Ian McGeoch

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Sir

Ian Lachlan Mackay McGeoch
4th Submarine Squadron
3rd Submarine Squadron
Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Battles/warsWorld War II
Awards
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

Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland
(FOSNI).

Early life

McGeoch was born in

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 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 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 January 1943) were posted to Gibraltar to take part in Operation Torch,[1] and then back to Malta.

HMS Splendid, photographed on 18 August 1942, ten days after she was commissioned.

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 Soldati-class destroyer Aviere, 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 Groppo, Uragano 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

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

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

Imperial Defence College in 1961.[1] He commanded the cruiser HMS Lion from 1962 to 1964.[1]

Promoted to

nuclear attack submarine (and the first all-British) - was launched, as was the first Polaris ballistic missile submarine, HMS Resolution
.

Promoted to

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 the

The Third World War: 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 daughters and two sons.

He died on 12 August 2007 and was survived by his wife and children.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Obituary: Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch The Times, 20 August 2007
  2. ^ HMS Splendid, Uboat.net
  3. ^ Submarine losses 1904 to present day Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
  4. ^ "No. 40540". The London Gazette. 19 July 1955. p. 4172.
  5. ^ Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch (1975), The British Polaris Project (PDF), University of Edinburgh (MPhil), archived from the original (PDF) on 17 August 2010, retrieved 30 July 2008

External links

Military offices
Preceded by President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich
1964–1965 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Flag Officer Submarines
1965–1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland

1968–1970 		Succeeded by
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