William Tennant

Admiral Sir William George Tennant (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 , when she searched for German capital ships in the Atlantic.

He remained in this capacity when the Repulse was sunk by the Japanese along with in the South China Sea on 10 December 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He later aided in the setup of the Mulberry harbours and the Pluto pipelines, a crucial part of the success of Operation Overlord. He died in 1963.

Biography Born in Upton-upon-Severn and educated at nearby Hanley Castle Grammar School, Tennant joined the Royal Navy in 1905 at the age of 15, as a naval cadet at Britannia Royal Naval College. He was eventually appointed an acting sub-lieutenant, being confirmed in that rank on 15 December 1909, and was promoted to lieutenant on 30 June 1912, eventually specialising in navigation in 1913. and served as Navigating Officer aboard the battlecruiser during the royal tour to India and Japan by Edward, Prince of Wales, between September 1921 and June 1922. He then served as an instructor at HMS Dryad, the navigation school at Portsmouth, before returning to sea in late 1924 to serve as navigating officer of the Repulse for another tour by the Prince of Wales the following year, this time to Africa and South America.

Tennant was promoted to commander on 31 December 1925, and spent the next two years posted to the Admiralty, serving in the Operations Division. He served as Executive Officer of the cruiser in the Mediterranean from March 1929, then on the staff of the Royal Naval Staff College at Greenwich from December 1930.

From May 1935 he served as commanding officer of the cruiser as part of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean, then from July 1937 was an instructor at the Imperial Defence College, London. Tennant's party was dispatched on board the destroyer to aid in the evacuation of more than 300,000 British and French troops left stranded when France fell to the Nazis. The ordinary sailors under his command took to calling him "Dunkirk Joe".

Tennant and Repulse joined Admiral Sir Tom Phillips' Force Z, sent to Singapore to counter Japanese advancement in the Pacific, in December 1941. On 8 December, the day after 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 handled Repulse and dodged nineteen torpedoes dropped from Japanese aircraft, while also shooting down several attackers. Nonetheless, Repulse eventually succumbed to a pincer attack and was hit by five torpedoes, sinking within twenty minutes, with great loss of life. The survivors, including Tennant, were rescued by the destroyers and .

On 6 February 1942, Tennant was promoted to rear-admiral and in February 1943 received a mention in despatches for his part in the Battle of Madagascar.

Normandy

In June 1944, Tennant was placed in charge of the naval side of the transport, assembly and setup of the two Mulberry harbours that provided port facilities for the coming invasion of Normandy.

Post-war service Tennant was promoted to vice-admiral on 27 July 1945, Appointed commander of the America and West Indies Station in 1946, and remained there until he retired in August 1949.

Honours

United Kingdom

Awards from other countries AwardCountryCroix de guerre 1939-1945FranceLégion d'honneur, OfficierFranceGrand Cross of the Order of George IGreeceCommander of the Legion of MeritUSA