A Life Of Admiral Of The Fleet Andrew Cunningham

This book presents an account of the life of naval commander Andrew Cunningham, the best-known and most celebrated British admiral of the Second World War. It supplements Cunningham's papers by Cabinet and Admiralty records, papers of his service contemporaries and of Churchill.

Admiral Andrew Cunningham, best remembered for his courageous leadership in the Mediterranean in the Second World War, is often rated as our finest naval commander after Nelson, and indeed a bust of the Admiral was unveiled in Trafalgar Square close by his predecessor in 1967 by the Duke of Edinburgh. It was during the dark days of 1940–41, after the surrender of France and Italy’s entry into the War and when Britain was fighting single-handed, that Cunningham held the Eastern Mediterranean with a fleet greatly inferior to the Italian; his lack of ships and aircraft was more than made up for by his bold and vigorous command. Taranto, Matapan, Crete, North Africa – these are the critical battles and regions with which he is so closely associated. A Sailor’s Odyssey is the stirring autobiography of this great fighting seaman from his boyhood in Dublin and his early career in the Navy and his service in the First World War, through his commands in the inter-war years, to the great sea battles in the Mediterranean, and then his elevation to First Sea Lord in 1943 and his subsequent responsibility for the operational policy of the Royal Navy during the later stages of the War. He attended the conferences at Casablanca, Teheran, Quebec and Yalta, and gives revealing glimpses of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. His was, truly, a remarkable career. This is a beautifully written and absorbing naval memoir, and it made a significant contribution to the history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War when it was first published in 1951; this new paperback edition, with an introduction by his great nephew Admiral Jock Slater, will fascinate and delight a new generation of readers and bring into focus again a great British fighting admiral.

First published in 1951, this is the autobiography of a distinguished commander of WWII. Serving in both wars, he was Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean at the outbreak of war, forced to cope with inadequate resources and virtually no air cover. After a short spell in Washington as a Naval Representative he returned as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean and worked with Eisenhower and Alexander. His unique insight into the meetings with Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt make this a riveting read. “My main reasons for yielding to the suggestion [of setting down this record of my life] were because I wished to do justice to those under whom I served and from whom I learnt so much in my earlier years at sea, and also to pay a deserved tribute to those many whom I later had the honour and privilege to command in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Further, before memory became dimmed by the passage of time, I was anxious to describe what I saw of the part played by the Royal Navy in the two great wars of the present century which lasted in all for more than ten years. “In describing the years of war I have kept as closely as possible to those matters with which, and in which, the Navy was primarily concerned and engaged. Moreover, as nearly as may be, I have tried to concentrate upon that portion of the Navy with which I happened to be serving. [...] success in war cannot be attributed to any single Service. Each one is helpless without the closest and most loyal co-operation with the other two. This applies equally to our two great Sea Services. In war the Royal and the Merchant Navies have always been interdependent and indivisible.”

This second volume of Cunningham's papers covers the period from his brief term in 1942 as head of the British Admiralty Delegation in Washington and his subsequent appointment as Allied Naval Commander of the Expeditionary Force, through his time as First Sea Lord from October 1943 to his retirement from active service in June 1946. The collection includes official documents but also many letters to his family and brother officers that exhibit his feelings, as well as his illuminating diary entries from April 1944 onwards.

An engrossing biography of one of the most important naval leaders of the Second World War. Perfect for people who enjoy biographies of Chester W. Nimitz, Isoroku Yamamoto or other legendary World War Two admirals. 'In the Eastern Mediterranean we found in Admiral Andrew Cunningham an officer of the highest qualities and dauntless courage.' Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War After serving in the Boer War and World War One with distinction, Andrew Browne Cunningham, popularly known as ABC, served as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet when the outlook for British forces looked bleakest at the start of the Second World War. A brilliant naval tactician, Cunningham led his fleet to smash the Italian Navy at Taranto, the first completely all-aircraft naval attack in history, and later at Cape Matapan. He successfully evacuated the army from Greece and later from Crete and worked tirelessly to keep supply lines to besieged Allied forces in Malta and Tobruk open. As the tide of the war began to turn he directed naval support for Eisenhower's landings in North Africa and Italy. From 1943, ABC became First Sea Lord and professional head of the Royal Navy, overseeing the final defeat of Nazi Germany's naval forces and assisting with setting the strategy for defeating the Japanese in the Far East. Drawing information from Cunningham's personal letters and wartime diaries has allowed John Winton to provide vivid insight into all of this naval leader's merits and flaws. Additional material from official sources and contemporary memoirs gives a thorough and unique perspective of the Second World War at sea.