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 ...

John Talbot Savignac Hall, CIE (30 November 1896 – 21 January 1964) was a

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 the first post-Independence Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Naval Staff of the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British Raj, British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the British Indian Army, Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the ...

Early life

Hall was born in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, the third son of Dr. William Hamilton Hall, FSA. He was educated at Elstow School in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

and then served in the Merchant Navy before being co-opted into the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday.

Naval career

Hall served aboard off Gallipoli in the Dardanelles Campaign. In 1921, he was commissioned as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the Royal Indian Marine, and was promoted to lieutenant-commander in 1928. The following year, he became the

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

on HMIS ''Lawrence'' a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

and then transferred to another minesweeper, HMIS ''Clive'' in 1930. In 1932, he was appointed commanding officer of the patrol boat HMIS ''Baluchi''. He held this command until 1934. From February to July 1937, Hall was appointed Officer-in-Charge, Navy Office Section for the Defence Department (Navy Branch) of the Government of India. In April 1937, he was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

. In 1938, he was appointed Staff Officer (Plans), Naval HQ, aboard '' HMIS Dalhousie''. Hall was promoted to commodore 2nd Class on 1 December 1942, and appointed chief of staff to the Commander-in-Chief of the RIN. In January 1944, he was promoted to captain and appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

. He was then appointed as the Senior Naval Staff Officer and RIN liaison officer to the

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

, serving in this capacity until 1946. Hall then commanded HMS ''Achilles''. Upon Indian independence, he was selected to become the first post-Independence Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Indian Navy. Hall served for one year, when he was replaced by Admiral Edward Parry. Afterwards, in his permanent rank of captain, Hall commanded a destroyer squadron with HMIS ''Delhi'' (later INS ''Delhi'') as his flagship. On 1 April 1950, he was promoted to the substantive rank of rear-admiral in the newly renamed

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. He retired from active duty on 1 September 1950, with the rank of

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 ...

. From 1951 to 1959, he served as a

civil defence Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

officer for northeast

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. Hall died in London in 1964, aged 67.

Personal life

In 1933, he married Agnes Maud Shereen; the couple had one daughter (Elizabeth Anne) and a son (also John) who died in a missile hook-up accident while training with the Fleet Air-arm of the Scottish coast near HMS ''Fulmar'', RNAS (now RAF) Lossiemouth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, John Talbot Savignac 1896 births 1964 deaths Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Royal Navy rear admirals Royal Indian Navy admirals Chiefs of the Naval Staff (India) Military personnel from Kent Royal Navy personnel of World War I