请输入您要查询的百科知识:

 

词条 Ian McGeoch
释义

  1. Early life

  2. Second World War

  3. Post-war career

  4. Later life

  5. References

  6. External links

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name =Ian Lachlan Mackay McGeoch
| honorific_suffix = KCB DSO DSC
| image = Ian McGeoch.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date =26 March 1914
| death_date ={{Death date and age|df=y|2007|8|12|1914|3|26}}
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial =
| birth_place =Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire
| death_place =
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| nickname =
| allegiance ={{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
| branch = Royal Navy
| serviceyears =1931–1970
| rank =Vice-admiral
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands =HMS Ursula
HMS Splendid
HMS Fernie
4th Submarine Squadron
3rd Submarine Squadron
Royal Naval College, Greenwich
| battles =World War II
  • Siege of Malta
  • Operation Torch
  • Prisoner of war (escaped)
  • British Pacific Fleet

| awards =Mention in dispatches DSO DSC CB
| relations =
| laterwork =MPhil, Editor of Naval Review, Author of An Affair of Chances: a Submariner's Odyssey, 1939-44 and Earl Mountbatten, The Princely Sailor, member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland
}}

Vice-Admiral Sir Ian Lachlan Mackay McGeoch, KCB, DSO, DSC (26 March 1914 – 12 August 2007) was a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. He commanded the submarine HMS Splendid during the Second World War, and was later Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM) and Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI).

Early life

McGeoch was born in Helensburgh, on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde. A burly figure, he was educated at Pangbourne Nautical College, and joined the Royal Navy in 1931 as a special entry cadet. From 1933, he served as a midshipman on the battleship HMS Royal Oak,[1] then on the destroyer HMS Boadicea, and then the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire.[1] He volunteered to serve on submarines, and attended the course at HMS Dolphin in 1936. Promoted to lieutenant, he joined HMS Clyde, based in Malta, as navigator and third hand.[1]

Second World War

McGeoch was serving with HMS Clyde when the Second World War broke out, returning to England in January 1940. He then served as 1st lieutenant (second-in-command) of the old H-class submarine {{HMS|H43}}, engaged in landing secret agents on Guernsey.[1] He was appointed as second-in-command of the new submarine {{HMS|Triumph|N18|6}} in July 1940, but was selected for the Commanding Officers' Qualifying Course before he saw active service.[1] The course, still run, is known as the "perisher" due to its high failure rate, and that failure means an end to a career on submarines. He passed and was returned to the 10th Submarine Flotilla on Malta as a "spare" commanding officer, to cover for illness or injury.[1]

McGeoch took command of {{HMS|Ursula|N59|6}} on one patrol, but was not confident in his own abilities, so, unusually, elected to return to England to take the "perisher" a second time.[1] He passed again, and took command of the new S-class submarine P228, just launched at Chatham Dockyard on 13 January 1942.[1] He and his brand new ship (named {{HMS|Splendid|P228|6}} January 1943) were posted to Gibraltar to take part in Operation Torch,[1] and then back to Malta.

From November 1942 to May 1943 (the Operation Torch landings to the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa), Splendid sank more tonnage on its six patrols than any other submarine.[1] Lieutenant McGeoch was awarded the DSO[1] after his fourth patrol, and the DSC after his fifth. Under McGeoch's command, Splendid sank the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser San Paolo, the Italian merchants Luigi Favorita, Devoli, and XXI Aprile, the small Italian merchant Commercio, the Italian auxiliary minesweeper No. 107 / Cleopatra, and the Italian tanker Giorgio.

Splendid also sank the Italian {{sclass-|Soldati|destroyer|1}} {{ship|Italian destroyer|Aviere|1937|2}}, escorting the German transport ship Ankara with her sister ship Camicia Nera - Splendid also attacked Ankara, but missed her. Splendid also sank the Italian merchant Emma, despite her being heavily escorted by the Italian torpedo boats {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Groppo||2}}, {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Uragano||2}} and Clio. The German merchant Sienna (the former French Astrée) was missed in the same attack. Splendid also torpedoed and damaged the Italian destroyer Velite.[2]

Splendid left Malta for the last time on 17 April 1943. Her sixth patrol would take her to the waters off Naples and Corsica. Off Capri on 21 April 1943, she ran into the German destroyer Hermes (formerly the British-built {{ship|Greek destroyer|Vasilefs Georgios|D 14|6}}).[1] Splendid{{'}}s periscope was spotted in the calm conditions in the Tyrrhenian Sea.[1] Three accurately-dropped patterns of depth charges forced Splendid to the surface, where McGeoch ordered the crew to abandon ship and scuttled the vessel.[1] Five officers, including McGeoch, and 25 ratings were picked up; 18 men were lost with the ship.[3] McGeoch suffered a wound to his right eye, and never recovered its sight.

McGeoch and the other survivors from her crew became prisoners of war in Italy.[1] Despite blindness in one eye, McGeoch nevertheless made several escape attempts.[1] After the surrender of Fascist Italy in September 1943, he was able to walk out of the camp gate and travelled {{convert|400|mi|km|-2}} to Switzerland, where a metal fragment was removed from his sightless right eye.[1] He travelled across occupied south France in December 1943 to Spain. He was interned in Figueres, but British diplomats arranged for his release to Gibraltar, and he returned to England on the old battleship {{HMS|Centurion|1911|6}}. His escape won him a mention in dispatches.

Returning to duty, McGeoch attended the Naval Staff Course in 1944. Promoted to lieutenant commander, he became Staff Officer (Operations) for the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the British Pacific Fleet in the run up to the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945.[1]

Post-war career

After helping to repatriate British prisoners of war, he returned to the United Kingdom in 1946 to take command of the {{sclass2-|Hunt|destroyer|1}} {{HMS|Fernie}}.[1] Promoted to commander in 1947, he worked in operations in the Admiralty, commanded the 4th Submarine Squadron[1] in Sydney from 1949. Promoted to captain in 1955, he served as naval liaison officer to RAF Coastal Command in 1955 and 1956, and commanded the 3rd Submarine Squadron[1] in 1957 and 1958. He became Director of Undersurface Warfare in the Admiralty for two years, then studied at the Imperial Defence College in 1961.[1] He commanded the cruiser {{HMS|Lion|C34|6}} from 1962 to 1964.[1]

Promoted to rear-admiral in 1964, he became Admiral President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.[1] He then served as Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM) from May 1965 to December 1967.[1] During his time in this post, {{HMS|Valiant|S102|6}} - the Royal Navy's second nuclear attack submarine (and the first all-British) - was launched, as was the first Polaris ballistic missile submarine, {{HMS|Resolution|S22|6}}.

Promoted to vice-admiral in 1967, he became Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI).[1] He was appointed CB in 1966 and advanced to KCB in 1969. He retired in 1970.[1]

Later life

He studied Social Sciences at Edinburgh University from 1970, and received an MPhil in 1975[1] after the direction of historian Professor John Erickson, writing a thesis on the origins, procurement and effect of the Polaris programme.[4] He edited the Naval Review from 1972 to 1980.[1] He worked with other senior officers, including General Sir John Hackett, on The Untold Story (1978 and 1982). He published a memoir of his wartime service, An Affair of Chances: a Submariner's Odyssey, 1939-44 in 1991, and his biography of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, entitled Earl Mountbatten, The Princely Sailor, was published in 1996.[1]

He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers (the Queen's Bodyguard in Scotland) from 1969 to 2003.[1] He was also a member of Royal Institute of Navigation, the Nautical Institute, the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, and the Royal Yacht Squadron. He was a trustee of the Imperial War Museum.

He married Eleanor Somers Farrie in 1937, the daughter of the Anglican vicar of Sliema. They had two sons and two daughters. He was survived by his wife and children.

References

1. ^10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110523225345/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2289888.ece Obituary: Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch] The Times, 20 August 2007
2. ^HMS Splendid, Uboat.net
3. ^Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
4. ^{{citation|url=http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/coldwar/McG.pdf |title=The British Polaris Project |author=Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch |publisher=University of Edinburgh (MPhil) |year=1975 |accessdate=2008-07-30 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100817134212/http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/coldwar/McG.pdf |archivedate=2010-08-17 |df= }}

External links

  • Obituary, The Times, 20 August 2007
  • [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/17/db1702.xml Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2007]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182118/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2893872.ece Obituary, The Independent, 25 August 2007]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2199519,00.html Obituary, The Guardian, 26 October 2007]
  • Imperial War Museum Interview
{{s-start}}{{s-mil}}{{s-bef|before=Morgan Morgan-Giles}}{{s-ttl|title=President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich|years=1964–1965}}{{s-aft|after=Patrick Bayly}}
|-{{s-bef|before=Horace Law}}{{s-ttl|title=Flag Officer Submarines|years=1965–1967}}{{s-aft|after=Sir Michael Pollock}}
|-{{succession box|title=Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland|before=Sir John Hayes|after=David Dunbar-Nasmith|years=1968–1970}}{{end}}{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:McGeoch, Ian}}

12 : 1914 births|2007 deaths|People from Helensburgh|Alumni of the University of Edinburgh|Royal Navy admirals|Royal Navy submarine commanders|Royal Navy officers of World War II|Companions of the Distinguished Service Order|Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath|Admiral presidents of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich|Members of the Royal Company of Archers

随便看

 

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

 

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间:2024/9/23 10:29:27