Bill Tennant

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:58 am

On what date was Bill Tennant given command of the Repulse?

Was there ever any hint of this being him promoted upstairs out of the way to the Far East after his strange post-Dunkirk book?

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:53 pm

Late 1940 I think. He was CO of Renown before being given command of Repulse. The men knew him as "Dunkirk Joe".

A very good officer but above all a real sailor's sailor. The men thought a lot of him.

I don't think he did much in 1942, but from 1943 onwards he was heavily involved in planning for Overlord; Ramsay was in charge of the naval planning and obviously held him in high esteem after Dynamo.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:30 pm

I got a date of June 18th from Andy, but remembering the Renown after that, it had to be that posting he received on the 18th...otherwise - he came off the Mole at Dunkirk, was on the Renown for a fortnight and THEN off to the Far East LOL

I was asking about the date...because I came across a quote from of all people David Irving, about David Pounder's book on Churchill, and the "plot" in mid-1940 to try and unseat Churchill. I know tennant came back from France with some VERY outspoken views about how the war was being managed, and among those he canvassed was....Walter Monckton, advisor to Queen Elizabeth, and a relative of Tennant's. Monckton's diaries specifically mention Tennant on the NINETEENTH, mentioning an earlier discussion about it all - sometime in the couple of days immediately BEFORE the 19th

So therfore it came to my mind that later in the year....Tennant was "kicked upstairs" to the Repulse and out to Force Z in the Far East... because given his apparent views on Churchill, and if Pounder was correct about a cabal to unseat Churchill driven by Monckton, headed by Queen Elizabeth, and supported by the Sea Lords at the Admiralty, given the RN losses off Dunkirk...would YOU want him commanding a capital ship in the HOME Fleet, facing the Germans???

There ALSO used to be a copy of Tennant's book up on the Net, I scanned through it before about a year ago but couldn't find it today. In it he was VERY anti the "current" war policy, and actively favoured "alternative methods of conflict resolution" i.e reaching peace terms with Hitler! Which obviously meant replacing Churchill....

The covert activities around the cabal seem to have come to a head in mid-July 1940, when Churchill got wind of the British Ambassador to Washington quietly sounding out peace terms with the GERMAN Ambassador....neither being aware that by then London had broken German diplomatic codes...and Churchill squashed these not-quite-yet-overtures flat. I'm assuming the knives were out after that...and possibly Tennant - remember, his book was published DURING the war! - was simply "got offside" away from the GERMAN war...

By the time he came back to the UK, the US was "in", Allied policy had settled on the form it took historically, and Unconditional Surrender of Germany was the only option on the table from Churchill's, FDR's and Stalin's side...things were simply bigger than any backroom conspiracy could handle or divert.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:49 am

Education: HMS Britannia 1905
joined RN 1915 specialized in navigation

1914 - 1916
HMS Lizard and HMS Ferret, Harwich Force

1916
HMS Chatham and HMS Nottingham, Grand Fleet

1916 - 1919
HMS Concord, Harwich Force

1921
Navigating Officer, HMS Renown, during royal world tour

01.09.1922- (08.1923)
HMS Dryad (navigation school, Portsmouth)

10.10.1924- (01.1925)
Navigating Officer, HMS Repulse (battlecruiser) (Atlantic Fleet) (Royal World Tour, 1925)

22.04.1926 - 06.05.1926
Admiralty [HMS President]

06.05.1926 (07.1927)
Operations Division, Admiralty [HMS President]

26.03.1929 - (04.)1930
Executive Officer, HMS Sussex (cruiser) (Mediterranean)

22.09.1930 - (10.)1930
tactical course, HM Dockyard Portsmouth

15.12.1930 - (09.1932)
staff, RN Staff College, Greenwich [HMS President]

(01.1934) no appointment listed

21.05.1935 - (02.)1937
Commanding Officer, HMS Arethusa (cruiser) & some time Flag Captain, 3rd Cruiser Squadron (Mediterranean)

01.07.1937 - (08.)1939
naval instructor, Imperial Defence College (London)

26.08.1939 - (04.)1940
Chief Staff Officer to First Sea Lord [HMS President]

05.1940 - 06.1940
Senior Naval Officer, Dunkirk (organised embarkation of allied armies at Dunkirk, Normandy, France)

[1940? - 1940?
Commanding Officer, HMS Renown (battlecruiser) ?]

18.06.1940 - 10.12.1941
Commanding Officer, HMS Repulse (battlecruiser) (sunk)

13.04.1942 - 15.10.1943
Rear-Admiral Commanding 4th Cruiser Squadron, Eastern Fleet (in charge of naval operations covering occupation of Madagascar, 09.1942)

1943 - 1944
Second-in-Command, Eastern Fleet

(01?.)1944 - (06.)1944
Rear-Admiral Mulberry/Pluto on staff of ANCXF (Invasion of Normandy, 1944) [HMS Odyssey]

30.10.1944 - (04.)1946
Flag Officer Levant and Eastern Mediterranean, later Senior British Naval Officer Middle East [HMS Nile (RN base, Alexandria]

23.10.1946 - 03.05.1949
Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station [HMS Sheffield]

Regards

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:40 am

05.1940 - 06.1940
Senior Naval Officer, Dunkirk (organised embarkation of allied armies at Dunkirk, Normandy, France)

[1940? - 1940?
Commanding Officer, HMS Renown (battlecruiser) ?]

18.06.1940 - 10.12.1941
Commanding Officer, HMS Repulse (battlecruiser) (sunk)

Andy, do you see the problem with the dates? Tennant arrived in Dunkirk on the 27th, and was replaced as senior officer by Wake-Walker on the 30th. So either he was CO Renown for ONLY 18 days - or FAR less if he stayed on at Dunkirk a few more days, I can't find a date of departure...or else there's something wrong with that date. Certainly he spent more than a few days in London betwen the 1st and the 18th - he had several meetings including the one with Monckton, and his investiture as a Companion of the Bath....whereas the Renown had a rather crowded month!

May Under repair at Rosyth to action and weather damage.

June On completion resumed Home Fleet service.

5th Carried out search in NW Approaches with HM Cruisers NEWCASTLE and SUSSEX for

two unknown vessels possibly commerce raiders on passage 200 miles NE of Faeroes

8th Detached on Admiralty orders and returned to Scope Flow.

9th Following loss of HM Aircraft Carrier GLORIOUS sailed from Scapa Flow with HM

Battleship RODNEY to provide additional cover for passage of evacuation convoys

from Norway.

10th Despatched to carry out search for two unknown vessels possibly commerce raiders reported

on passage 200 miles NE of Faeroes

(Note: HMS REPULSE, HM Cruisers NEWCASTLE and SUSSEX, HM Destroyers ZULU,

KELVIN. FORESTER and FOXHOUND were also deployed for this search.)

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:53 am

Hi Phylo

History is littered with commands whose tenure is cut short through re-postings etc. Who commanded the Repulse before Tennant and where did he go and also who was the Captain of the Renown before Tennant-Maybe Tennant's was an acting Command?

Regards

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:02 am

Capt. Ernest John Spooner was the CO of Repulse prior to Tennant, as Spooner was promoted to R.Adm on June 25th 1940. So thats why the vacancy came about on the Repulse.

Regards

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:45 am

Andy, take a look at the career-listing footnote for Tennant on P.205 of "The Cunningham Papers"

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MynR ... d8Ng&hl=en

Unfortunately I can't cut-and-paste from there...

It lists a gap between SNO Dunkirk and Repulse MAY-Dec 1941...

Am still searching.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:57 am

Looks like the Renown is a bit of a ghost ship when it comes to details....

sometime betw. 1940-41 - at 05.1941 Cdre.2cl. McGrigor, Sir Rhoderick Robert, RN

1940 - Cpt. Tennant, Sir William George, RN

26.08.1941 - 1943 Cpt. Daniel, [Sir] Charles Saumarez, RN

"sometime betw. 1940-41"???

Well, Roddy McGirgor certainly had Renown at the time of the Bismark Action, and Tennant had the Repulse as part of Home Fleet under Sir John Tovey. So the changover from Renown to Repulse DEFINITELY predated May 1941...

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:22 am

Battlecruiser Squadron (Vice Adm W J Whitworth CB, DSO) - RENOWN (Flag, Capt C E B Simeon) dep Scapa Flow on patrol 9 Jun, REPULSE (Capt E J Spooner DSO, Capt W G Tennant CB, MVO from 18 Jun) dep Scapa Flow on patrol 5 Jun

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4006-15RNHome1.htm

Regards

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:28 am

Capt C E B Simeon
15.05.1939 - 01.1941
Commanding Officer, HMS Renown (battleship) (in action with German Fleet off Norway and Italian Fleet off Sardinia (despatches))

Phylo,

Where is the proof that Tennant actually commanded Renown?

Regards

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:23 am

MVO from 18 Jun

MVO?

Where is the proof that Tennant actually commanded Renown?

That's what I'm trying to find LOL because IF he actually wasn't....though as you know a LOT of sources DO mention him on the Renown sometime between Dunkirk and Repulse... then I'm wondering what this does to Pounder's argument about his "political" involvement in events in June 1940.

I've no axe or personal opinion either way on this - I accidently came across the possible oddity in dates etc. and then the subsequent oddity that the copy of his book that was on the Net has vanished. I know things come and go on the Net A LOT, but it was only one part of a much bigger site IIRC

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:32 am

phylo_roadking wrote:
MVO from 18 Jun
MVO?

Where is the proof that Tennant actually commanded Renown?
That's what I'm trying to find LOL because IF he actually wasn't....though as you know a LOT of sources DO mention him on the Renown sometime betwen Dunkirk and Repulse... then I'm wondering what this does to Pounder's argument about his "political" involvement in events in June 1940.

I've no axe or personal opinion either way on this - I accidently came across the possible oddity in dates etc. and then the subsequent oddity that the copy of his book that was on the Net has vanished. I know thigs come and go on the Net A LOT, but it was only one part of a much bigger site IIRC

Hi Phylo

MVO=Member of Victorian Order

Pounder's, who is that and what 'political' involvement are you ref to?

Regards

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:45 am

I was searching on the Net for something, IIRC Tennant's book, and in Google I came across a link to THIS, as mentioned above. Now I normally would have to take anything written by anyone with an agenda as "questionable", especially Irving LOL - but buried in the opinions they can always give clues for further digging, which is what I'm doing - digging further rather than accept the statements at face value.

THE new edition of "Churchill's War", vol. i: "Struggle for Power", which will be much updated, contains an extraordinary revelation (the work of researcher David Pounder, not myself) -- that the admirals were plotting, with Queen Elizabeth, to overthrow Winston later that June. I myself revealed that King George VI told several American visitors including Sumner Welles and Harry Hopkins and the Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King that he disliked Churchill as prime minister and preferred Lord Halifax. Captain Ralph Edwards wrote in his diary on June 19, 1940:

"Sir W. Monkton's Secretary telephoned and asked me to see Sir W [Walter]. I went at 18:00 and told him the whole truth or rather corroborated Bill T.'s story. He promised action and told me [Leo] Amery + Beaverbrook + his own minister were ready to act. It seems likely that they'll do it thro' the Queen, who seems to be the power behind the throne."
Bill T was Captain William Tennant. One 1940 file of Sir Walter Monkton, the queen's lawyer and adviser, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford is still sealed because it is known to contain references to her belief that Hitler's peace offer should be accepted. Pounder concludes that this was clear evidence that the plot (to replace Churchill and to conclude a negotiated peace with Berlin) was being managed by Monckton and powered by Queen Elizabeth.

Then I redoubled my efforts to find Tennant's book but no joy. Though I did find a few other funnies in June and July 1940, particularly on the diplomatic front. However, I did remember from my first scanning through Tennant's book that we was EXTREMELY critical of the conduct of the war, and particularly SINCE Churchill coming to power, and the rejection of the various peace overtures after the Fall of France. That's why I wanted to read it again, and found this particular "funny" instead.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:56 am

Well given there authority I think we can assume he did, but the tenure is the question.

King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900-1975
Name
TENNANT, Sir William George (1890-1963), Admiral
Service biography
HMS BRITANNIA 1905; specialized in navigation 1913; World War I 1914-1918; HMS LIZARD and HMS FERRET, Harwich Force 1914-1916; HMS CHATHAM and HMS NOTTINGHAM, Grand Fleet 1916; HMS CONCORD, Harwich Force 1916-1919; navigator, HMS RENOWN, during royal world tour 1921; navigator, HMS REPULSE, during royal world tour 1925; HMS ARETHUSA, Mediterranean 1935-1937; naval instructor, Imperial Defence College 1937-1939; organised embarkation of allied armies at Dunkirk, Normandy, France 1940; commanded HMS RENOWN 1940; commanded HMS REPULSE and survived her sinking by air attack 1941; commanded cruiser sqn, Eastern Fleet 1942; on staff for planning of Operation OVERLORD, for the Allied invasion of North West Europe 1943; commanded Mulberry harbour operations, France 1944; France 1944; Flag Officer, Levant and Eastern Mediterranean 1944-1946; Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station 1946-1949; retired 1949

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/TENNANT.shtml