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Geoffrey John Kirkby
Geoffrey John Kirkby (26 August 1918 – 24 October 1998) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, serving mainly at sea in small ships. Early life Kirkby was born on 26 August 1918. He was educated at Taunton School, a private school in Taunton, Somerset. Military service First DSC (June 1940) Aged 21, Kirkby was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for boarding the sinking Italian Navy submarine ''Torricelli'' and capturing the vessel's signal books. Kirkby was serving on board HMS ''Kingston'' at the time. Second DSC (March 1942) Kirkby, while still serving on board ''Kingston'', took part in the Second Battle of Sirte, where Rear-Admiral Vian defended a Malta convoy against a far superior Italian force. ''Kingston'' took part in a torpedo raid, for which the ship had to close within three miles of the Italian heavy units, and which led to the award of Kirkby's second DSC. Third DSC (August 1944) Kirkby was now on board which, for the Nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain (Capt.) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines, and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force. There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. Seagoing captains In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of the rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat, was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron, and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War. The t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taunton School
Taunton School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, now co-educational, in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster is James Johnson, appointed in the autumn of 2022. The school campus also includes Taunton School International for overseas students; Taunton Preparatory School, serving boarding and day-school pupils aged 7 to 13; Taunton Pre-Prep School, serving day-school pupils aged 4 to 7, and Taunton Nursery, serving pupils aged 0 to 4. History Taunton School was founded in 1847 as Independent College, a boys-only school for English Dissenters, dissenters - those who were not members of the Church of England. In the 1870s, the school's governors purchased a site at the northern end of Taunton, on Staplegrove Road. They had built, by Joseph James, a Gothic architecture, gothic-influenced building, in the prevailing style of the period. The school is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emma Kirkby
Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, (; born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings. Education and early career Kirkby was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset, and Somerville College, Oxford University. Her father was Geoffrey John Kirkby, a Royal Navy Officer. Kirkby did not originally intend to become a professional singer. In the late 1960s, while she was studying classics at Oxford, she joined the Schola Cantorum of Oxford, a student choir which, at the time, was being conducted by Andrew Parrott. After graduation, Kirkby went to work as a school teacher, but became increasingly involved in singing with the growing number of music ensembles that were being founded during the Early music revival of the early 1970s. She married Parrott, and sang with his Taverner Choir which he founded in 1973. Her vocal career developed throughout the 1970s, and she became noted as a soloist in performance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dame (title)
''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronetesses in their own right also use the title ''Dame''. A woman appointed to the grades of Dame Commander or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint John, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the Order of the Bath, the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Royal Victorian Order, or the Order of the British Empire becomes a dame. A Central European order in which female members receive the rank of Dame is the Order of Saint George. Since there is no female equivalent to a Knight Bachelor, women are always appointed to an order of chivalry. Women who are appointed to the Order of the Garter or the Order of the Thistle are given the title of Lady rather than Dame. Women receive all their honours in the same fashion as men receiving decorations or medals, even if they are receiving a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Havre
Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very close to the Prime Meridian (Greenwich), Prime Meridian. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. It is also the second largest subprefecture in France, after only Reims. The name ''Le Havre'' means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as ''Havrais'' or ''Havraises''. The city and Port of Le Havre, port were founded by Francis I of France, King Francis I in 1517. Economic development in the early modern period was hampered by European wars of religion, religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies of World War II, Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, End of World War II in Europe, ending World War II in Europe. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole ''Führer'' (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors of the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies of World War II, Allies invaded German military administration in occupied France during World War II, German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" refers to an section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, from west of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to east of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve river estuary. Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the east at Gold Beach, Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah Beach, Utah, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Baie de Seine (Bay of the Seine River). Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport, and List of ships in Omaha Bombardment Group, a naval bombardment force provided predominantly by the United States Nav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Of The United States
The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Navy, United States Air Force, Air Force, United States Space Force, Space Force, and the United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except the Coast Guard, have been permanently part of the United States Department of Defense. They form six of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Each of the different military services is assigned a role and domain. The Army conducts land operations. The Navy and Marine Corps conduct maritime operations, the Marine Corps specializing in amphibious and maritime littoral operations primarily for supporting the Navy. The Air Force conducts air operations. The Space Force conducts space operations. The Coast Guard is unique in that it specializes in maritime opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normandy Landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day (after D-Day (military term), the military term), it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front. Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on the day selected for D-Day was not ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the planners had re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Vian
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Louis Vian, & Two Bars (15 June 1894 – 27 May 1968) was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars. Vian specialised in naval gunnery from the end of the First World War and received several appointments as gunnery officer. In the early 1930s, he was given command of a destroyer, , and, later, various destroyer flotillas. During this phase of his career, in early 1940, he commanded a force that forcibly released captured British merchant sailors from the German supply ship in Jøssingfjord in then-neutral Norway and, later, his flotilla took an active role in the final action of the . Much of Vian's Second World War service was in the Mediterranean, where he commanded a cruiser squadron, defended several critical convoys and led naval support at the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy. His wartime service was completed in command of the air component of the British Pacific Fleet, with successful actions against the Japanes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regia Marina
The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origins The was established on 17 March 1861 following the proclamation of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. Just as the Kingdom was a unification of various states in the Italian peninsula, so the was formed from the navies of those states, though the main constituents were the navies of the former kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples. The new Navy inherited a substantial number of ships, both sail- and steam-powered, and the long naval traditions of its constituents, especially those of Sardinia and Naples, but also suffered from some major handicaps. Firstly, it suffered from a lack of uniformity and cohesion; the was a heterogeneous mix of equipment, standards and practice, and even saw hostility between the officers from the various f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
