Peter Gretton
Vice Admiral Sir Peter Gretton | |
|---|---|
Second World War
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| Awards | Mentioned in Despatches |
| Other work | Domestic Bursar of University College, Oxford Senior Research Fellow President of the Royal Humane Society |
vice admiral before entering university life as a bursar
and academic.
Early career
Gretton joined the
first lieutenant.[1]
Second World War
After a short period as first lieutenant in the old destroyer
lieutenant-commander on 1 June 1942, he was given command of the marginally newer destroyer HMS Wolverine and returned to the Mediterranean.[1] He took part in Operation Pedestal, the Malta convoy operation in August 1942, and sank the Italian submarine Dagabur by ramming.[1] Promoted to commander on 31 December 1942, he was given command of the destroyer HMS Duncan, as Senior Officer Escort to Escort Group B7, based in Derry.[1]
Post war
Promoted to
vice-admiral on 10 March 1961, he went on to be Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord in 1962.[1] He retired due to ill-health in May 1963.[2]
Gretton served as the domestic bursar of University College, Oxford, from 1965 until 1971,[3] and became a senior research fellow in 1971.[3] He published widely on defence matters and was the president of the Royal Humane Society. He died on 11 November 1992 at the age of 80.[3]
Gretton was featured talking about his wartime experience on the World at War documentary series, where he appears in Episode 10 "Wolf Pack: U-Boats in the Atlantic (1939–1944)" which was first screened on 9 January 1974.[4]
Works
- Convoy escort commander (1964; memoirs)
- Maritime strategy: a study of British defence problems (1965)
- Former Naval Person: Churchill and the navy (1968) (published as Winston Churchill and the Royal Navy in the US, 1969.)
- Crisis convoy: the story of HX231. Peter Davies. 1974. ISBN 0-4320-6340-4.
Honours
Gretton was awarded the
Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1941 Birthday Honours.[7] He received the Distinguished Service Order and Two Bars; the first in 1942 for Operation Pedestal;[8] the second in 1943 for the defence of ONS 5;[9] and the third in late 1943 for the actions as support group leader.[10]
For his postwar career he was appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1963 New Year Honours.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Sir Peter Greeton". Aim 25. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ "No. 43115". The London Gazette. 24 September 1963. p. 7913.
- ^ a b c "Peter Gretton". unithistories.com. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
- ^ "The World At War - A Matilha - U-boats no Atlântico 1939 - 1944". Thames Television. 1974.
- ^ "No. 34338". The London Gazette. 6 November 1936. p. 7122.
- ^ "No. 34885". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 June 1940. p. 4000.
- ^ "No. 35204". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 June 1941. p. 3737.
- ^ "No. 35780". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 November 1942. p. 4879.
- ^ "No. 36214". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 October 1943. p. 4613.
- ^ "No. 36474". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 April 1944. p. 1775.
- ^ "No. 41909". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1959. p. 3.
- ^ "No. 42870". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1962. p. 2.
Further reading
- Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War [Volume 2]: The Hunted 1942–1945. Crown Publications. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
- Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
- White, David (2006). Bitter Ocean. Headline. ISBN 0-7553-1088-8.
- Reminiscences of Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Gretton - the unpublished memoirs of Admiral Gretton.
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