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. 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. During the First World War, Tennant first served aboard the destroyers and as part of the Harwich Force until 1916, then aboard the cruisers and , as part of the Grand Fleet in 1916, surviving the sinking of the latter during the action of 19 August 1916. He then returned to the Harwich Force to serve aboard the cruiser until 1919. Tennant was promoted to lieutenant-commander 30 June 1920, 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. For his services Tennant was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (Fourth Class) by King George V in November 1925.