
William George "Bill" Tennant (2 January 1890 – 26 July 1963) was a British Royal Navy Admiral who served in World War II.
Biography[]
William George Tennant was born in Upton-upon-Severn, Gloucestershire, England in 1890, and he joined the British Royal Navy in 1905 and became a lieutenant in 1912.
On 19 August 1916, he survived the sinking of the HMS Nottingham during World War I, after which he returned to Harwich Force. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander in 1920, was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order and a commander in 1925, a captain in 1932, Chief Staff Officer to the First Sea Lord in 1939, and served as Senior Naval Officer ashore at Dunkirk at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation during World War II.
He oversaw the evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied troops from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, and he stayed right up until the last ships left on 2 June. Tennant later assumed command of the HMS Repulse, joining Admiral Tom Phillips' Force Z in the Pacific and surviving the Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse on 10 December 1941. Tennant was promoted to Rear Admiral on 6 February 1942, and, in February 1943, he was mentioned in dispatches for his part in the Battle of Madagascar.
Tennant also participated in the setup of the Mulberry harbors ahead of the D-Day invasion in June 1944, and he was promoted to Vice-Admiral on 27 July 1945 and Admiral on 22 October 1948. He retired in August 1949 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire from 1950 until his death in 1963.