Henry Harwood

Hero of the River Plate

New Hardback Illustrated

Postscript summary

Admiral Henry Harwood has suffered criticism for the Royal Navy's performance in the Mediterranean during the Second World War, but inadequate resources were chiefly responsible for the failures, argues Peter Hore. This biography reassesses his reputation, tracing a notable career that included distinguished service as a torpedo officer in the First World War and victory over the Graf Spee in 1939.

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Henry Harwood is best known for his destruction of the _Admiral Graf Spee_ at the battle of the River Plate in December 1939 about which Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, said: 'This brilliant sea fight takes its place in our naval annals and in a long, cold, dark winter it warmed the cockles of the British hearts'. Despite that great victory Harwood remains, until now, one of three great British naval commanders of the Second World War who is without a biography.

Admiral Sir Henry Harwood's wider naval career was remarkable and epitomised the Royal Navy in the first half of the twentieth century. He became a naval cadet in 1903, specialised as a torpedo officer in 1911, and for his services in the First World War was awarded the OBE in 1919. He was one of the Navy's intellectuals, gaining first class passes in all his examinations and, during his interwar service on the South American station, learning Spanish. During his service in important staff appointments and at the Imperial Defence College, he made a particular study of international relations and, in the light of perceived fallings at sea in the First World War, of tactics and command. He was thus well-qualified when in 1936 he became commodore in command of the South American division of the America and West Indies station, and well prepared to meet and defeat the German pocket battleship _Admiral Graf Spee_ with his inferior force of cruisers in 1939.

He was promoted assistant chief of the naval staff at the Admiralty, and, in 1942, appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in succession to Sir Andrew Cunningham. Then, commanding a fleet too enfeebled for its tasks, he found Montgomery plotting against him and Churchill loosing confidence in him before being relieved of his command. Invalided out of the Navy in 1945, and subsequently blamed by many for the Navy's perceived failings in the Mediterranean, he died a disappointed man in 1950.

The author has been given exclusive and unique access to the Harwood family archives and, in the light of these previously unpublished papers, has set about rehabilitating the character, career and achievements of this great British admiral. For all historians and enthusiasts of the Royal Navy in the Second World War, this will be essential reading.

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