Frank Twiss
Sir Frank Twiss | |
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Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Cross |
The son of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Twiss and his first wife Margaret Edmondson née Tate, he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1924.[2]
During the
Twiss was appointed Naval Secretary to the First Lord in 1960.[2] Lord Carrington, who had been First Lord of the Admiralty when Twiss was Naval Secretary, later said:
The Naval Secretary was an officer destined to get to the very top—detailed for two years or so to look after promotion to Captain and Flag rank in the Royal Navy and, in the course of doing so, to look after a civilian First Lord, almost invariably ignorant of naval tradition and likely, particularly when visiting the Fleet, to make mistakes of so fundamental and tasteless a character that it would call into question not just the credibility of the Government but our political institutions. For two years Admiral Twiss—quick witted, nimble and tireless—prevented this ex-First Lord from making too much of a fool of himself. In the course of those two years, which I for one greatly enjoyed and during which we travelled a great deal and laughed a great deal, I came to recognize the quality which his senior officers saw in him and which was to serve the Royal Navy and your Lordships' House so well. He did indeed rise to the top of the Royal Navy, despite an occasion which I remember when cruising with him in HMS Tiger. Anxious to show off the skill of his ship's gunnery in front of an old First Lord, he made the unpardonable error of shooting down a very expensive target aircraft, to the cheers of the ship's company but to a stinging rebuke from their Lordships of the Admiralty. I am glad to say that he responded that, since for 30 years he had been trying to hit a target and failed, he could not quite understand the attitude of their Lordships.[4]
Twiss was appointed Flag Officer Flotillas for the Home Fleet in 1962.
Later life
In retirement, Twiss served as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod from 1970 to 1978 and was a member of Commonwealth War Graves Commission from 1970 to 1979.[2]
Notes
- ^ "Obituary: Admiral Sir Frank Twiss". The Independent. 28 January 1994. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ISBN 0750906103
- ^ House of Lords Debates, Tributes to Sir Frank Twiss, 17 January 1978, volume 388 para. 1–5, retrieved 31 May 2017
- ^ "Sea your history". Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2008.