Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Henry Alexander Stuart-Menteth, (26 August 1912 – 14 May 2000) was a British naval officer famous for his service in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, particularly during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

where he assisted in the sinking of two

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s and helped capture

Enigma code The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the G ...

fragments, which enabled

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

to decipher the code. He commanded six ships during his career. He married in 1952, having two sons and a daughter, and seven grandchildren in turn. Stuart-Menteth was born as one of four. He joined a navy cadet force in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, serving on several ships. After his promotion course, he served both abroad and in the United Kingdom. He joined shortly before the Second World War. His ship was torpedoed after a raid on a German-held port in April 1940. He was kept in a hospital by the Germans, and was listed at home as killed in action. When the British liberated the area, he was freed. On his next ship, , he helped capture

fragments, which enabled

to decipher the code. In the same year he was given his first command, . He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

in 1942, while working on after the ship sunk a U-boat, and a

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

for sinking another U-boat. Stuart-Menteth was entrusted to the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

in 1949, where he commanded two destroyers. He ran the Scottish

Corps of Commissionaires The Corps of Commissionaires refers to a movement in Commonwealth countries of societies that provide meaningful employment for veterans of the armed services. The Commissionaires movement traces its roots to 1859, when retired army officer Captai ...

for 20 years after his 1958 retirement.

Early life

Henry Alexander Stuart-Menteth, often abbreviated to Alex Stuart-Menteth, was born on 26 August 1912 in

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 17 miles south of Charing Cross just beyond the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Merstham has ...

, Surrey. He was the son of Walter Stuart-Menteth and Violet Stuart-Menteth (née Lafone), one of four: Walter Granville Stuart-Menteth (1906 – 1970), Frances Bevyl Stuart-Menteth (1907 – 1957), and Lucy Violet Stuart-Menteth (1911 – ). In 1926, he became a cadet in

Dartmouth, Devon Dartmouth () is a town and civil parish in the England, English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies w ...

. With the cadets, he served on the ships in the Atlantic, in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and on the shore establishment HMS ''President'' on his promotion course.

Naval career

Alex Stuart-Menteth served on the destroyers in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in 1934 and 1935, in the

home fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

in 1935 and 1936, the minesweeper in the

reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...

in 1935, and in 1935 serving in China.

Second World War

On 28 August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the

, Stuart-Menteth joined the destroyer . ''Hunter'' was in Captain

Bernard Warburton-Lee Captain Bernard Armitage Warburton Warburton-Lee, VC (13 September 1895 – 10 April 1940) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy and a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can ...

's 2nd Flotilla, along with four other destroyers. On 10 April 1940, in a snowstorm, the Flotilla attacked the port of

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, held by the Germans. Four German destroyers were sunk and seven damaged, notably sinking , an 8,500-ton ship transporting ammunition. ''Hunter'' was set alight and torpedoed, leading to her sinking. As she sank, Stuart-Menteth was trapped by a malfunctioning

davit Boat suspended from Welin Quadrant davits; the boat is mechanically 'swung out' Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on ...

with a leg wound on the upper deck. A

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

saved Stuart-Menteth, and they were both picked up by German sailors. Stuart-Menteth was taken to Narvik, at a civilian hospital. He remained in the town until its eventual liberation by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

. However, whilst he was in hospital, Stuart-Menteth was listed as

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

, and had an obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as such, which he later read. After further hospitalisation in Britain from April to December 1940, on 3 December Stuart-Menteth became the

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

of the Tribal-class destroyer . She partook in

Operation Claymore Operation Claymore was a British/Norwegian commando raid on the Lofoten Islands of northern Norway during the Second World War. The Lofoten Islands were an important centre for the production of fish oil and glycerine, used in the German war ec ...

, an operation to disrupt supplies, to ferry

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

es to shore, and to capture German code. ''Somalia'' brought to a stop ''Krebs'', a German trawler, by firing at her, forcing her to stop. A boarding party found

cryptographic key A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequenc ...

s and

rotor machine In cryptography, a rotor machine is an electro-mechanical stream cipher device used for encrypting and decrypting messages. Rotor machines were the cryptographic state-of-the-art for much of the 20th century; they were in widespread use from ...

s. This assisted

to decipher several

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York–based data-technology startup *Enigma machine, a famil ...

codes. In May 1941, Stuart-Menteth again assisted the capture of Enigma material from the German ship ''München'', enabling Bletchley Park to begin to decipher German Enigma codes. Several months later, he was given command of his first ship, , a

Hunt-class destroyer The Hunt class was a class of escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in the Second World War, particularly on the British east coast and Mediterranean convoys. Th ...

. Stuart-Menteth joined in March 1942, and helped sink the . He was mentioned in despatches on 2 June 1943 as "Lieutenant-Commander Henry Alexander Stuart-Menteth, Royal Navy"; after commanding ''Aldenham'' in a disastrous mission in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. In late 1943, Stuart-Menteth took command of , and partook in training officers of landing craft. His last command in the war was , with which he assisted in the sinking of , for which he was awarded a

After the war

After World War II on 13 February 1946 Stuart-Menteth became first lieutenant on , followed by on 4 September 1946, before being entrusted to the

in 1949. There he commanded his last two ships, the destroyers and . He went on to work with

Lord Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

in Malta, and in 1958 he retired, moving to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He did, however, operate the Scottish

for close to 20 years, and was chairman of the Edinburgh

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

for 10 years.

Personal life

Stuart-Menteth met Penelope Giles in 1952 in Australia, the couple married, having a daughter and two sons: Andrew Alexander (1954), Walter Henry (1957), and Harriet Lucy (1959); and seven grandchildren. He died on 14 May 2000 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart-Menteth, Henry Alexander 1912 births 2000 deaths Enigma machine People from Surrey (before 1965) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Australian Navy officers