Orders, Decorations and Medals

The G.C.B., Second World War C.B.E., aircraft carrier operations D.S.O. group of fifteen awarded to Admiral Sir Michael “Make and Mend” Denny, Royal Navy, who served as a S.N.O. in Norway and as one of Ramsay’s right hand men in “Operation Dynamo” in 1940, prior to winning a “mention” and the D.S.O. for his command of the aircraft carrier Victorious, the former of these distinctions for the F.A.A’s attack on the Tirpitz in April 1944 and the latter for “Operation Iceberg” in the Pacific in the following year, when the Victorious was hit by Japanese kamikaze aircraft in the Okinawa operations: he was latterly Third Sea Lord, C.-in-C. Home Fleet and C.-in-C. Eastern Atlantic (N.A.T.O.)

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, G.C.B. (Military) Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star, silver, with gold and enamel applique centre; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., silver-gilt and enamels, the reverse of the suspension bar officially dated ‘1945’; 1914-15 Star (Mid., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Burma Star, clasp, Pacific; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Knight’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, enamel work on the first very slightly chipped, generally good very fine (15) £10000-12000∆

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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G.C.B. London Gazette 10 June 1954.

C.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1944.

D.S.O. London Gazette 23 October 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘For the successful operation of H.M.S. Victorious for two months continuously against Japanese islands and for resolution and efficiency with which action damage was repaired without interruption to operational requirements.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 20 December 1940 and 30 May 1944.

Norwegian Order of Olav London Gazette 2 February 1943.

Michael Maynard “Make and Mend” Denny was born at Kempley, Gloucestershire in October 1896, the youngest son of a clergyman, and was educated at the R.N. Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. Appointed a Midshipman on the eve of hostilities in 1914, he witnessed active service in the North Sea aboard H.M. Ships Neptune and Royal Sovereign, and had gained advancement to Lieutenant by the War’s end.

Between the Wars, Denny specialised in gunnery, and when not at sea spent most of his time employed in gunnery experimental work at Excellent. He also served as Fleet Gunnery Officer on the Staff of Admiral Sir W. W. Fisher in the Mediterranean Fleet, 1932-34, and by the renewal of hostilities in 1939 was Assistant and Deputy Director of Naval Ordnance at the Admiralty. He had been advanced to Captain in 1936.

Norway, April 1940

Denny quickly exchanged the comfort of his Admiralty office for harsher climes, however, when he was appointed the S.N.O. at Aandalsnes for the Allied initiative in Norway in April 1940 - he took passage to that theatre of war with “Primrose Force” on the 16th, but thereafter appears to have spent most of his time at Molde. Like everyone else involved in this ill-fated expedition, his services were short-lived, not least because the Luftwaffe hammered both Aandalsnes and Molde, a raid on the 26th leaving both places ablaze, not only as a result of accurate bombing, but also because of exploding ammunition from our own dumps. In fact, it was quickly apparent that the only realistic option was for all naval and military personnel concerned to be evacuated, and preferably as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Denny, as confirmed in Donald MacIntyre’s history Narvik, his own departure was to be delayed:

‘Before Central Norway could be thus abandoned, however, there was yet another task to be performed, vital to the continuance of Norway in the war at the side of the Allies. King Haakon, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian Government, driven ever northward by the advance of the Germans since leaving Oslo, had reached Molde. Further retreat to the north was barred by the German occupation of Trondheim.

The cruiser Glasgow with an escort of two destroyers was therefore sent to Molde on the night of 29 April. Long before the coast was reached, Captain Pegram could see that relentless bombing which had followed the King and Government where ever they went had found them again. Over the mouth of the Romsdal Fjord there hung a great pall of smoke from fires burning in Molde and Aalesund. As Molde came into sight it could be seen blazing fiercely. Soon after 10 p.m. the Glasgow nosed her way in to the wooden pier which was already on fire.

From the cruiser’s forecastle, fire hoses played on the flames as she came alongside, but only the fact that there was a light onshore wind made it possible for her to secure. A flashlamp winking gave a message from Captain Denny, the Naval Officer in Charge, that the main party for embarkation was cut off from the pier by the flames. He soon arrived on board by motor fishing boat to report his Base Party was ready for embarkation. He had been under the impression - as was the army base commander at Aandalsnes - that evacuation was planned for that night and that the Glasgow was the forerunner of other ships. Denny and his staff were very near the end of their tether after days of fierce air attack and nights of activity running the base. It had seemed like the end of a nightmare when, as he thought, his task was completed. It was a sharp disappointment to find that his ordeal was not yet over. Though it was agreed that the majority of his staff should leave in the Glasgow, he insisted on remaining himself with a skeleton staff to maintain communications and to assist in the evacuation plan. As Pegram reported, “He was tired out but indomitable ... I hated to see him go. His courage and quiet composure under such an ordeal were grand to see.”

Meanwhile, the King and his Ministers had been brought aboard from a local tug together with the British, French and Danish Ministers and the staffs of the British and French Legations. There were 117 survivors from six sunken trawlers also, and twenty-three tons of gold bullion.

By the light of the flames from the burning town, German bombers kept up their attacks while the ship lay at the jetty. As she cast off and drew away, her guns were in action against a last unsuccessful attempt to hit her. Then, as she slipped away into the darkness, there came respite and quiet.’

Not, however, for Denny, who remained at Molde in circumstances described by his army counterpart as ‘uncommonly grave’. In the event, he and his skeleton staff were finally evacuated ‘by the weird light of the flickering flames from the burning wooden pier’ in H.M. Ships Ulster Prince and Tartar on the 30th. For his part in the Norwegian operations, Denny was awarded the Knight 1st Class of the Order of Olav and his name “Brought to Notice” in the London Gazette of 20 October 1940 for his good services to the Army. Meanwhile, and also as a result of his subsequent services in “Operation Dynamo”, their Lordships appointed him a C.B., the Norwegian part of the heading in the London Gazette of 7 June 1940 stating ‘in recognition of his good services as Senior Naval Officer at Aandalsnes during the landing and withdrawal of Allied troops.’

Dunkirk, May-June 1940

It was as a direct result of Denny’s experience gained in Norway that he was immediately attached to Admiral Ramsay’s Staff for “Operation Dynamo”, the withdrawal of the Allied Armies from Dunkirk. And as the Senior Staff Officer at Ramsay’s famous Dover H.Q., carved into the white cliffs below the castle, and where up to 1800 signals were frantically exchanged each passing day of the evacuation, he witnessed many heated exchanges as the operation unfolded, his senior once confiding in him how he had battled with the First Sea Lord on his red secret telephone for more destroyers - “I’ve made it plain that if I don’t get those destroyers back I’ll continue in command - but assume no responsibility at all for the outcome of the evacuation.” Fortuitously for the stranded B.E.F., Ramsay - who could be cold, ruthless and calculating - got his way. In The Sands of Dunkirk, Richard Collier refers to another tense moment:

‘As the pale sunlight of Friday morning [31 May] flooded the iron-balconied stern-walk of Dover Castle, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was close to tears. Beside him his Senior “Dynamo” Staff Officer, Captain Michael Denny, could find no words either.

At this eleventh hour things were as bad as they had ever been - so that Denny, after four thorny days and nights, had the weird feeling that he wasn’t here at all, but floating disembodied like a yogi above the troubled waters of Dunkirk harbour.

Until a few moments ago, Ramsay’s plans had seemed set for fair weather. After an all-out twenty-four hour effort he had planned to close down Operation Dynamo for good and all on the night of Saturday 1 June - by which time the last 4,000 men of the British rear-guard would have been taken off.

Now word had come from the Admiralty, indicating that Ramsay’s earlier petitions had borne fruit. For days, impressed by Commander Harold Henderson’s pleas from Dunkirk, Ramsay had urged the French must be granted equal chance to make a last-minute getaway. As scrupulously fair as he was exacting, this thought had come close to obsessing Ramsay; in the “Dynamo” Room, Lieutenant William de Quincy never forgot how the Admiral burst out: “It’s vital they should be brought off if we’re ever to have a relationship with the French again.”

And it seemed Ramsay had won the day. By Winston Churchill’s own command, French troops must have the same chance as Gort’s army to board British ships.

What did this mean? To Ramsay, chewing it over with Captain Michael Denny, one factor had been at once plain: the ships, in the next twenty-four hours, must gear themselves for an even greater effort ... ’

As stated above, it was a combination of Denny’s work in the Norwegian and Dunkirk operations that led to his appointment to C.B., the London Gazette of 7 June 1940 citing ‘good services in organising the withdrawal to England, under fire and in the face of many great difficulties, of 335,490 officers and men of the Allied Armies, in about one thousand of His Majesty’s Ships and other craft between 27 May and 4 June 1940’: certainly Dover was regularly ‘under fire’, and equally certain is that Ramsay regularly confided in Denny to assist him in making momentous decisions.

Commanding Officer, H.M.S. “Kenya”, 1940-42

In August 1940, Denny was appointed to the command of the cruiser Kenya, in which capacity he served until March 1942, a period that witnessed him serving in both Malta and North Russia convoys, in addition to returning to his old hunting ground in Norway, where Kenya offered close support to the Vaagso raid and helped in the destruction of nine enemy vessels. A summary of that ship’s services during his command is to be found in Gordon Holman’s The King’s Cruisers:

‘Laid down in June 1938, H.M.S. Kenya was launched fourteen months later by the Duchess of Gloucestershire. She was commissioned by Captain M. M. Denny, R.N., in August 1940, and spent Christmas engaged in the fruitless chase of a raider. 1941 gave her the excitement of the Bismarck hunt and on 3 June she sank a German tanker [the Kota Pinang on 3 October 1941]. In the same month, she was slightly damaged in a collision with H.M.S. Brighton in thick fog off Iceland. Wearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Burrough, she helped to escort a convoy to Malta in September, and on the way back to England sank a German supply ship.

A voyage into the northern seas brought a series of not unusual hardships. In the face of a terrific storm, the ship dare not turn for three days. One man was lost overboard, two whalers were washed away, and the seas broke right over the bridge of the Kenya. It was bitterly cold as she headed as far as 74 degrees North. Ice had to be chipped from the upper deck to keep down the top weight, and the guns were turned every few minutes to prevent freezing up. When she was linked up with the Russians, singers and dancers went on board the British cruiser to entertain the crew. In a combined operation with Russian destroyers, in which the Kenya flew the Hammer and Sickle flag as well as the White Ensign, installations at Vardo were bombarded. Afterwards a young reindeer was presented to the Kenya by the Russians. It is reported to have ‘died of kindness’ before the ship reached England.

At the end of the year she paid another visit to the Germans in Norway, being Admiral Burrough’s flagship for the Combined Operations raid on Vaagso. In the course of a highly successful raid, Kenya was hit twice but only slight damage was done and no casualties were suffered. Back in Scapa, the ship received a visit from the C.-in-C., Admiral Sir John Tovey, who praised officers and men on their efficiency and 81,000 miles steamed in fifteen months.

In March 1942, there was a change of command, Captain A. S. Russell, R.N., taking over on Captain Denny’s appointment as Chief of Staff to the C.-in-C. Home Fleet ... ’

Commanding Officer, H.M.S. “Victorious”, 1944-45

For his subsequent work on the Staff of the C.-in-C. Home Fleet, Denny was awarded the C.B.E. in the New Year’s Honours of 1944, and early in the same year he assumed command of the aircraft carrier Victorious, aboard which ship he remained for the rest of the War, a period that witnessed him attaining flag rank, and winning a “mention” for the Fleet Air Arm’s attack on the Tirpitz in April 1944 (a.k.a. “Operation Tungsten”), and the D.S.O. for “Operation Iceberg” in the Pacific in the following year.

Victorious’ commission in the Pacific was a busy one, her aircraft contributing to strikes against such targets as Sabang and the Nicobar Islands, in addition to the more famous attacks on the oil refineries at Palembang and Soengi Gerong, one of the most strategically significant attacks carried out by the F.A.A. in the entire war. These important operations successfully completed, Denny and the Victorious joined Force 57 for “Operation Iceberg”, the Allied Fleets covering of the Okinawa landings. In May 1945, however, she was hit by two kamikaze aircraft, one impacting near the carrier’s forward lift and the second crashing into her “deck park” aft - Captain, crew and ship duly departed for repairs at Sydney, but all had returned to active service before the fall of V.J. Day.

Third Sea Lord

Post-war Denny served as Flag Officer (Destroyers) in the Mediterranean Fleet, 1947-49, before returning home to take up office as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy 1949-53, the former post resulting in him being created a K.C.B. (London Gazette 8 June 1950). Greater accolades were to follow, however, for following his services as C.-in-C. Home Fleet, and C.-in-C. Eastern Atlantic (N.A.T.O.) 1954-55, he was elevated to G.C.B., and, in the same period, during the course of an official visit to Morocco, added the the Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissan Alaouite to his Honours and Awards. Denny, who retired from the Royal Navy as a full Admiral in 1959, was latterly Chairman of the British Joint Services Mission in Washington D.C., and U.K. Representative on the Standing Group of N.A.T.O’s Military Committee.

He settled at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, served as Chairman of Cammell Laird 1959-66 and died in April 1972.

Sold with the recipient’s original M.I.D. certificates, dated 20 December 1940 and 30 May 1944, framed and glazed; together with several original letters to Ron Penhall from ex-crew members of the Victorious, mostly 1985, in which a number of interesting observations are made about Denny’s period of command - not least his reputation for being an aggressive C.O. (‘He saw the ship as his own personal fighting machine and he was what we described as “all-for-it”, meaning he couldn’t wait to get into action and made it quite clear that he would take his carrier closer to the Japanese coast than any other (including the Yanks) and that’s just what he did ... ’).