David Wragg - Fighting Admirals of the Second World War

In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Admiral Frank Fletcher stopped the Japanese advance on Port Moresby. He was known as Black Jack by his men. He is seen here in the uniform of a vice-admiral, not being promoted to four star rank until his retirement. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Even posing, Admiral William Bull Halsey seems forceful. His drive and aggression were welcome, but he could also be impetuous and at Leyte Gulf left US forces exposed. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

A less flattering photograph of Halsey on the admirals bridge of the flagship. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Ernest King in front of a map showing the North Atlantic, which was his responsibility on the outbreak of war before he became the USNs Commander-in-Chief for the rest of the war. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Another photograph of King, a leader of undoubted abilities, although his Anglophobia did on occasion mar his judgement. Nevertheless, contrary to popular opinion in the UK, he never objected to the policy of Germany first. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Away from the battles and the ships, diplomacy was also a part of an admirals duties. Here in the front row seated, second left, is Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord; fifth left is Admiral H.R. Stark, USN, Commanding US Naval Forces in Europe, something of a sinecure after he was blamed for the disaster at Pearl Harbor, and next to Winston Churchill. The back row has seventh left Vice Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, at the time Third Sea Lord. (IWM A 8486)

Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific, Nimitz is shown here (left) in tropical kit. He assembled a group of exceptionally able naval commanders, and six months after Pearl Harbor, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Imperial Japanese Navy at Midway. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Raymond Spruance was engaged in some of the most important carrier campaigns and amphibious assaults during the war in the Pacific as commander of the US Third Fleet. (US Naval Historical Records Centre)

Known as ABC to his officers, Sir Andrew Cunningham was Commander-in-Chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet when Italy entered the war in June 1940. Under his command, the Royal Navy inflicted a crushing blow on the Italian Navy at Taranto. He later became First Sea Lord, the Royal Navys service head. (FAAM PERS/315)

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was in command at Dover, familiar territory as he had been a member of the famous First World War Dover Patrol, and not only rescued the British Expeditionary Force from France in 1940, but also played a leading role in planning the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. (IWM A 23440)

One of the Royal Navys most successful submarine commanders during the First World War, Admiral Sir Max Horton turned from poacher to gamekeeper as Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches, protecting Allied convoys from the German U-boats. (IWM A 17422)

Sir John Tovey achieved fame for commanding the action in which the German battleship Bismarck was sunk before she could start commerce raiding. (Authors collection)

Seen here with Winston Churchill in northern France at a ceremony during the winter of 1939-1940, the French Amiral de Flotte Jean Francois Darlan had strong pro-German and anti-British feelings, so the British did not believe him when he maintained that the French fleet would be scuttled rather than handed over to the Germans, but the promise was kept. (IWM HU 86167)