Allegiance United Kingdom Education Summer Fields School Years of service 1917 - 1960 Service/branch Royal Navy | Name William Davis Rank Admiral Role Royal Navy officer | |
Commands held HMS Mauritius
Home Fleet Battles/wars World War I
World War II Died October 29, 1987, Gloucester, United Kingdom Awards Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order | ||
Battles and wars World War I, World War II | ||
Admiral Sir William Wellclose Davis GCB DSO (11 October 1901 – 29 October 1987) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.
Contents
Naval career
Educated at Summer Fields School in Oxford, the Royal Naval College at Osborne and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Davis joined the Royal Navy in 1917 towards the end of World War I.
He also served in World War II initially as Executive Officer on the battlecruiser HMS Hood and then, from 1940, as Deputy Director of Plans at the Admiralty and then, from 1943, as Commander of the cruiser HMS Mauritius in which capacity he was involved in the Sicily landings, the Normandy landings and the action at Audierne Bay.
After the War he was made Director of Underwater Weapons at the Admiralty and then, from 1948, Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet. He became Naval Secretary in 1950 and Flag Officer, Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1952. He went on to be Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in 1954 and Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet and Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic Area in 1958. He was First and Principal Naval Aide-de-camp to the Queen from 1959 to 1960. He retired in 1960.
Family
On 28 April 1934 he married Lady Gertrude Elizabeth Phipps, daughter of Constantine Phipps, 3rd Marquess of Normanby; they went on to have two sons and two daughters.