) commanding the destroyer flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet. He was promoted vice-admiral on July 22, 1936, and a year later became viceadmiral commanding the- Battle Cruiser Squadron and second-in-command, Mediterranean Station. . On November 1. 1938, Vice-Admiral Cunningham was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and DeputyChief of the Naval Staff in succession to Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, who became Commander-in-C'hief, Mediterranean Fleet. Following the death of Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse in June, 1939, Sir Dudley Pound was appointed First Sea Lord, and Sir Andrew Cunningham succeeded him as Cominandcr-in-Ciiief, Mediterranean, with the rank of admiral. From lieutenant to admiral, most of his sea-going service has been in the Mediterranean. It was as if destiny, had selected and trained him for the onerous post which he has filled with great ability and distinction for more than four years. — (S.D. W.)