Henry Leach

Infobox Military Person
name= Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach
lived= 18 November 1923 –
placeofbirth=
placeofdeath=


caption= The then Admiral Sir Henry Leach
(Crown Copyright)
nickname=
allegiance= flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
serviceyears= 1937 - 1982
rank= Admiral of the Fleet
branch=
branch
commands=First Sea Lord
Commander-in-Chief Fleet
Vice Chief of the Defence Staff
HMS Albion (R07)
HMS Dunkirk (D09)
unit=
battles=World War II
*Battle of North Cape
Falklands War
awards=Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
laterwork=
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Conyers Leach GCB, DL (born 18 November 1923) is a former First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy.

Sir Henry Leach was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff between 1979 and 1982. He was the professional head of the Royal Navy at the time of the Falklands War and was instrumental in convincing the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that retaking the islands was possible.

Naval career

Sir Henry Leach joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1937 at the age of 13, following in the footsteps of his father John Leach. In 1941, as a Midshipman he was assigned to HMS "Prince of Wales", however before he could take up post on board, his father, Captain John Leach was given command. As a result he was reassigned to HMS "Mauritius". HMS "Prince of Wales" was sunk by the Japanese off Singapore, his father died when the ship was sunk [Martin Middlebrook & Patrick Mahoney, Battleship; The Loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, Penguin History, 1979, ISBN 0-14-02-3469-1 pg 253] .

In December 1943, he was present as a junior officer in HMS "Duke of York" at the Battle of North Cape [ Heathcote, Anthony pg 151] .

He commanded a destroyer, HMS "Dunkirk", from 1959 to 1961 [Heathcote, Anthony pg 152] .

In 1970 he was given command of HMS "Albion". He strongly opposed the abolition of the daily issue of rum at that time [Heathcote, Anthony pg 152] .

In 1971 he became Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff and in 1974 he was appointed Flag Officer First Flotilla. In 1976 he went on to be Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and in 1977 he became Commander-in-Chief Fleet. He was appointed First Sea Lord in 1979.

The Falklands

On 31 March 1982 soon after the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, he brushed aside serious doubts from the Secretary of State for Defence Sir John Nott, and marched in to visit the Prime Minister in full uniform [cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |authorlink= |coauthors=Jenkins, Simon |editor= |others= |title=Battle for the Falklands |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1983 |month= |publisher=Pan Books |location=London |language=|isbn=0-33-028136-0 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p85-86 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] . He was asked if retaking the islands was possible, he replied "Yes we can recover the islands." He then added "and we must!" Thatcher replied "Why?" he replied "because if we don’t do that, in a few months we will be living in a different country whose word will count for little!" This pleased Thatcher who then proceeded to give the order for the task force to set sail to retake the Falklands.

The Falklands campaign was successful, in no small part, thanks to Sir Henry Leach among others. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet upon retirement in late 1982.

The new (2004) Fleet Headquarters building of the Royal Navy at Whale Island, Portsmouth was named the "Sir Henry Leach Building" in his honour.

Later life

In retirement he became Chairman of the Council of the King Edward VII Hospital.

In popular culture

Leach was portrayed by Shaughan Seymour in the 2002 BBC production of Ian Curteis's controversial "The Falklands Play".

References

Further reading

* "The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995", Heathcote T. A., Pen & Sword Ltd, 2002, ISBN 0 85052 835 6