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Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
Sir Arthur Richard Hezlet (7 April 1914 – 7 November 2007), nicknamed Baldy Hezlet, was a decorated
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
r. He became the Royal Navy's youngest captain at the time – aged 36 – and its youngest admiral, aged 45. In retirement he became a military historian. He was a recipient of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
, the
Most Honourable Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...
, the
Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...
and Bar, the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
, and the
Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...
.


Early life

Hezlet was born in
Pretoria, South Africa Pretoria ( ; ) is the administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into ...
,Obituary (BBC News)
/ref> to Major-General Robert Knox Hezlet, CB, CBE, DSO and Josepha Dorothy Hezlet (née Arter). His father had a distinguished career in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
including appointments as director of artillery at the War Office (1930 to 1934) and in India (1934 to 1938). Hezlet joined the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
in January 1928, aged 13. He attended the
Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...
and the
Royal Naval College, Greenwich The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equi ...
, and went to sea in 1932, serving as a
midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...
on the
battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
s HMS ''Royal Oak'' (September 1931 – January 1934) and HMS ''Resolution'' (March – July 1934). Hezlet was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 April 1936, achieving the highest mark in his Lieutenant's examinations, winning the Ronald Megaw Memorial Prize. In December 1935 he began the submarine course at HMS ''Dolphin'', something for which he had "not applied or volunteered". By 1936, he was the correspondence officer on the
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
HMS ''Daring'', later volunteering to serve on
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s. By July 1937 he was serving on the submarine HMS ''Regulus'' on the China station as Navigating Officer and then Torpedo Officer. On his return home, he was appointed First Lieutenant of HMS ''H43'' in which he served from January 1938 to April 1939.


Second World War

From June 1939 Lt. Hezlet served as First Lieutenant on the submarine HMS ''Trident''. By early 1940, he was engaged in operations in the
Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...
, as the Germans launched their
occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...
. His last patrols in ''Trident'' in 1940 were in the Bay of Biscay, off Lorient. In autumn 1940, Hezlet left the ''Trident'' to attend the submarine Commanding Officers Qualifying Course (" the Perisher"). The course was run at
Fort Blockhouse Fort Blockhouse is a former military establishment in Gosport, Hampshire, England, and the final version of a complicated site. At its greatest extent in the 19th century, the structure was part of a set of fortifications which encircled much ...
, Gosport, and from the depot ship HMS ''Cyclops'' in the Clyde, where the
7th Submarine Flotilla Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...
had been established, consisting of older submarines. Hezlet later recalled having carried out about fifteen simulated attacks in elderly submarines in the Clyde on various kinds of mainly unsuitable target, following which it was declared he had passed. He found the training to be inadequate preparation. On 22 December 1940 he took command of the obsolete coastal submarine HMS ''H44'', spending three months in her, until 9 March 1941, tasked with training convoy escorts in anti-submarine warfare.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> During that period he managed to increase the number of simulated attacks under his belt.


Operations in the Mediterranean

In April or May 1941 Hezlet was sent to
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
, aboard HMS ''Cachalot'', to be the "spare CO" in the
10th Submarine Flotilla The 10th Submarine Flotilla was a Royal Navy submarine formation during World War I and during World War II In January 1915 it was based on the Humber but by January 1917 it had relocated to the Tees. During the Second World War it was formed at ...
based there (there was no bunk-space for him on ''Cachalot'' and so he slept in a cupboard from which books had been removed to make space for him). At Malta, the spare CO's duties were to be harbourmaster, administering spare crew and meeting every submarine when she came in.


Patrols in HMS ''Upholder'' and HMS ''Unique''

In mid-summer 1941, it was considered by the flotilla command that the operational submarine commanders were becoming fatigued. Hezlet was sent on two patrols as relief for commanders who needed rest. The first began on 6 June 1941 when he was sent out in , Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn's boat, which ended on 17 June 1941 and was uneventful. The second began on 16 August 1941, when he took out HMS ''Unique'' in order to give its commander, Lt. Collett, a rest. That patrol would prove more testing. ''Unique'' and and were tasked with attacking a convoy off Tripoli. ''P33'', unbeknownst to Hezlet at the time, had already hit a mine and had been lost with all hands. On 20 August ''Unique'' and ''P32'' attacked. Hezlet fired four torpedoes – his first-ever torpedo attack on the enemy - at the 11,398 GRT Italian troop ship ''Esperia'' and sank her''.'' Upon launching torpedoes from a U-class submarine, the commander had to ensure that the buoyancy caused by the torpedo tubes being filled with air did not cause the submarine to surface. He also had to get the submarine away from the end of the "tracks" made by the torpedoes moving through the water, because they would provide a visible indication to observers on the surface, and in the air, of the location of the submarine which had fired them. Hezlet was so preoccupied with these two tasks that he did not himself hear the torpedoes hit but was assured by the general jubilation in the control room that they had. An attack on ''Unique'' by an Italian flying boat later that day damaged one of her fuel tanks, and so Hezlet returned early from patrol. Upon his return to Malta, he learned that both ''P33'' and ''P32'' had been lost, making ''Unique'' the only submarine to survive the mission. Hezlet turned ''Unique'' back over to Lt. Collett and resumed his duties as spare CO. In November 1941 Hezlet was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
for the sinking of the ''Esperia''.


HMS ''Ursula'' (N 59)

In September 1941 Hezlet was given his first permanent command – HMS ''Ursula'' - after her captain went sick. Of his six patrols in her, two merit reference, though neither resulted in her sinking an enemy ship. The first began on 16 September 1941, when ''Ursula'' was sent as part of a task group with HMS ''Upholder'', HMS ''Unbeaten'' and HMS ''Upright'' to attack a convoy off Tripoli. ''Ursula'' was posted about 50 miles away from the main night-attack by the other submarines in order to carry out a daylight attack in the morning. Hezlet fired one torpedo at the Italian troopship ''Vulcania'', but it was a long-range shot and missed. ''Upholder'' had more luck earlier that morning, successfully sinking the Italian merchant ships ''Neptunia'' and ''Oceania'' in that convoy. The second patrol saw ''Ursula'' head for the Strait of Messina, where she fired four torpedoes at two merchant vessels, damaging the Italian merchantman ''Beppe''. The noteworthy feature of that patrol was that, from leaving Malta until and including launching her torpedoes, ''Ursula'' kept exactly the same course without deviating.


Operations in Home Waters and Convoy Escort Duty

By late 1941, ''Ursula'' was due for a refit. On 15 December 1941 she was ordered to return to Gibraltar. When she arrived she was quickly ordered out to patrol the Bay of Biscay because it was feared that the German battleships ''
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship or battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine''. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship . The ship was built at the ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' doc ...
'' and '' Gneisenau'', and the heavy cruiser '' Prinz Eugen'', all lying at Brest, were imminently to come out. They did not do so during ''Ursula'''s patrol (not emerging until 22 February 1942) and Hezlet handed ''Ursula'' over for refit at Chatham on 12 January 1942.


HMS ''Trident'' (N 52)

In late March 1942 Hezlet was given command of HMS ''Trident'', the boat in which he had been First Lieutenant at the beginning of the war, with Ian McGeoch as his first lieutenant. After brief exercises in the Clyde, ''Trident'' embarked on her first patrol under Hezlet's command to Norwegian waters, off Trondheim. Hezlet later recalled that his instructions were not to fire at anything but ''Tirpitz'', which had arrived at Trondheim on 13 March 1942, and that he consequently had a frustrating time watching hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unescorted shipping plying the coastal waters. That appears potentially open to doubt because patrol reports appear to indicate that Hezlet made two attacks against merchant ships during that patrol, one unsuccessful but the latter, on 20 April 1942, resulting in his sinking of the German merchant ship ''Hödur'', which he hit with two out of three torpedoes fired. The target sank in less than 5 minutes. After further brief exercises in the Clyde in early May, ''Trident'' was ordered to Iceland to meet and escort convoy PQ16 to northern Russia. She was one of two submarines assigned to this duty, the other being HMS ''Seawolf''. This eventful patrol saw ''Trident'' pick up nine survivors from the American merchantman ''Alamar'' which had been abandoned due to air attack (and carry out orders to torpedo its remains) as well as try to fend off other air attacks using her anti-aircraft guns. The convoy underwent five days of air attacks from ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft as well a submarine attacks. Of the 35 ships which left Iceland, 8 were lost. After a short anti-U-boat patrol from Polyarnoe, in June 1942 ''Trident'' was tasked with providing cover to convoys QP 13 and PQ 17 in the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, before returning to the UK. In August 1942, Hezlet was
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
for his service in escorting these convoys.


X-craft crew instructor

Hezlet became a special training officer on the banks of the
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
in September 1942, at the informally named " HMS ''Varbel''", training the crews of
midget submarine A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...
s to attack the German battleship ''Tirpitz''. He invented the "Hezlet Rail", a bar and strap to secure the watchkeeper to the X-craft's casing in bad weather.


HMS ''Thrasher'' (N 37)

In May 1943, Hezlet was appointed as the Lieutenant in Command of HMS ''Thrasher'' (N 37). From May to August 1943 she took part in exercises in Scottish waters with one-man
Welman submarine The Welman submarine was a Second World War one-man British midget submarine developed by the Special Operations Executive. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful. Design Designed by the Commanding Officer of SOE's Inter S ...
s and X-class "midget" submarines, undergoing alterations to her casing to allow her to operate with those craft. Finally, on 11 September 1943 ''Thrasher'' departed "Port HHZ" (Loch Cairnbawn) towing submarine ''X5'' as part of
Operation Source Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – ''Tirpitz'', ''Scharnhorst'', and ''Lützow'' – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines. The attacks took place in September 1943 at K� ...
, the attempt to destroy ''Tirpitz,'' then lying at anchor in Kåfjord. ''Thrasher'' succeeded in towing ''X5'' to her point of departure, though it is unclear how close ''X5'' made it to her target: she was lost with all hands in the fjord during the attack. ''Thrasher'' returned to Holy Loch on 5 October 1943. Hezlet was
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
for his role in the operation (gazetted 11 January 1944). In October 1943, before leaving ''Thrasher'' at Holy Loch, Hezlet was promoted to Lieutenant Commander six months early (at that time promotion to Lieutenant Commander was automatic after eight years as a Lieutenant) with eighteen months' seniority, as from 1 October 1942 (gazetted on 8 November 1943).


Operations in the Pacific


HMS ''Trenchant'' (P 331)

On 15 October 1943 Hezlet took over as Lieutenant Commander in Command of the submarine HMS ''Trenchant'' at Chatham. After trials in the Clyde and nearby lochs, on 14 May 1944 ''Trenchant'' departed Holy Loch for
Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...
,
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
(now
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
). ''Trenchant'''s first war patrol began on 25 July 1944 when she departed Trincomalee for the west coast of Sumatra. Her mission was partly to participate in Operation Boomerang, the USAAF's B-29 raid on oil fields and refineries at
Palembang Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...
, by standing off the coast and assist in searching for and rescuing aircrew downed over the sea. ''Trenchant'' was given a special "homing device" to allow any B-29 in trouble to find her. In the event, no aircraft called for her assistance, though she was ordered to search for a downed aircraft but this proved fruitless. ''Trenchant'' was also to attack any enemy forces encountered. During the patrol she sank a Japanese coaster. Hezlet stopped to pick up survivors who were being discouraged by one of their number, an officer, from doing so. Hezlet manoeuvred ''Trenchant'' to cut the officer off from the rest of the group and eventually ''Trenchant'' managed to coax 14 Japanese to accept rescue; the others had to be left to their fate. Hezlet undertook long-range patrols in the Indian and Pacific oceans, earning him his first
Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...
(DSO). He sank the long-range German
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
U-859, on 23 September 1944, near the
Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...
, whose position had been identified through '
Ultra Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...
' signals decrypts. On 27 October 1944, ''Trenchant'' deployed two Mk II Chariot manned torpedoes 6.5 nautical miles off
Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...
in
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
on a mission to destroy two salved former Italian merchant ships in what would prove to be one of the most successful uses of Chariots of the whole War. One Chariot, codenamed "Tiny" (manned by T/S.Lt. A.W.C. Eldrige, RNVR and T/A/Petty Officer S. Woollcott) was to target the former ''Sumatra'', while the other, codenamed "Slasher" (manned by T/Petty Officer W.S. Smith and Ordinary Seaman A.F. Brown) was to target the former ''Volpi''. Both Chariots successfully placed the charges on their target and proceeded back out of the harbour and the crews were re-embarked aboard ''Trenchant''. Both targets were sunk. The chariots "Tiny" and "Slasher" had to be scuttled due to the danger from a Japanese patrol boat in the vicinity. On 8 June 1945, Hezlet took ''Trenchant'' into shallow mined water in the
Banka Strait Bangka Strait is the strait that separates the island of Sumatra from Bangka Island () in the Java Sea, Indonesia. The strait is about long, with a width varying from about to . See also * Japanese cruiser Ashigara was the final vessel of ...
off
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
, to intercept Japanese heavy cruiser ''Ashigara''. Despite being attacked by the Japanese destroyer ''Kamikaze'', five out of eight torpedoes that he fired hit ''Ashigara'', which quickly sank. It was the largest
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
warship sunk by a Royal Navy warship during the war. Hezlet was ordered to
Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...
in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, where he was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit by U.S. Admiral James Fife, Jr. He was also awarded a
Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...
to his DSO. Ordered to return to the UK, he ended the war as he began it, serving on a submarine.


Post-war career

After the war, Hezlet attended naval and three-service staff colleges. In 1946, he was one of a small group of Britons permitted to observe the U.S.
nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
tests at
Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...
. He commanded the destroyer HMS ''Scorpion'', and then served in the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
, and as Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer Submarines, before taking command of the destroyer HMS ''Battleaxe'' and becoming Captain D of the
6th Destroyer Flotilla The British 6th Destroyer Flotilla, or Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the Royal Navy from 1911 to 1939 and again from 1947 to 1951 History The flotilla was formed in 1911 at Portsmouth, with its first commander, Captain Mor ...
in 1955. In 1956, Hezlet was appointed as Director of the Naval Staff College at Greenwich. After commanding the
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
HMS ''Newfoundland'', he became Flag Officer Submarines and was promoted to
rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
in 1959. The submarine HMS ''Dreadnought'', Britain's first
nuclear attack submarine An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. ''SSN'' is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the ''SS'' (as 'Ship Submersible') denotes a submarine and the ''N'' denotes nuclear power. The designation SSN is u ...
, was launched in early 1960. The task of the Flag Officer Submarines was to help formulate plans for support and training facilities in a force as yet unfamiliar with nuclear propulsion. He was also in office later that year, when the preferred option for the UK's nuclear deterrent moved from the air-launched
Skybolt missile The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt (AGM-48 under the 1963 Tri-service system) was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons ...
to the
Polaris missile The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel rocket, solid-fueled nuclear warhead, nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy ...
launched by
ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...
s. He was appointed CB in 1961. Hezlet's final tour was
Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland The Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI) was a senior post in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It was based at HM Naval Base Clyde, and the holder of the post was the Royal Navy's senior officer in Scotland. The post of FOSNI ...
(FOSNI). He was promoted to
vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
and appointed
KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...
before his retirement in 1964.


Later life

Hezlet returned to his family home, Bovagh House, at
Aghadowey Aghadowey () is a townland in east County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies in Aghadowey civil parish, and is part of Causeway Coast and Glens district. It is close to the county boundary with County Antrim. Sport Aghadowey is a popular a ...
,
County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
. He was Northern Ireland president of the
Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. Membership Service in th ...
for 25 years. He served with the
RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...
, a member of the
general synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church ...
of the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
, and was an original council member of the
University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...
. He was a keen yachtsman, and his yacht Agivey was a familiar sight on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. He was appointed
High Sheriff of County Londonderry The High Sheriff of County Londonderry is King Charles III's judicial representative in County Londonderry. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the ruling monarch, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford ...
for 1968.


Family & death

Hezlet died at Bovagh, at the age of 93, in 2007. He was survived by his wife, Annie Joan Patricia Clark, and their two daughters.


Writings

In retirement, Hezlet wrote many books on naval matters. His first book, ''The Submarine and Sea Power'' (1967), foresaw the continuing invulnerability of the seaborne
nuclear deterrent Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons. As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In addit ...
. In ''Aircraft and Sea Power'' (1970), he took the view that the Atlantic could be defended by land-based aircraft and submarines, with no surface vessels. Hezlet also wrote a history of the
Ulster Special Constabulary The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military Military reserve, reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, short ...
, the " B Specials", in 1972. He reviewed the use of electricity and electronics in naval warfare in ''The Electron and Sea Power'' (1976). He published a memoir, ''HMS Trenchant at War: from Chatham to the Banka Strait'', in 2001, and his last book, the authoritative ''History of British and Allied Submarine Operations'' (2002), listed every patrol taken by an Allied submarine in the Second World War.


References


External links


Obituary (''Times Online'')Obituary (''Daily Telegraph'')Radio RoomImperial War Museum Interview
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hezlet, Arthur 1914 births 2007 deaths People from County Londonderry People from Pretoria Royal Navy vice admirals Royal Navy submarine commanders Royal Navy officers of World War II Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order High sheriffs of County Londonderry Anglicans from Northern Ireland Place of death missing British naval historians