Admiral of the Fleet Sir John C Tovey at his desk

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Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, GCB, KBE, DSO (1885 – 1971), sometimes known as Jack Tovey, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he commanded the destroyer HMS Onslow at the Battle of Jutland and then commanded the destroyer HMS Ursa at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the Second World War he initially served as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in which role he commanded the Mediterranean Fleet's Light Forces (i.e. cruisers and destroyers). He then served as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet.
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Tovey's best known achievement in this period was orchestrating the pursuit and destruction of the Bismarck. He had insisted on being a "sea-going" admiral, despite pressure from above and the disadvantages of being away from command centres. He believed that this was one element in maintaining morale in the fleet, by sharing the privations and dangers of his men. The final action against the Bismarck added further weight to his decision. When the two British battleships HMS Rodney and King George V located Bismarck, they had the setting sun silhouetting them while Bismarck remained in the evening gloom. Tovey observed this and, to the surprise of his staff, ordered that the final action be delayed until the following morning. In so doing, he ensured that the benefits of the light would be reversed to the British advantage and that the German crews would be fatigued by constant harassment by Vian's destroyers. The risk was that Bismarck would, somehow, escape but Tovey accepted this. Tovey was made a KBE...

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"... for distinguished services in the masterly and determined action in which the

German Battleship Bismarck was destroyed."

Source: Wikipedia.org