page_title: John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Billowing smoke marks the end of the ammunition ship SS Mary Luckenbach, seen from the deck of the escort carrier HMS Avenger (D14), during convoy PQ 18 to Russia, 13 September 1942. The ship was attacked by several German aircraft, and was hit by an aerial torpedo. The impact of the torpedo struck the ship's cargo of 1,000 tons of TNT. The explosion was so violent the ship was basically vaporized along with the entire crew. The last known location of the ship was 75 degrees north, 10 degrees east.
context_page_description: Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, GCB, KBE, DSO, sometimes known as Jack Tovey, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he commanded the destroyer HMS Onslow at the Battle of Jutland and then commanded the destroyer Ursa 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. He then served as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet and was responsible for orchestrating the pursuit and destruction of the Bismarck. After that he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore with responsibility for controlling the east coast convoys and organising minesweeping operations.
context_section_description: For some months after Britain and Germany had declared war, the Mediterranean was effectively a quiet 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 Scott and V and W-class destroyers 
  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 HMS Orion.
  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). The five British cruisers engaged the Italian flotilla at extreme range and succeeding in sinking 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, planned 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".
  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. 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.
  Tovey's best known achievement in this period was orchestrating the pursuit and destruction of the Bismarck. He had insisted on being a "sea-going" admiral, despite pressure from above and the disadvantages of being away from command centres. He believed that this was one element in maintaining morale in the fleet, by sharing the privations and dangers of his men. The final action against the Bismarck added further weight to his decision. When the two British battleships HMS Rodney and King George V located Bismarck, they had the setting sun silhouetting them while Bismarck remained in the evening gloom. Tovey observed this and, to the surprise of his staff, ordered that the final action be delayed until the following morning. In so doing, he ensured that the benefits of the light would be reversed to the British advantage and that the German crews would be fatigued by constant harassment by Vian's destroyers. The risk was that Bismarck would, somehow, escape but Tovey accepted this. Tovey was made a KBE "... for distinguished services in the masterly and determined action in which the German Battleship Bismarck was destroyed."
  After the Bismarck action, Tovey resisted moves to court-martial the Prince of Wales' captain, John Leach, and Frederic Wake-Walker, the admiral commanding Suffolk and Norfolk, who had broken off the battle with Bismarck after Hood had been sunk. Tovey was appalled and a row ensued between Tovey and his superior, Pound. Tovey stated that the two officers had acted correctly in the circumstances. He threatened to resign his position and appear at any court-martial as 'defendant's friend' and defence witness. No more was heard of the proposal. King George V was extremely short of fuel and had stayed at the scene far longer than Tovey had thought it could, so another cause for friction between Tovey and his political and professional superiors was a signal that his flags
caption: The escort carrier HMS Avenger forming part of arctic convoy PQ18
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