Sir Iwan Geoffrey Raikes (21 April 1921 – 27 December 2011) was a former

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 ...

officer who became

Naval Secretary The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing (and General Officers). Their counterpart in the British Army is the Military Secretary. The Royal Air Force equi ...

Naval career

Born the son of Admiral Sir

Robert Raikes Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1735 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman. He was educated at The Crypt School in Gloucester. He was noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Family Raikes was born ...

and educated at 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, ...

, Raikes joined the

in 1935 and decided to specialise in

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.Sir Iwan Geoffrey Raikes
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and commanded the submarines HMS ''H43'' and HMS ''Varne''.Vice-Admiral Sir Iwan Raikes
Daily Telegraph, 5 January 2012 After the War he commanded the submarines HMS ''Virtue'', HMS ''Talent'' and HMS ''Aeneas'' and then the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

HMS ''Loch Insh''. He was appointed deputy director of Undersurface Warfare in 1962, Director of Plans and Operations on the staff of Commander-in-Chief, Far East in 1965 and Captain of 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 ''Kent'' in 1968. Promoted to rear-admiral, he went on to be

in 1970; after being promoted to vice-admiral he became Flag Officer First Flotilla in 1973 and Flag Officer Submarines and Commander of Submarines, Eastern Atlantic Area in 1974 before retiring in January 1977. In retirement he became Chairman of the United Usk Fishermen's Association as well as Deputy Lieutenant of

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He died on 27 December 2011.

Family

In 1947 he married (Cecilia) Primrose Hunt; they have one son and one daughter. Lady Raikes died in 2022.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Raikes, Iwan 1921 births 2011 deaths Royal Navy vice admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Deputy lieutenants of Powys Royal Navy submarine commanders Royal Navy officers of World War II People from Weymouth, Dorset