Richard Clayton (Royal Navy officer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir

Richard Clayton
Born9 July 1925
Died15 September 1984(1984-09-15) (aged 59)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1942 – 1981
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Puma
Gibraltar Dockyard
HMS Kent
HMS Hampshire
Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command
Battles/warsWorld War II
Suez Crisis
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Richard Pilkington Clayton GCB (9 July 1925 – 15 September 1984) was Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command.

Naval career[edit]

Clayton joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and served as a midshipman on HMS Cumberland until 1943 when he was on various destroyers of the Home Fleet.[1] He also served on HMS Striker during the Suez Crisis in 1956.[1]

He became Commanding Officer of HMS Puma in 1958 and Executive Officer on HMS Lion in 1962.[1] He became Captain of the Gibraltar Dockyard in 1967[2] and then commanded HMS Kent and then HMS Hampshire in the late 1960s.[1] He was appointed Flag Officer Second Flotilla in 1973 and Senior Naval Member on Directing Staff at the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1975.[1]

He was appointed Controller of the Navy in 1975, was promoted to full admiral on 28 March 1978,[3] and became Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command in 1979.[1] He retired in 1981.[1]

In retirement he became a Director at GEC[4] and was a Governor of Rendcomb College.[5] He died in a motor cycling accident in September 1984.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  2. ^ Naval Review, Vol. 73, No. 2 April 1995
  3. ^ "No. 47499". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 March 1978. p. 3779.
  4. ^ Naval Review, Vol. 73, No.1 January 1985
  5. ^ Old Rendcombian Newsletter 1996
  6. ^ Old Rendcombian Newsletter 1985
Military offices
Preceded by Controller of the Navy
1975–1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command
1979–1981
Succeeded by