Joe Baker-Cresswell

Captain Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell DSO (2 February 1901 – 4 March 1997) was a Royal Navy officer, aide-de-camp to King George VI and High Sheriff of Northumberland. He is noted prominently for his role as the commanding officer of HMS ''Bulldog'' during the capture of ''U-110'', from which an intact Enigma cipher machine was seized.

Background and early life

Baker-Cresswell was born in Mayfair, London, the younger of the two sons of Major Addison Francis Baker-Cresswell (1874–1921), a Grenadier Guards officer and a member of a landowning family from Northumberland, and his wife Idonea Fitzherbert Widdrington (1869–1967).''Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell (1901–1997), naval officer''
by John Winton in '' Dictionary of National Biography'' online (orig. published by Oxford University Press, 2004) The elder brother, John Baker-Cresswell (1899–1920), was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who was drowned in an accident at Portsmouth. His younger sister Violet ''Rosemary'' Cresswell (b. 1904), was acting as lady in waiting to Queen Marie of Yugoslavia during her years of exile in Great Britain.

Baker-Cresswell was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, where he was a member of the school's Officer Training Corps.

Naval career

He joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1919. His first ship was the battlecruiser HMS ''Tiger''. He later served in the light cruiser HMS ''Castor'' based at Queenstown, Ireland, and in the sloop HMS ''Veronica'', based in New Zealand. In 1927 he joined the minelayer HMS ''Adventure'' and the battleship , then for three years was navigating officer on the battleship HMS ''Rodney''. He was promoted commander in 1937.

When the Second World War began Baker-Cresswell was in Cairo as a member of General Wavell's staff. He was given his first commands in 1940, first the destroyer ''Arrow'' and a few months later the destroyer ''Bulldog'', based in Iceland and leading the 3rd escort group.

On 9 May 1941, the 3rd escort group was attacked while escorting a merchant convoy in the Atlantic by the commanded by Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, who had sunk the liner ''Athenia'' on the first day of the war. After Lemp had sunk two merchant ships and the corvette ''Aubrietia'' had dropped ten depth charges on him, the U-boat surfaced. Baker-Creswell had ordered the submarine to be sunk, but suddenly remembered a staff college lecture about searching enemy vessels for ‘cipher books’ and intelligence.

Consequently, he sent a search party, under Sub-Lt. David Balme to board ''U-110'' and ‘mooch around’. Balme and party stripped the submarine of all its equipment, including ''U-110''′s Enigma cipher machine, code settings for high-security traffic, and code book for U-boat short-signal reports. Baker-Cresswell took ''U-110'' in tow, but she sank within hours.''The Secret Capture'' by Captain Stephen Roskill (1959)

Baker-Cresswell was awarded the DSO and promoted captain. Balme received the Distinguished Service Cross. King George VI told them the capture of the ''U-110'' cipher material had been "the most important single event in the whole war at sea".

Baker-Cresswell then joined the Joint Intelligence Staff in London, before becoming training captain in command of the steam yacht Philante. In 1943 he was appointed chief of staff to the commander-in-chief, western approaches, Admiral Sir Max Horton, then he went on to command the Royal Navy's East Indies escort force until 1945.

After the war, from 1946 to 1948, he commanded the cruiser HMS ''Gambia'' in the Far East. He was deputy director of Naval Intelligence, 1948 to 1951.

He retired in 1951, and was appointed aide-de-camp to King George VI. His role in shortening the war was kept classified until the 1980s.

Family

On 24 August 1926, Baker-Cresswell married Rona Eileen Vaile, the daughter of H. E. Vaile, of Glade Hall, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand. They had three children: two daughters, Rosemary (born 1928) and Pamela (born 1931), and one son, Charles (born 1935).

Retirement

In retirement, Baker-Cresswell settled at Budle Hall in Northumberland, managing his estate near Bamburgh. He became a Justice of the Peace and was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1962. He was also a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. He died in Bamburgh, Northumberland, aged 96.

U-571 movie

The movie '' U-571'' was based on Baker-Cresswell's capture of the German Enigma machine, with the action transferred to the Mediterranean and the heroes becoming Americans.

The film was raised at Prime Minister's Question Time where Tony Blair agreed with questioner Brian Jenkins MP that the film was "an affront" to British sailors.

On BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, Charles Baker-Cresswell commented. "It's a typical American approach. We've seen this time and time again."Hollywood hijacks history
at bbc.co.uk

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker-Cresswell, Joe
1901 births
1997 deaths
People from Bamburgh
People educated at Gresham's School
Royal Navy officers
Royal Navy officers of World War II
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
High Sheriffs of Northumberland
Military personnel from London
Royal Navy captains