Lancelot Holland’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro Royal Navy admiral
Was Military personnel 
From United Kingdom 
Type Military 
Gender male
Birth 13 September 1887, Middleton Cheney, South Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, East Midlands
Death 24 May 1941, Denmark Strait
(aged 53 years)

Vice Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, CB (13 September 1887 – 24 May 1941) commanded the British force in the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941 against the German battleship Bismarck. Holland was killed during the battle.

Early life

Lancelot Holland was one of six sons and a daughter of a doctor who was also a brewer for the firm Hunt Edmunds. He was born in Middleton Cheney and was raised in the Banbury area. He entered the Royal Navy on 15 May, 1902. On leaving HMS Britannia in September 1903, he was drafted to the China Station to join HMS Eclipse. He served in the Far East until August 1905. The latter part of his time there was spent in HMS Hampshire.

Returning home, he saw brief service during the summer of 1908 in the Admiralty surveying ship HMS Research. However, the surveying service proved not to be Holland’s forte and three years later on 14 September, 1911 the young Lieutenant Holland joined HMS Excellent, the Royal Navy’s gunnery school at Whale Island, Portsmouth to start the ‘Long Course’ which would qualify him as a lieutenant (G).

Having qualified as a gunnery lieutenant and gone on to take the advanced gunnery course at Greenwich, Holland spent the First World War in a teaching role aboard HMS Excellent. After the war he was promoted to commander on 31 December 1919 and captain on 30 June 1926.

During the period May 1929 to February 1931, Holland was flag captain to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, aboard HMS Hawkins. From May 1931 to September 1932, Holland headed the British Naval Mission to Greece. As a rear admiral he was flag captain aboard the battleship HMS Revenge from July 1934 to July 1935.

Senior officer

After a 1937 stint as naval ADC to King George VI, he was promoted to vice admiral and became commander of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet in January 1938, flying his flag in HMS Resolution and commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron in August 1939. He then became Admiralty representative at the Air Ministry.

Second World War

From July 1940, Holland commanded the 7th Cruiser Squadron, serving in the Mediterranean. During the course of this command he led his cruisers in the Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November 1940.

By this time, Holland had established himself as a gunnery specialist.

The North Atlantic and nemesis

Holland’s next assignment was in command of the Battlecruiser Squadron. Britain had only three of these ships. They were capital ships that carried heavy guns, but sacrificed armour protection for speed. They were a concept of Admiral John Fisher before the First World War. Conventional naval thinking in the 1920s and 1930s was that the battlecruiser was designed to hunt and overtake fast commerce raiders, such as a pocket battleship or another battlecruiser, a ship too powerful for a cruiser to destroy and too fast for a battleship to catch. HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built by the Royal Navy.

Until the KGV class, also at 28 knots, no British battleship was fast enough to catch the new German battleship Bismarck. Her mission was to evade action and make for the open seas to attack convoys. Hood was needed to stop her. The navy recognized that Hood needed to be rebuilt to strengthen her decks to protect the vulnerable magazines but by 1938, with war threatening, the Admiralty felt that they could not risk taking her out of commission. Britain had only three battlecruisers to match the three German pocket battleships.

In May 1941, the new German battleship Bismarck attempted to break out into the North Atlantic, accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Their mission was to attack Allied convoys. Holland flew his flag aboard Hood, which was accompanied by the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales, which mounted ten 14″ guns as opposed to the eight 15″ on the Hood and the Bismarck. On 22 May, just after midnight, Electra, Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, and Icarus, escorting the Hood and Prince Of Wales, sailed to cover the northern approaches. Prince of Wales had not had time to complete the training of her new crew, and was pressed into service with builders’ representatives still aboard. The intention was that the force would refuel in Hvalfjord, Iceland, and then sail again to watch the Denmark Strait. On the evening of 23 May, the weather deteriorated. At 20:55, Admiral Holland aboard the Hood signalled the destroyers “If you are unable to maintain this speed I will have to go on without you. You should follow at your best speed.” At 02:15 on the morning of 24 May, the destroyers were ordered to spread out at 15 mile intervals to search to the north.

At about 05:35, the German forces were sighted by the Hood and, shortly afterwards, the Germans sighted the British ships. In the ensuing Battle of the Denmark Strait the Hood suffered a catastrophic magazine explosion at 06:01 that broke the ship in half; the admiral and all but three of the crew of 1,418 were lost. One of the survivors, Ted Briggs, later stated he last saw Holland sitting in his admiral’s chair, making no attempt to escape from the sinking wreck.

Prince of Wales made her escape with some damage, including a hit on her bridge which killed many of her officers. One of the salvos from Prince of Wales damaged Bismarck‘s fuel tanks, and prompted her to make for occupied France.

Holland was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches.

Family

The Admiral Holland public house, Banbury

Admiral Holland was married to Phyllis and had one son, John, who died of polio at the age of 18 in 1935.

Admiral Holland and his family attended the Anglican parish Church of St John the Baptist at Boldre in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. They had a memorial to their son installed there and later a Hood Memorial Chapel was dedicated. An annual memorial service is held to remember Admiral Holland and the crew of the Hood. A public house in Banbury, The Admiral Holland, is named after him.

You May Also Like

Amanda Peet’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Amanda Peet Net Worth and Salary: Amanda Peet is an American actress who has a net worth of $100 million. This is a combined net worth with her husband, producer David Benioff. Although Peet began her career with small film roles, she eventually rose in prominence and became a highly recognizable figure within Hollywood. She then starred in a number of films, winning central roles in many of them. Amanda Peet was once voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Early Life: Amanda Peet was born on January 11th of 1972 in New York City. Her parents divorced later in life, and Peet was influenced by both her father’s Quaker beliefs and her mother’s Jewish heritage. At the age of seven, Peet moved to London, England with her family. She spent four years in the capital before moving back to New York City. After graduating from high school, Amanda attended Columbia University, eventually graduating with a degree in American History. While in college, she took classes with famed acting teacher Uta Hagen. Connecting with Uta Hagen led to early theater roles in off-Broadway productions. Career: Amanda Peet began her acting career after booking several roles in commercials, including a Skittles TV advertisement. During this early period, she also appeared on “The Larry Sanders Show.” By the mid-90s, she had booked her first film role in the drama “Animal Room,” which also starred Neil Patrick Harris. She followed up that year with a role in an episode of “Law and Order.” Throughout the rest of the 90s, Peet shifted her focus towards a number of independent films. These included “One Fine Day” and “She’s the One.” While these films fell under the radar for the most part, they starred several notable actors, such as George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Aniston, and Cameron Diaz. One film that did manage to attract widespread attention and critical acclaim was “Playing by Heart,” in which Peet appeared alongside Sean Connery in 1998. Towards the end of the decade, Amanda Peet started to book more major roles. From 1999 to 2001, she played the central role of Jacqueline Barrett in the WB Network series “Jack & Jill.” During this period, she also appeared in the eighth season of “Seinfeld.” Although she managed to book a role in the rom-com “Simply Irresistible,” the film proved to be a commercial and critical failure. Amanda kicked off the 21st century with a role in the 2000 film “Isn’t She Great.” Later that year, she booked one of the most defining roles of her career in the mafia comedy film “The Whole Nine Yards.” The film starred Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis, and it managed to rake on over $106 million at the box office despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. Peet’s performance in the film won her numerous award nominations. To finish off a busy year in 2000, Amanda appeared in the independent comedy “Whipped.” In the year 2001, Peet played a psychologist and the main romantic interest of Jason Biggs’ character in the film “Saving Silverman.” That year, she also booked a role in the film “Igby Goes Down,” which received strong reviews from critics. In 2002, she appeared alongside Ben Affleck in “Changing Lanes.” Later in 2002, Peet played the sister of Ashley Judd’s character in “High Crimes,” which also starred Morgan Freeman. Another major step forward for Amanda came in 2003 when she starred alongside Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Keanu Reeves in the well-received romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give.” The film also performed well at the box office, generating $125 million in North America alone. That year, she also appeared in another critically-acclaimed film called “Identity.” The psychological horror starred John Cusack and Ray Liotta. In 2004, Peet reprised her earlier role in the sequel “The Whole Ten Yards,” but it proved to be a massive flop commercially and critically. In the mid-2000s, Amanda Peet rose to a new level of notoriety within Hollywood. She started by starring alongside Ashton Kutcher in the romantic comedy “A Lot Like Love.” After appearing on stage in the play “This Is How It Goes,” she followed up with roles in movies like Woody Allen’s “Melinda and Melinda” and “Syriana.” In 2006, Peet returned to the stage with a role in the Broadway production “Barefoot in the Park” before appearing in the film “Griffin & Phoenix.” That year, she appeared in the television series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which was canceled after one season despite strong reviews. Throughout the rest of the 2000s, Amanda starred in movies like “The Ex,” “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” “Five Dollars a Day,” and “What Doesn’t Kill You.” In 2009, Amanda Peet starred in the blockbuster “2012” alongside John Cusack. The film received mixed reviews but generated an impressive sum of $769 million worldwide. She then followed up with movies like “Please Give” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” She also established herself as a voice actress with a role in the animated film “Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey.” During the 2010s, Amanda Peet shifted her focus back towards television roles. In 2012, she booked the lead role in the series “Bent,” but it was canceled after just six episodes. She then booked a recurring role in the series “The Good Wife.” However, she still had time to appear in films like “Identity Thief,” “Trust Me,” and “The Way, Way Back.” From 2015 to 2016, she appeared on the HBO show “Togetherness,” which received strong reviews. Starting in 2016, Amanda Peet played a recurring role in the series “Brockmire,” which ended in 2020. Personal Life: Amanda Peet is married to screenwriter David Benioff and they have three children together. David produced and developed “Game of Thrones” for HBO. Real Estate: In 2006, it was announced that Amanda Peet and David Benioff had purchased a property near Sunset Boulevard for $4.625 million. The property offers 4,340 square feet of living space with Mediterranean-style construction. The outdoor space features a pool and a spa, and there are tall trees planted for privacy. The couple also owns a property in New York City.
Read More