Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet

Sir Eustace Henry William Tennyson d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet, KCB, FRS (1 April 1868 – 1 February 1951) was a British naval architect and engineer. As Director of Naval Construction for the Royal Navy, 1912–1924, he was responsible for the design and construction of some of the most famous British warships. On 20 February 1915 Winston Churchill appointed Tennyson d'Eyncourt Chairman of the Landships Committee at the Admiralty, which was responsible for the design and production of the first military tank. Tennyson D'Eyncourt was related to:

• The politician Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt (d. 1861), uncle of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, and also to
• Admiral Edwin Tennyson d’Eyncourt.

Design characteristics

In his battlecruisers, "large light cruisers" and the Hawkins class cruisers Tennyson d'Eyncourt evolved a novel hull form: In cross-section the hull was an isosceles trapezoid, with the ship's sides sloping inboard at an angle of 10 degrees from the vertical, while outboard of this external bulges extended over the full length of the machinery spaces. This resulted in a hull structure of great strength, and the sloping sides increased the possible range of impact of shells, thus giving greater resistance to penetration.

The aesthetic side of naval architecture has seldom been given much attention, though it is as much of an art as the architecture of buildings; in general appearance (in terms of harmonious proportion as regards length, beam, and freeboard, as well as the size of the superstructure and funnels in relation to the hull), the opinion has been expressed that Tennyson d'Eyncourt created some of the most elegant and eye-pleasing warships ever designed, the prime example being the battle cruiser Hood.

Ship designs

Tennyson d'Eyncourt was not necessarily the principal designer of the vessels listed below, but had ultimate responsibility for them.

Battleships and Battlecruisers

• Brazilian battleship, later HMS Agincourt
• Turkish battleship, later HMS Erin
• Chilean battleships Almirante Latorre, later HMS Canada and Almirante Cochrane, later HMS Eagle (aircraft Carrier)
• Royal Sovereign class battleship
• Renown class battlecruiser
• HMS Hood battlecruiser
• several very large capital ship designs, both battleships and battlecruisers, rendered inadmissible under the Washington Naval Treaty
• HMS Nelson battleship

Cruisers

• GRC Katsonis
  • HMS Chester
• Arethusa class (1912)
• C class cruisers (1912-17)
  • Caroline class
  • Calliope class
  • HMS Champion
  • Cambrian class
  • Centaur class
  • Caledon class
  • Ceres class
  • Carlisle class
• Hawkins class large cruisers (1915)
• Danae class cruisers (1916-18)
  • HMS Danae
  • HMS Dragon
  • HMS Diomede
• HMS Enterprise (Emerald class cruiser)) (1917-18)
• HMS Kent (County class cruiser) (1923-24)

"Large light cruisers", later aircraft carriers

• HMS Courageous
• HMS Furious

Destroyers

• R and S class destroyers
• V and W class destroyers
• Scott class flotilla leader

Submarines

• "J" class
• "K" class

Other types

Monitors, Patrol boats, Minesweepers, Sloops, Gunboats for China Station, Merchant ship conversions into seaplane carrier

Tanks/Armor

Tennyson d'Eyncourt was chairman of the Landships Committee, created by Winston Churchill to oversee the design and production of man's first military tank (armor). (See also the Mark VIII (tank).)

Writings

Tennyson d'Eyncourt summarized his World War I work in an article "Naval Construction During the War", published in Engineering, 11 April 1919, pp. 482-490. He also published an autobiography entitled A Shipbuilder's Yarn (London: Hutchinson, 1948).

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New creation	Baronet (of Carter's Corner Farm)	Succeeded by Eustace Gervais Tennyson d'Eyncourt

References

• Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis (Abridged). 1992; Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 0-684-19453-8.
• Leigh Rayment's List of Baronets
• Tennyson d'Eyncourt. A Shipbuilder's Yarn; The Record of a Naval Constructor (London: Hutchinson, 1948).