William Tennant (Royal Navy officer)
Encyclopedia
Admiral Sir William George "Bill" Tennant KCB CBE MVO DL
(2 January 1890 – 26 July 1963) was a British
naval officer. He was lauded for overseeing the successful evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Tennant subsequently served as captain of the battlecruiser HMS Repulse
, when it searched for German capital ships in the Atlantic. He remained in this capacity when the Repulse was sunk by the Japanese
along with HMS Prince of Wales in the South China Sea
on 10 December 1941, three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He later aided in the setup of the Mulberry harbour
s and the Pluto pipelines
, a crucial part of the success of Operation Overlord
.
, Tennant joined the Royal Navy at age 15 in 1905, serving onboard HMS Britannia
, eventually specializing in navigation in 1913. He later served in the First World War during the Gallipoli campaign and survived the sinking of his ship at the Battle of Jutland
in 1916. After the war, Tennant joined the crew of HMS Renown
and his future command, HMS Repulse, during the future King Edward VIII
's royal tours in the 1920s. By 1932, Tennant had achieved the rank of Captain.
to Dunkirk to aid in the evacuation of more than 300,000 British and French troops left stranded when France fell to the Nazis. Tennant's task was to organize these dispirited men and get them onto the boats waiting to take them
. Tennant stayed right up until the last boats left on 2 June, patrolling the beaches of Dunkirk with a megaphone searching for British troops.
Tennant was lauded for his efforts at Dunkirk, and was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 7 June 1940. The ordinary sailors under his command took to calling him "Dunkirk Joe".
and Gneisenau
, and later in the hunt for the battleship Bismarck
.
, sent to Singapore to counter Japanese aggression in the Pacific, in December 1941. On 8 December, the day after the Attack on Pearl Harbor
, Singapore came under attack by Japanese air units, and Force Z departed for Malaya to attack a Japanese convoy, an operation that was cancelled shortly thereafter. Upon returning to Singapore, they received word of Japanese landings on Malaya, and Force Z - without air cover - made for Malaya to counter them.
On 10 December the Japanese attacked Force Z. Tennant ably managed to avoid nineteen torpedoes dropped from Japanese aircraft, but Repulse eventually succumbed to a pincer attack, taking five torpedoes; she sunk within twenty minutes, taking a great deal of the crew with her. The survivors, including Captain Tennant, were rescued by HMAS Vampire
, one of the destroyers in Force Z.
s that provided port facilities for the coming invasion of Normandy. In August, he supervised the laying of the Pluto
pipelines between France and England, which provided much needed fuel supplies for the ongoing conflict. For his efforts in the success of the Normandy invasion, Tennant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI
, and also received the United States Legion of Merit
.
, serving until his death at the Worcester Royal Infirmary in 1963.
, Captain Tennant is played by Adrian Rawlins
.
|-
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(2 January 1890 – 26 July 1963) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naval officer. He was lauded for overseeing the successful evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Tennant subsequently served as captain of the battlecruiser HMS Repulse
HMS Repulse (1916)
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
, when it searched for German capital ships in the Atlantic. He remained in this capacity when the Repulse was sunk by the Japanese
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...
along with HMS Prince of Wales in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
on 10 December 1941, three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He later aided in the setup of the Mulberry harbour
Mulberry harbour
A Mulberry harbour was a British type of temporary harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy....
s and the Pluto pipelines
Operation Pluto
Operation Pluto was a World War II operation by British scientists, oil companies and armed forces to construct undersea oil pipelines under the English Channel between England and France. The scheme was developed by Arthur Hartley, chief engineer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company...
, a crucial part of the success of Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
.
Biography
Born in Upton-upon-SevernUpton-upon-Severn
Upton-upon-Severn is a small town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England, on the River Severn. According to the national census 2001 it had a population of 2,859. Located from Malvern, the bridge at Upton is the only one across the river Severn between Worcester...
, Tennant joined the Royal Navy at age 15 in 1905, serving onboard HMS Britannia
HMS Britannia (1904)
The sixth HMS Britannia of the British Royal Navy was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the King Edward VII class. She was named after Britannia, the Latin name of Great Britain under Roman rule.-Technical characteristics:...
, eventually specializing in navigation in 1913. He later served in the First World War during the Gallipoli campaign and survived the sinking of his ship at the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
in 1916. After the war, Tennant joined the crew of HMS Renown
HMS Renown (1916)
HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
and his future command, HMS Repulse, during the future King Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
's royal tours in the 1920s. By 1932, Tennant had achieved the rank of Captain.
Dunkirk Evacuation
On 26 May 1940, Captain Tennant was dispatched onboard the destroyer HMS WolfhoundHMS Wolfhound (L56)
HMS Wolfhound was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the First and Second World Wars. She was launched on 14 March 1918 and was sold for scrap in February 1948.-First World War and inter-war period:...
to Dunkirk to aid in the evacuation of more than 300,000 British and French troops left stranded when France fell to the Nazis. Tennant's task was to organize these dispirited men and get them onto the boats waiting to take them
Little ships of Dunkirk
The little ships of Dunkirk were 700 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in France between May 26 and June 4, 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, the rescue of more than 338,000 British and French soldiers, who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World...
. Tennant stayed right up until the last boats left on 2 June, patrolling the beaches of Dunkirk with a megaphone searching for British troops.
Tennant was lauded for his efforts at Dunkirk, and was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 7 June 1940. The ordinary sailors under his command took to calling him "Dunkirk Joe".
Captain of the Repulse
On 28 June Tennant became captain of the battlecruiser Repulse, taking part in battles against the German battleships ScharnhorstGerman battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...
and Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
, and later in the hunt for the battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
.
Loss of the Repulse
Tennant and Repulse joined Admiral Sir Tom Phillips' Force ZForce Z
Force Z was an Allied naval detachment consisting of the battleship , the battlecruiser , and four destroyers, , , , and . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included, but she ran aground in the Caribbean, and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow.A renamed...
, sent to Singapore to counter Japanese aggression in the Pacific, in December 1941. On 8 December, the day after the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Singapore came under attack by Japanese air units, and Force Z departed for Malaya to attack a Japanese convoy, an operation that was cancelled shortly thereafter. Upon returning to Singapore, they received word of Japanese landings on Malaya, and Force Z - without air cover - made for Malaya to counter them.
On 10 December the Japanese attacked Force Z. Tennant ably managed to avoid nineteen torpedoes dropped from Japanese aircraft, but Repulse eventually succumbed to a pincer attack, taking five torpedoes; she sunk within twenty minutes, taking a great deal of the crew with her. The survivors, including Captain Tennant, were rescued by HMAS Vampire
HMAS Vampire (D68)
HMAS Vampire was a V class destroyer of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was loaned to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II...
, one of the destroyers in Force Z.
Normandy
In June 1944, Tennant - now an admiral - was placed in charge of the naval side of the transport, assembly and setup of the two Mulberry harbourMulberry harbour
A Mulberry harbour was a British type of temporary harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy....
s that provided port facilities for the coming invasion of Normandy. In August, he supervised the laying of the Pluto
Operation Pluto
Operation Pluto was a World War II operation by British scientists, oil companies and armed forces to construct undersea oil pipelines under the English Channel between England and France. The scheme was developed by Arthur Hartley, chief engineer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company...
pipelines between France and England, which provided much needed fuel supplies for the ongoing conflict. For his efforts in the success of the Normandy invasion, Tennant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
, and also received the United States Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
.
Post-war service
Tennant was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1945 for his war service, and made commander of the America and West Indies Station after the war ended, and remained there until he retired in 1949 as a full admiral. In 1950, he was named Lord Lieutenant of WorcestershireLord Lieutenant of Worcestershire
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire. Since 1719, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Worcestershire.-Lord Lieutenants of Worcestershire to 1974:...
, serving until his death at the Worcester Royal Infirmary in 1963.
In popular culture
In the TV series DunkirkDunkirk (TV series)
Dunkirk is a 2004 BBC television docudrama about the Battle of Dunkirk and the Dunkirk evacuation in World War II.-Awards:*BAFTA Awards 2005**Won: Huw Wheldon Award for Specialist Factual: Robert Warr & Alex Holmes...
, Captain Tennant is played by Adrian Rawlins
Adrian Rawlins
Adrian Rawlins is an English actor who is probably best known for playing Author Kidd in the woman in black .-Early life:Rawlins was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Mavis and Edward Rawlins.-Education:...
.
United Kingdom
| Honour | Abbreviation/Title | Date Awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Member of the Royal Victorian Order Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys... |
MVO | 16 October 1925 |
| Companion of the Order of the Bath Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath... |
CB | 7 June 1940 |
| Commander of the Order of the British Empire Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions... |
CBE | 28 November 1944 |
| Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath... |
KCB | 18 December 1945 |
Awards from other countries
| Award | Country |
|---|---|
| Croix de guerre 1939-1945 Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (France) The Croix de guerre 1939–1945 is a French military decoration created on September 26, 1939, to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis force at any time during World War II.-Recipients:... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
| Légion d'honneur, Officier Légion d'honneur The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802... |
France |
| Grand Cross of the Order of George I Order of George I The Royal Order of George I is a defunct order of Greece.- History :The order was founded in 1915 by King Constantine I in honor of his father, George I. It was only the second Greek order to be created after the Order of the Redeemer in 1833, and remained the second senior award of the Greek... |
Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
| Commander of the Legion of Merit Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements... |
USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
External links
- Tennant's biography at Force Z Survivors website
- Upton-upon-Severn's memorial to Tennant
- Article on Tennant from the Worcester News archives
|-