Algernon Willis

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Usborne Willis (17 May 1889 – 12 April 1976) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War and saw action at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. He also served in the Second World War as Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic in which capacity he led actions against German and Japanese raiding ships. He continued his war service as Flag Officer commanding 3rd Battle Squadron and Second in command of the Eastern Fleet and then as Flag Officer commanding Force H, the force which covered North African Operations, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and then the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943. He spent the final years of the war as Commander-in-Chief, Levant, in which capacity he conducted naval operations in support of the Dodecanese Campaign, and then as Second Sea Lord, in which capacity he arranged the manpower for the campaign in the Pacific Ocean against the Imperial Japanese Navy. After the war he served as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, in which role he was faced with unrest in Mandatory Palestine, before he became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. Naval career Early career Born the son of Herbert Bourdillon Willis and Edith Florence Willis (née Moore), Willis was educated at Eastbourne College before joining the training ship HMS Britannia as a cadet in 1903 and being promoted to midshipman on 15 September 1905. He was first appointed to the battleship HMS Hindustan in the Channel Fleet before transferring to the battleship HMS Glory in the Mediterranean Fleet in September 1907. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 November 1908 and to lieutenant on 15 November 1909, he joined the armoured cruiser HMS Donegal in the Home Fleet in May 1910. He then transferred to the armoured cruiser HMS Good Hope in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1911 and attended the torpedo school HMS Vernon in 1914. Willis served in the First World War initially as torpedo officer in the battleship HMS Magnificent in the Grand Fleet before returning first to the torpedo school HMS Vernon in Spring 1915 and then to the armoured cruiser HMS Donegal, now in the Atlantic Fleet, later that year. He next spent a tour at the torpedo school HMS Defiance at Plymouth before transferring to the scout cruiser HMS Fearless in the Grand Fleet in which he saw action at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916.