Andrew Brown Cunningham was Britain's First Sea Lord from October 1943 and was a member of the British Chiefs of Staff as well as the Allies' Combined Chiefs of Staff. Distinguished in his contributions to the Allied war effort, his most valuable service may well have been as one of the principal architects of Operation Neptune, the sea-going phase of the Normandy landings (D-day).

At the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Cunningham held the rank of acting admiral and was commander in chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. An aggressive, proactive commander, he was determined to establish and maintain British naval supremacy on the Mediterranean. In November 1940, he ordered a massive air attack against the Italian fleet at Taranto, which dealt it a crippling blow. Cunningham was a master at provoking battle on his own terms, especially against the Italian fleet at the Battle of Matapan.

Cunningham was formally promoted to admiral in January 1941 and, from June to October 1942, headed the British Admiralty Delegation in Washington, D.C. In November, he was named Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force and directed the naval phase of Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa. Promoted to fleet admiral in January 1943, he was named commander in chief of the Mediterranean and, as Allied naval commander, directed the naval phase of the landings on Sicily in July 1943 and at Salerno in September.

Cunningham replaced Sir Dudley Pound as First Sea Lord after Pound's death in October 1943 and played a major role in planning the Normandy landings and invasion. Even as he coordinated naval operations for Operation Overlord, he mustered the largest British fleet ever assembled--for action in the Pacific.

Cunningham was highly regarded as much for his fighting spirit, very much in the tradition of Lord Nelson and certainly of a piece with Winston Churchill, as he was for his skill as a naval tactician and strategist. He saw the war through, then retired in March 1946. He was the elder brother of British army general Sir Alan Cunningham.

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