John Fenwick Hutchings

Captain John Fenwick Hutchings, (17 May 1885 – 20 September 1968) was a British Royal Navy officer who served in the First and Second World Wars. During the latter, he commanded Operation Pluto, the project to construct submarine oil pipelines under the English Channel.

Early life John Fenwick Hutchings was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, on 17 May 1885, the son of Charles Robert Hutchings, a solicitor, and his wife Lizetta Mary Atkin. He entered the Britannia Royal Naval College as a cadet on 15 January 1900, and was commissioned as a midshipman in the Royal Navy on 30 May 1901. He served on the armoured cruiser , and was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 30 July 1904, and lieutenant on 31 December 1906. He applied for duty in submarines, and assumed command of the submarine on 20 August 1908, and then the submarine on 13 March 1909. This was followed by duty on the dreadnought battleship . He married Dorothy Stewart Kennedy at St Stephen's Church, Broughty Ferry on 18 October 1913. He was mentioned in despatches on 13 April 1915 for operations off the Belgian coast. After a time as an instructor at he commanded the submarine from 27 April 1917 until 12 April 1920. and promoted to commander on 31 December 1919. A senior officer's assessment of him was that he: Has rather an extraordinary brain; verges on genius but is apt to be too clever at times. Produces many sound and original ideas but occasionally radically unsound ones which he adheres to with equal tenacity. Brilliant at times but inclined to be over theoretical to the detriment of his practical work. Inclined to be disobedient at times, not with the intention of being insubordinate, but through failing to appreciate when an order should be obeyed implicitly and when discretion should be exercised. Apt to interpret the simplest orders as having some extraordinary ulterior motive.

Hutchings retired from the Royal Navy at his own request with the rank of captain. From 1934 to 1935, he was an advisor to the Greek government on submarines. Hutchings was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 28 November 1944 for "distinguished services in operations which led to the successful landing of Allied Forces in Normandy." He retired from the Royal Navy for the last time on 13 July 1946.

Hutchings died in Bishopsteignton, Devon, on 20 September 1968.