Captain Reginald Fife "Bob" Whinney, (8 February 1909 – 1992) was a Royal Navy officer who specialised in anti-submarine warfare during the Second World War. Whilst in command of the W-class destroyer , he helped destroy three German U-boats. For his war services he received the Distinguished Service Cross with two Bars. After the war he was promoted to captain and went on to become Chief Staff Officer Intelligence of the Mediterranean and Middle East during the Suez Crisis. In 1986 he published his memoirs of his service years in The U-Boat Peril: an anti-submarine commanders War.
Early life and education Reginald Whinney was born in Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland on 8 February 1909;National Archives his father Harold Fife Whinney was at that time a major in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (though he rose to lieutenant colonel).Whinney 1986, p.19thepeerage
Whinney was first educated at Eastman's Prep SchoolWhinney 1986, p.22 and then enlisted as an officer cadet at Dartmouth Naval College in 1922; an institution of which he was highly critical. Whilst there he met two people who were cast out of the college and went on to gain notoriety; Guy Burgess and Norman Baillie-Stewart.
Upon leaving Dartmouth, Whinney was sent to join in Malta where (among other duties) he received lectures from Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 1 January 1927 he became a midshipman and soon after transferred to under Captain William James.Whinney 1986, p.23 In 1929 Whinney passed his seamanship exam and progressed to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, to finish his education before leaving as a sub-lieutenant.Whinney 1986, p.25
Navy career Whinney was involved the Invergordon Mutiny in 1931 whilst stationed on and was nearly discharged from the navy.Whinney 1986, ch.3 However, after six months of service on the gunnery training ship , his record was cleared and he gained a transfer to the heavy cruiser taking passage to the China station.Whinney 1986, p.36
HMS Suffolk commanded by Captain Errol Manners was soon to become the flagship of Admiral Sir Frederic Dreyer and took passage to Japan to attend the funeral of Marshal-admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.Whinney 1986, p.38 They also travelled to Bali, Borneo, Java, Celebes islands and up the Yangtze River. Whinney then became the first lieutenant of a , which was brought out of the Reserve fleet at Malta during the Abyssinia Crisis.Whinney 1986, pp.39–40 Next he was given orders to return to Britain to commence anti submarine training but en route he was asked by the Naval Intelligence Division to travel overland by train through Italy in order to memorise the dispositions of the Italian navy vessels in their ports.Whinney 1986, p.40-41
Having passed the exam at Portland, Whinney was appointed as Assistant Anti-Submarine Officer to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla to be stationed aboard .Whinney 1986, p.46 When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, Echo led three other destroyers from the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in patrolling the north coast of Spain but they returned in November for the fleet inspection at Portland by King Edward VIII. After Edward abdicated Whinney took part in the lining of The Mall at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and then soon after the Fleet review at Spithead on 20 May 1937.Whinney 1986, p.47-49 When his appointment on Echo was finished Whinney returned as an instructor at the anti-submarine warfare school at Portland where he was given the responsibility of explaining the underwater equipment to visiting dignitaries such as Winston Churchill, the Duke of Kent, Lord Mountbatten and George VI.
Whinney then joined as the Anti-Submarine Officer (A/S), taking passage to Shanghai where they were stationed when the coded signal arrived to "Commence hostilities against Germany".Whinney 1986, p.50 They returned to the Mediterranean for a short time before being sent back home to Britain in escort to the battleship ; on the way back, off the west coast of Ireland, Barham collided with Duncans sister ship as the convoy altered course for the Firth of Clyde.Whinney 1986, pp.52–53
Second World War On 17 January 1940, whilst escorting Convoy ON18 Duncan, was accidentally rammed by a Norwegian merchant vessel causing a twenty-foot hole in her side. The vessel was taken under tow to Invergordon for temporary repairs.Whinney 1998, p.55-57 She was later towed to Grangemouth for repairs that were not completed until 22 July.naval-history.net HMS Duncan
After another short stint at the Anti-submarine training school, Whinney joined the lead ship of the 4th Destroyer flotilla, , under Captain Philip Vian, with whom he had served under as a midshipman on Royal Sovereign.Whinney 1986, p.60 In May 1941 whilst they were escorting a southbound convoy WS8B from Glasgow, they heard that had been sunk by German battleship . Cossack, along with , , and Polish destroyer , were detached from the convoy to aid the hunt for Bismarck. On the evening of 26 May Piorun spotted Bismarck and opened fire; Vian kept up the attacks throughout the night, maintaining contact until the arrival of the big ships of the fleet the next day.Whinney 1986, p.65-66
Whinney's next appointment was to the staff of the Commander-in-chief, South Atlantic stationed in Freetown, West Africa, where he advised on anti-submarine matters and trained the local escort force.Whinney 1986, pp.70–73 Here he caused a slight controversy when he was sent to investigate the Cape Verde Islands by reconnaissance aircraft for signs of German U-boats being refuelled there; the islands belonged to Britain's allies Portugal and Whinney flying too close was caught snooping.Whinney 1986, p.75 He also caught malaria whilst stationed in West Africa, which necessitated several months of treatment beginning at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (then based in Liverpool) on his return to Britain at the end of 1942.Whinney 1986, p.83-85
HMS Wanderer Whinney assumed command of the destroyer in April 1943 while it was being converted to a long range escort in the dockyards of Devonport.Whinney 1986, pp.86–90 They served on the Western Approaches Command, initially based at Greenock but later moving to Londonderry. Their first operational job was to escort troop ships for the Allied invasion of Sicily.Whinney 1986, pp.90–91naval-history.net HMS Wanderer
On 25 August 1943, during a convoy bound for Gibraltar, Wanderer attacked and sank some off Cape Finisterre with depth charges, whilst co-operating with the British corvette .Whinney 1986, p.95-102 U-523 suffered 17 dead with 37 survivors.uboat.net, U-523 The following day, Wanderer delivered an advance RAF party to Portugal to implement the agreement signed between Britain and Portugal for the use of airfields in the Azores from which to operate their maritime patrol aircraft.Whinney 1986, p.104-105
On 17 Jan 1944 Wanderer, in concert with the frigate , sank a U-boat (identified as )Paul Kemp, U-Boats Destroyed (1997) , p.165Axel Niestle, U-Boat Losses during World War II (1998) , p.54 but possibly Niestle, The Loss of U-305, U-377 and U-641 , ubootwaffe.net in the North Atlantic. Whinney was concerned about the repercussions of this action, as he had disobeyed an order, and carried out an unauthorized attack, to achieve this result,Whinney 1986, pp.12–18 but he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in February 1944, and on 20 June 1944 he was awarded a Bar to the decoration.London Gazette 20 June 1944
On 5 July 1944, while supporting the Normandy Invasion, Wanderer and the British frigate sank in the Baie de la Seine, English Channel, with depth charges; 48 were killed with 1 survivor.uboat.net U-390Whinney 1986, pp.136–141 Whinney received a second Bar to his DSC for this action in October 1944.London Gazette 10 October 1944 Having landed the survivor from U-390 at Portland Whinney discovered that Wanderer was no longer sea worthy so he was reassigned to a job in the Admiralty assessing reports of anti-submarine actions.Whinney 1986, p.145 However, having been on the job for only a few weeks Whinney fell ill with "operational fatigue" in late December and so it came as a great surprise to be promoted to commander on 31 December 1944.Whinney 1986, p.147
After a short spell on the sick list, Whinney decided to get back to work and was offered a post as Executive Commander at , the Royal Navy submarine school at Fort Blockhouse.
Post-war After the war, Whinney's next assignment was as Executive Commander on in the Mediterranean until he injured his back playing polo and was invalided back home.Whinney 1986, pp.149–151 He then served ashore firstly at the Seaward defence school then in 1950 he was promoted to captain and became Deputy Director of the Underwater Weapons Department at Bath. Next he became Chief Staff Officer Intelligence, Mediterranean and Middle East where he was stationed during the Suez Crisis. Then, after a short while in the Reserve Fleet, he took his final posting as a naval attaché in Yugoslavia.
In retirement Whinney worked for Cancer Relief and wrote his memoirs, The U-Boat Peril. He married twice and had a son and two daughters from his first marriage.Weekly telegraph Jan 1993
Works The U-Boat Peril, Arrow Books, London, 1986
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