William Whitworth (Royal Navy officer)
{{Short description|Royal Navy admiral (1884–1973)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Admiral
| name = Sir William Whitworth
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|KCB|DSO}}
| image = The Royal Navy during the Second World War A10233.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Vice Admiral Whitworth coming ashore after inspecting {{HMS|Vanessa|D29|6}} at the port of Liverpool
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1884|06|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Chatham, Kent
| death_date = {{death date and age|1973|10|25|1884|06|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = Bognor Regis, West Sussex
| placeofburial =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = Royal Navy
| serviceyears = 1899–1946
| rank = Admiral
| unit =
| commands = Rosyth (1944–46)
Second Sea Lord (1941–44)
Battlecruiser Squadron (1939–41)
{{HMS|Rodney|29|6}} (1936)
2nd Destroyer Flotilla (1928–31)
HMS Stuart (1928–31)
{{HMS|Valkyrie|1917|6}} (1924–25)
{{HMS|Wryneck|D21|6}} (1923–24)
| battles = First World War
Second World War
| awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches
Order of St. Olav (Norway)
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}
Admiral Sir William Jock Whitworth, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|KCB|DSO}} (29 June 1884 – 25 October 1973) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1941 to 1944.
Naval career
Whitworth joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1899,{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/WHITWORTH1.shtml| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925215325/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/WHITWORTH1.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2012|title= Whitworth, William|publisher=Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|accessdate=11 July 2020}} and was on 15 January 1901 posted to the battleship HMS Ocean,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=10 January 1901 |page=8 |issue=36348}} as she was sent to the China station during the Boxer Rebellion.{{cite news|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepresswk19010307-1.2.77|title=HMS Ocean|newspaper=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser|date= 7 March 1901|page= 12|access-date=5 December 2022}}
He served in the First World War, commanding the destroyers {{HMS|Cockatrice|1912|6}}, {{HMS|Orestes|1916|6}} and {{HMS|Vidette|D48|6}}.{{cite news | title=Naval Secretary to the First Sea Lord|work=The Times|date=8 March 1937|issue=47627|page=14}} He then became commanding officer at the Physical and Recreational Training School in Portsmouth in 1926. He was given command of HMS Stuart and the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1928.
In 1933 Whitworth was appointed Captain of the Fleet to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and in 1936 he took command of the battleship {{HMS|Rodney|29|6}}. He was made Naval Secretary in 1937.
Whitworth served in the Second World War and commanded the Battlecruiser Squadron in 1939. He participated in the Norwegian Campaign and in 1940, with his flag flying in the battleship {{HMS|Warspite|03|6}}, he led the Royal Navy to victory at the second Battle of Narvik off Norway.[http://www.hmshood.com/crew/biography/whitworth_bio.htm Biography of Admiral Sir William Jock Whitworth] HMS Hood Association Later in 1940 he returned to the Battlecruiser Squadron. He was made Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel in 1941 and Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth in 1944. He retired in 1946.
Family
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/William_Jock_Whitworth The Dreadnought Project page on Whitworth]
{{Commons category|William Whitworth}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box|title=Naval Secretary|before=Guy Royle|after=Stuart Bonham Carter|years=1937–1939}}
|-
{{Succession box| title=Commander, Battlecruiser Squadron | before=Sir Geoffrey Layton | after=Sir James Somerville| years=1939–1940}}
|-
{{Succession box| title=Commander, Battlecruiser Squadron | before=Sir James Somerville | after=Lancelot Holland | years=1940–1941}}
|-
{{succession box | title=Second Sea Lord | before=Sir Charles Little | after=Sir Algernon Willis| years=1941–1944}}
|-
{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth | before=Wilbraham Ford | after=Last holder of post
(replaced by
Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland
Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton)| years=1944–1946}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitworth, William}}
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II
Category:Lords of the Admiralty
Category:Admiralty personnel of World War II
Category:Military personnel from Kent
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I