Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, (7 March 1885 – 12 January 1971), sometimes known as Jack Tovey, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he commanded the destroyer at the Battle of Jutland and then commanded the destroyer at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the Second World War he initially served as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in which role he commanded the Mediterranean Fleet's Light Forces (i.e. cruisers and destroyers). He then served as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet and was responsible for orchestrating the pursuit and destruction of the . After that he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore with responsibility for controlling the east coast convoys and organising minesweeping operations.
Early life and career Tovey was born on 7 March 1885 at Borley Hill, Rochester, Kent, the youngest child (of eleven) of Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton Tovey, RE, and Maria Elizabeth Goodhue. He was educated at Durnford School, Langton Matravers (joining the school shortly before another future British admiral, Geoffrey Oliver) and as a naval cadet in the training ship Britannia at Dartmouth (15 January 1900 – 15 May 1901). Tovey's parents spent much time abroad and as a result, Durnford and its headmaster, Thomas Pellatt, were a significant and happy influence upon the young Tovey. He excelled at sports, playing well at cricket for Durnford and he was a schoolboy international footballer and later played golf for the Royal Navy.
Tovey passed out of Britannia with four months' time awarded (effectively an improvement in seniority) and entered the Royal Navy on 15 May 1901 as a midshipman. A month later he was posted to the battleship , flagship of the Channel Squadron, Vice-Admiral Arthur Wilson. He remained in Majestic until June 1902, when he transferred to the cruiser , flagship on the North America and West Indies Station. Tovey passed his Seamanship examination (1st class) and on his promotion to sub-lieutenant on 15 July 1904, he was transferred from Ariadne. In his time as a midshipman, his performance ratings had all been good or better with comments such as "zealous" and "painstaking", although not without criticisms ("Painstaking & steady" and "Manner bad with the men").
In 1905, Tovey attended courses in gunnery, torpedo, navigation and pilotage. In November, he was appointed to the flagship, , at the request of Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, the Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet. Tovey's length of service on Exmouth is unclear, but he was promoted to lieutenant on 15 July 1906.
Tovey was appointed, on 18 May 1908, to the armoured cruiser , on the China Station, where he served for two years. During 1910, 1911 and 1912, there was a series of appointments to ships of differing types., training ship for Royal Navy College Osborne, May 1910, scout cruiser in the Atlantic Fleet, June 1911, scout cruiser in the Home Fleet, November 1911, battleship, August 1912
At the start of 1913, Tovey was posted to (the naval barracks at Devonport) for trials of and subsequently served on Amphion from 2 April 1913. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 15 July 1914.
First World War Tovey continued to serve on Amphion as its first lieutenant until she was mined and sunk on 6 August 1914 (the first British warship to be sunk in the First World War). He was subsequently posted to the destroyer .
Tovey received his first command on 13 January 1915, when he was appointed to the destroyer , which as part of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January. He subsequently commanded (from 7 May 1916) at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May. Onslow and another destroyer, , had escorted the seaplane carrier , but later Onslow became involved in action, first against German battlecruisers, then in an attack on the damaged German cruiser Onslows torpedo hit on Wiesbaden was one of only five British torpedo hits during Jutland. and finally on a line of enemy battleships. Onslow had been severely damaged during the attack on the Wiesbaden, nonetheless, Tovey ordered that the remaining torpedoes be fired at the battleships, although no hits were scored. Despite heavy shelling, Onslow was towed to safety by (herself also damaged) and eventually both ships reached Aberdeen.The Report on the Battle by Admiral Beatty stated that: "Defender, whose speed had been reduced to 10 knots, while on the disengaged side of the battle cruisers, was struck by a shell which damaged her foremost boiler, but closed Onslow and took her in tow. Shells were falling all round them during this operation, which, however, was successfully accomplished. During the heavy weather of the ensuing night the tow parted twice, but was resecured. The two struggled on together until 1pm 1 June, when Onslow was transferred to tugs. I consider the performances of these two destroyers to be gallant in the extreme, and I am recommending Lieutenant-Commander J. C. Tovey of Onslow, and Lieutenant Commander Palmer of Defender, for special recognition..." (The Beatty Papers, vol. 1, B.McL. Ranft, ed, Navy Records Society, 1989, p 323). Both officers were awarded DSOs. As a result of this action, Tovey was promoted to commander (effective 30 June 1916), Mentioned in Dispatches and subsequently awarded the DSO in 1919.
Tovey remained on Onslow until October 1917, when he transferred to command the new destroyer HMS Ursa, which he commanded at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917. It was during this time that he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In April 1918, Tovey took command of another new destroyer, , and was also appointed to the staff of the Captain Superintendent Torpedo-Boat Destroyers; these appointments lasted until June 1919, after the war's end.
Inter-war years In June 1919, Tovey attended the Senior Officers' Technical Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, for a year; subsequently he was appointed to the Naval Staff Operations Division at the Admiralty for a further two years. His next sea appointment, in August 1922, was to command , which he held until his promotion to captain on 31 December 1923. In August 1924, Tovey was briefly appointed as Captain (D), 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, for exercises before attending a course at the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness.
At the end of 1924, Tovey was appointed as captain (D) to command HMS Bruce and the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. He commanded the 8thDF and other flotillas, in turn, until he attended the Imperial Defence Course, for a year from mid January 1927, at the Imperial Defence College. This was immediately followed by the Senior Officers' Technical Course at Portsmouth and from February 1928 to April 1930, Tovey was assistant director of Tactical School, followed by yet another shore appointment at the Admiralty as naval assistant to the Second Sea Lord.
After five years ashore, Tovey was given command of the battleship in April 1932. This ship had been heavily involved in the recent Invergordon mutiny and elements of its crew were among the most vociferous protestors, and Tovey was seen as a "safe pair of hands" to restore the battleship's efficiency. Tovey quickly transformed the ship's crew into an efficient and confident unit and in his confidential personnel report, Admiral Sir John Kelly judged that Tovey "... has brought his ship to a high state of fighting efficiency". He stayed with Rodney until August 1934.
In October, Tovey attended a Senior Officers' course and in January 1935, he was appointed as commodore (2nd rank) (at the time "commodore" was not a substantive rank) to command the Naval Barracks at Chatham, an important depot and training establishment involved in the rapid naval expansion of the 1930s. When promoted to rear admiral on 27 August 1935, he continued at Chatham until he attended a Senior Officers Tactical Course from September 1937 and a Senior Officers' War Course at the Royal Naval War College, Greenwich, in December 1937. Until February 1938, Tovey also acted as Naval ADC to the King.
Tovey had been nominated in early 1935 to be rear admiral (D), commanding the Destroyer Flotillas of the Mediterranean Fleet, the appointment not taking effect until early 1938. Once in post at Malta, Tovey's role involved interventions in the Spanish Civil War and at Haifa as well as the command and administrative roles of bringing the destroyer flotillas to peak efficiency. He was promoted to vice admiral on 3 May 1939.
Second World War For some months after Britain and Germany had declared war, the Mediterranean was a backwater. Italy remained nominally neutral with her fleet as only a potential threat and France maintained a powerful naval force as a counter to the Italians. As a result, British naval forces were reduced as units were transferred to meet immediate threats elsewhere and Tovey's command was reduced to five elderly Australian and V and W-class destroyers The five were (leader), Vampire, Vendetta, Voyager and Waterhen.
When Italy declared war in June 1940, Tovey was commanding the Mediterranean Fleet's Light Forces (i.e. cruisers and destroyers) and had become Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, under Andrew Cunningham. As Italy's participation became more certain, the Mediterranean Fleet had been reinforced and by June, Tovey commanded nine cruisers and around twenty-five destroyers, with his flag in .
In his first action in the Mediterranean, Tovey commanded the 7th Cruiser Squadron when, on 28 June 1940, it intercepted three Italian destroyers that were making an urgent supply run to north Africa (Battle of the Espero Convoy).At this stage, the 7th Cruiser Squadron consisted of , , , and . The three Italian destroyers were the , and . The five British cruisers engaged the Italian flotilla at extreme range and sank the Espero, while the other two escaped. The British use of ammunition had been extensive and, due to this and the shortage of stores at Alexandria, convoys from Malta were postponed. Cunningham was not pleased and commented that the ammunition used was "tremendous ... to sink this one 1,000-ton destroyer".Woodman, p. 42
On 9 July, Tovey commanded the Light Forces (cruisers and destroyers) at the indecisive Battle of Calabria. Although little was achieved by either fleet, Tovey's handling of his command was praised in Cunningham's subsequent report.Cunningham reported: "Our cruisers – there were only four in action – were badly outnumbered and at times came under a very heavy fire. They were superbly handled by Vice-Admiral J. C. Tovey, C.B., D.S.O., who, by his skilful manoeuvring, managed to maintain a position in the van and to hold the enemy cruiser squadrons, and at the same time avoid damage to his own force." In October 1940 he became commander of the 1st Battle Squadron.
In November 1940 Tovey was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet with the acting rank of admiral (he was promoted to the substantive rank on 30 October 1942). As commander of the Home Fleet he had several clashes with Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord, and Winston Churchill but retained the post for the normal two and a half years' duration.