John Leach (Royal Navy officer)

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For other people named John Leach, see John Leach (disambiguation).
John Catterall Leach
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Nickname(s) Jack
Born (1894-09-01)1 September 1894
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Killed in action, off Malaya
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Navy
Years of service 1907–1941
Rank Captain
Commands held <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Battles/wars <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Awards <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Relations Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach (1923–2011, son and First Sea Lord)

John Catterall Leach, MVO, DSO (1 September 1894 – 10 December 1941) (often known as Jack) was a British naval officer. He was the only captain of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales during her short period in service.

The Bismarck

Very soon after the Prince of Wales entered active service in 1941 she fought under Leach's command in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, and suffered damage fighting the German battleship Bismarck. However, damage inflicted by the Prince of Wales caused the Bismarck to lose fuel, forcing the latter to attempt to return to a base in occupied France.

Despite a proposal to court-martial Leach for breaking off the action with the Bismarck after the Hood had sunk,[1] he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his part.[2] In the 1960 film Sink the Bismarck! Leach was played by actor Esmond Knight, who had been on the Prince of Wales' bridge with Leach during the Battle of the Denmark Strait and was partially blinded when the ship was hit by Bismarck's gunfire.

Force Z

In late 1941, Prince of Wales formed part of Force Z sent to Singapore. Off the coast of Malaya, she was sunk by the Japanese. Captain Leach apparently abandoned Prince of Wales at the very last minute, but did not survive the vessel's sinking. His body was seen floating in the water a short time after the sinking.

His son was Henry Leach (1923–2011), who was First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy during the Falklands War.

Bibliography

Hein, David. “Vulnerable: HMS Prince of Wales in 1941.” Journal of Military History 77, no. 3 (July 2013): 955-989. Abstract online: http://www.smh-hq.org/jmh/jmhvols/773.html

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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