Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

John Fenwick Hutchings, (17 May 1885 – 20 September 1968) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer who served in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s. During the latter, he commanded

Operation Pluto Operation Pluto (Pipeline Under the Ocean or Pipeline Underwater Transportation of Oil, also written Operation PLUTO) was an operation by British engineers, oil companies and the British Armed Forces to construct submarine oil pipelines un ...

, the project to construct submarine oil pipelines under the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

Early life

John Fenwick Hutchings was born in

Christchurch, Hampshire Christchurch () is a town and civil parish in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town had a population of 31,372 in 2021. For the borough the population was 48,368. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part ...

, on 17 May 1885, the son of Charles Robert Hutchings, a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, and his wife Lizetta Mary Atkin. He entered the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

as a cadet on 15 January 1900, and was commissioned as a midshipman in the

on 30 May 1901. He served on the

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

, and was promoted to

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

on 30 July 1904, and

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 31 December 1906. He applied for duty in

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, and assumed command of the submarine on 20 August 1908, and then the submarine on 13 March 1909. This was followed by duty on the

dreadnought battleship The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

. He married Dorothy Stewart Kennedy at St Stephen's Church,

Broughty Ferry Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until ...

on 18 October 1913. They had three sons and a daughter; one son was lost at sea in 1940.

Great War

Hutchings commanded the submarine from 25 November 1913 to 13 November 1915, with the rank of

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

from 31 December 1914. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) 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 ...

on 13 April 1915 for operations off the Belgian coast. After a time as an instructor at he commanded the submarine from 27 April 1917 until 12 April 1920. This period in command was marred on 31 July 1918, when two of her crew, George Booker and Michael Jordan, drowned. Hutchings was blamed to "a certain extent" for not making them put on and blow up their life belts. For "distinguished services in command of submarines throughout the war", he was made a companion of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

on 11 June 1919, and promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

on 31 December 1919. A senior officer's assessment of him was that he:

Between the wars

On 26 April 1920, Hutchings was appointed to command the reserve submarine group at Rosyth. Most of his work after the war involved research and development efforts related to submarines at HMS ''Dolphin''. In 1923, he was thanked for a suggestion about tubular masts for submarines, and he was awarded a patent and a cash gratuity of £25 for a range-estimating device for submarines, followed by another £50 for it as a final settlement in 1925. Another invention was a device that permitted submarines to penetrate anti-submarine nets, which was tested successfully by the submarine in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1928 Birthday Honours The 1928 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

. Hutchings retired from the Royal Navy at his own request with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. From 1934 to 1935, he was an advisor to the Greek government on submarines.

Second World War

On 20 November 1939, Hutchings was recalled to active duty as commander of HMS ''Forte'', the Royal Navy base at

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

. On 10 June he became the commander of , the naval base at

Devonport, Devon Devonport ( ), formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889. Devonport was originally one o ...

, with additional duty as the Defence Liaison Officer Plymouth and Falmouth Areas on staff of the

Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...

. Then on 6 November 1940, he became commander of HMS ''Orlando'' and the naval officer in charge at

Lamlash Lamlash ( gd, An t-Eilean Àrd) is a village on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It lies south of the island's main settlement and ferry port Brodick, in a sheltered bay on the island's east coast, facing the Holy Isle. Lam ...

. He married Olive de Boulez in 1940. They had no children. He was placed back on the retired list on 13 August 1942. Hutchings's second retirement was of brief duration; on 4 December 1942 he was again recalled to active duty. This time he was assigned to for duty with the

Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development The Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD), also known as the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development and colloquially known as the ''Wheezers and Dodgers'', was a department of the British Admiralty responsible for the de ...

, where he was assigned to assist

Combined Operations Headquarters Combined Operations Headquarters was a department of the British War Office set up during Second World War to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. History The comm ...

. On 10 July 1943, he became the Senior Naval Officer in commander of

, the project to construct submarine oil pipelines under the

. By

VE-Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

his command would consist of several ships, over 100 merchant navy officers and more than 1,000 men. Under his direction, Operation Pluto laid 21 submarine pipelines that delivered an estimated from the UK to the continent. Hutchings was created a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

on 28 November 1944 for "distinguished services in operations which led to the successful landing of Allied Forces in Normandy." He retired from the Royal Navy for the last time on 13 July 1946. Hutchings died in

Bishopsteignton Bishopsteignton is a village and civil parish in South Devon, England, between Newton Abbot and Teignmouth, close to the Teign Estuary. The village is on a steep hill, and has a post office cum pharmacy and a small, family-run village shop. Th ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, on 20 September 1968.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchings, John Fenwick 1885 births 1968 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Navy submarine commanders