William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork

Admiral of the Fleet The Right Honourable The Earl of Cork and Orrey GCB, GCVO
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Cork
Born	30 November 1873 (1873-11-30) Farnham, Surrey
Died	19 April 1967 (1967-04-20) (aged 93) London
Buried	Church of St Leonard, Marston Bigot
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1886–1940
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	Home Fleet Royal Naval College, Greenwich Reserve Fleet 1st Cruiser Squadron Naval Barracks at Devonport HMS Tiger HMS Repulse Red Sea Patrol HMS Fox HMS Skirmisher HMS Haughty
Battles/wars	Boxer Rebellion First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

Admiral of the Fleet William Henry Dudley Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork and 12th Earl of Orrery, GCB, GCVO (30 November 1873 – 19 April 1967) was a British Royal Navy officer and peer. He served as a junior officer on the China Station during the Boxer Rebellion and went on to serve in the First World War initially as a staff officer during the Dardanelles Campaign and as then commander of the Red Sea Patrol: in that capacity, he led a six-day bombardment of the Turkish held port of Jeddah and worked closely with T. E. Lawrence in support of the Arab Revolt. In the inter-war years he was Commander-in-Chief, Reserve Fleet, President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet. After succeeding a cousin and becoming Earl of Cork in 1934, he became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Boyle also served in the Second World War, first as head of planning for Operation Catherine, an abortive naval offensive in the Baltic Sea proposed by Winston Churchill which aimed to cut off the flow of iron ore from Sweden. He then became commander designate of a planned Anglo-French expedition to assist the Finns in the Winter War they were waging against a Soviet attack: this expedition was also called off. Finally, he was given command of a naval force with a mission to retake the strategic port of Narvik in Norway from the Germans: although Narvik was briefly captured, all allied troops were eventually withdrawn.