In June 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II,

In June 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound was appointed First Sea Lord, the highest-ranking officer in the British navy. Soon afterwards he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. For the next four years he would command the British navy during some of the most difficult and dangerous times in its history. His often-controversial tenure was marked by both crucial victories and disheartening defeats.

The son of a British barrister father and a Boston-born mother, Pound entered the royal navy in 1891, rising to the command of a battleship in World War I and earning distinction at the Battle of Jutland. In 1936 he became the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Three years later he advanced to command of the entire navy, just as it was about to face one of the most important challenges in its history.

Pound had not sought or desired the position of First Sea Lord. At the time of his promotion he was already suffering from health problems and had been looking forward to retirement. But because of a spate of deaths among senior naval officers, when a brain tumor forced First Sea Lord Sir Roger Backhouse to resign in May 1939, there was simply no other suitable officer available. 

For the next for years Pound worked closely with Winston Churchill, which might have been as difficult as any challenge he faced from the enemy. The admiral navigated the turbulent waters of Churchill’s famous personality and was credited with steering him away from potentially disastrous moves, such as his plan to send a British fleet into the Baltic Sea in 1940. And, probably most notably, it was under Pound’s watch that the Battle of the Atlantic was won, ending the U-boat menace that had threatened to bring Britain to its knees.

But there were failures as well. Despite having reservations about it, Pound approved the sending of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse to help defend Singapore. Both ships were sunk by Japanese aircraft. Pound was also involved in the planning and implementation of the failed 1940 Norwegian campaign. But probably the most controversial incident in Pound’s career was the disastrous destruction of convoy PQ 17 in July 1942.

PQ 17 was a convoy of 35 Allied merchant ships, escorted by British and American warships, making the treacherous and difficult journey to Arkhangelsk on the Russian Arctic coast, carrying desperately needed tanks, aircraft, and munitions for the Soviet Army. With the convoy in the Barents Sea, north of Norway, British command received a report that a force of German surface ships, including the fearsome battleship Tirpitz, had left port and were heading toward the convoy. On Pound’s orders, an urgent message was sent to the convoy, ordering the escort vessels to retreat, and ordering the merchantmen to “scatter” and make their way to Russian ports as best they could. With no warships to protect them, the scattered merchantmen were easy prey for German warplanes and submarines. Over the next four days, twenty-four of the merchant ships were sunk (15 U.S., 7 British, 1 Panamanian, 1 Dutch). Their precious cargo was lost, along with the lives of hundreds of mariners. 

In fact, as it turned out, the intelligence that Pound had acted upon was incorrect. The Tirpitz had not left port. The threat that had caused him to abandon the merchantmen to the mercy of the German bombers and submarines was nonexistent. Churchill later called it, “the worst journey in the world.” U.S. Admiral Dan Gallery called the episode “a shameful page in naval history.” Pound continues to be criticized for his order to scatter the convoy and for failing to make proper use of the available intelligence. 

By the time of his wife’s death in July 1943, Pound’s health had been deteriorating for some time. After he suffered two strokes in the summer of 1943, Pound began to exhibit the symptoms of a brain tumor. On September 20, he formally resigned. A month later, on Trafalgar Day, he passed away at a hospital in London. He would not live to see the final Allied victory. Following a funeral at Westminster Abbey, he was buried at sea.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound died at age 66, on October 21, 1943, eighty years ago today. 

The portrait by Arthur Douglas Wales-Smith hangs in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.