Admiral Sir Manley Laurence Power KCB,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, DSO & Bar, DL (10 January 1904 – 17 May 1981) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Admiral who fought in World War II as a Captain and later rose to more senior ranks, including the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

position Allied Commander-in-Chief, Channel. One of his chief accomplishments was leading the 26th Destroyer Flotilla into the Malacca Strait during Operation Dukedom to sink the Japanese cruiser ''Haguro''.

Early career

Born the son of Admiral Sir Laurence E. Power KCB, CVO, Power was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth, becoming a Royal Navy officer cadet in 1917.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> In the early part of his career, he served mainly in submarines, attaining his first command () in 1933.

World War II

In 1939 he was promoted to Commander and appointed as Staff Officer (Operations) to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham. Hmwilson-churchill-eisenhow

In 1942, he was given command of , escorting

Arctic convoys The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

, before returning as Staff Officer (Operations) in the Mediterranean in September 1942, in preparation for the invasion of North Africa and then became Staff Officer (Plans), on the staff of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean in January 1943, assisting the planning of the

invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

. He was promoted to Captain in 1943, and Deputy Chief of Staff (Plans), and stayed in the Mediterranean until March 1944, planning the invasion of Italy and the Anzio landings. Power became captain of the 26th Destroyer Flotilla in April 1944, taking part in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

, and as captain of the destroyer participated in an action to destroy an enemy convoy off the Norwegian coast in November 1944. He was then appointed to command in the

Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

, and his flotilla destroyed the Japanese cruiser Haguro in May 1945.

Post-war

Following the war, Power served as Deputy Director of Plans in the Admiralty between January and July 1946, then as Senior Naval Member of the Directing Staff at the Joint Services Staff College, later becoming commander of the Portland (Dorset) naval base. Following this he served as Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet (Admiral Sir Philip Vian), then in May 1952 as Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean (Admiral 1st Lord Mountbatten of Burma). He was promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

in 1953, and in the following year was appointed Senior Naval Member of the Directing Staff of the

Imperial Defence College The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

. Promoted to vice-admiral, he became Flag Officer, Aircraft Carriers in 1956 and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and

Fifth Sea Lord The Fifth Sea Lord was formerly one of the Naval Lords and members of the Board of Admiralty that controlled the Royal Navy. The post's incumbent had responsibility for naval aviation. History In 1805, for the first time, specific functions w ...

in 1957. Promoted to admiral in 1960, his final appointments were as

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...

and Allied Commander-in-Chief, Channel in 1959 before retiring in 1961.

Family

He married Barbara Alice Mary Topham in 1930 and the couple had a daughter and a son.

Honours and decorations

References

External links

The Memoirs of Admiral Sir Manley Power
held at Churchill Archive Centre , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Manley (Admiral) 1904 births 1981 deaths People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy officers of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Officers of the Legion of Merit Deputy Lieutenants of Hampshire Deputy Lieutenants of the Isle of Wight Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Lords of the Admiralty People from Kingston upon Thames Military personnel from Surrey