IB, what is it about the RAF and its leaders that so enrages the RN? You don't have to talk up Admiral Cunningham. He was obviously a very great leader. One only has to look at the wiki map on the Defence of the Reich link above to see the daunting challenge he faced in the Med, and yet the tremendous victories achieved; Taranto, Matapan, and most vital of all Mers el Kebir. The latter was an example of how war requires tough mindedness. The same qualities were required at Crete where his ships were mauled but stuck to the task of withdrawing the Army. So I don't quibble for one moment of your assessment of 'ABC'. A pity then that you feel it so necessary not only to criticise Harris but to infer that he was pig headed and stupid and possibly a colonial warmonger after all. Why? Because he wouldn't divert his heavies to the Battle of the Atlantic? It wasn't his call but the Air Staff's.
Some Lancasters were indeed briefly switched to Coastal but they were the best bomb carriers Harris had and were soon back to bombing Berlin. The ideal maritime aircraft was the long range Liberator, but Coastal was in competition with the USAAF for them, not with Bomber Command. As to losses, Bomber Command's were eyewatering too but you win wars by aggressive action not by avoiding casualties. Harris was keenly aware that easing up on the Strategic Bombing of Germany allowed the enemy breathing space to reorganise and get more men and material to the Russian Front. It was his job to prevent them doing that, so of course he resisted switching to pre D-Day tactical interdiction. The big picture meant he was wrong and switch he did, rather showing that he wasn't quite the all powerful War Lord as so often portrayed.
Finally, hero? What's that got to do with the price of fish? Commanders at his level must be leaders, it is those they lead that are the heroes. Or perhaps you mean popular? That wasn't Harris, it wasn't really Bomber Command. They both had a gruesome task to do and were both betrayed by the politicians and rival commanders when they had completed it. A comment on them or the politicians and rival commanders?