John Cunningham

Who was John Cunningham?

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham GCB, MVO, DL was a Royal Navy officer. A qualified senior navigator, he became Director of Plans at the Admiralty in 1930. He saw action as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the Second World War with responsibility for the allied landings at Anzio and in the south of France. He served as First Sea Lord in the late 1940s: his focus was on implementing the Government's policy of scrapping a large number of serviceable ships.