Andrew Cunningham was one of the greatest British naval commanders of the twentieth century, the admiral who dominated the Mediterranean during the Second World War and rose to become Britain's most senior naval officer. Born in Dublin, he joined the Royal Navy as a boy and served in the South African War and the First World War, building a reputation as an aggressive and highly capable fighting sailor, especially in destroyers.
His finest achievements came in the Second World War as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Bold and offensive-minded, Cunningham took the fight to the larger Italian navy with great success. In 1940 his aircraft carriers launched a daring night attack on the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto, crippling several battleships — a strike later studied by the Japanese before Pearl Harbor.
In 1941 he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Cape Matapan, destroying a powerful Italian squadron. When German forces overran Greece and Crete, Cunningham insisted the navy evacuate the army despite heavy losses, declaring that it took three years to build a ship but three centuries to build a tradition — a famous expression of naval duty.
He went on to direct the naval side of the Allied landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and accepted the surrender of the Italian fleet. In 1943 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy, serving on the Allied high command until the war's end. Raised to the peerage, he died in 1963.