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 Vice ...

Richard Bell Davies (19 May 1886 – 26 February 1966), also known as Richard Bell-Davies, was a senior

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 ...

commander, naval aviator, and a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life and career

Born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Davies was orphaned by the age of five and was brought up by an uncle, a doctor. He attended Bradfield College in Berkshire between September 1899 and April 1901. Davies enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1901 joining , and on 15 September 1902 was posted as a naval cadet to the protected cruiser HMS ''Diana'', serving with the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1910 he took private flying lessons, and in 1913 he was accepted into the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

(RNAS) and was appointed a squadron commander.

First World War

Distinguished Service Order

In the early days of the war, Davies and Richard Peirse carried out a number of raids on German submarine bases at

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

and Zeebrugge. Both were awarded the DSO:

Victoria Cross

Davies was then posted to the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

, and was awarded the Victoria Cross on 1 January 1916 for an action at Ferrijik Junction, in what was then part of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

near the border with Ottoman-controlled Europe, on 19 November 1915. Today, Feres (Ferecik in Turkish) is in the Evros region of modern Greece. Davies was 29 years old, and in command of No. 3 Squadron RNAS. His citation read: This was the first combat search and rescue by aircraft in history. Like later search and rescue efforts, Davies' action sprang from the desire to keep a compatriot from capture or death at the hands of the enemy; unlike most of those future efforts, it was a one-man impromptu action that succeeded because of a peculiarity in construction of his aircraft. The Nieuport 10 he was flying was a single seat model which had had its front cockpit decked over. When Davies picked him up under rifle fire, Smylie wriggled past Davies and through his controls into the tiny roofed-over front compartment. Smylie was so thoroughly wedged among the controls that, upon landing, it took two hours to extricate him. Davies was also mentioned in despatches for his Gallipoli service. In early 1916, Davies was transferred to the Western Front, conducting bombing raids behind German lines, and then as wing commander in the seaplane carrier , attached to the Grand Fleet. The RNAS was incorporated into the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in April 1918, but Davies relinquished his RAF commission in May 1919 and returned to naval service. After the war, he was awarded the Air Force Cross and the French Croix de guerre with Palm.

Interbellum and Second World War

Davies was first lieutenant of in 1919–20; in charge of the Air Section of the Naval Staff 1920–24; and

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 ...

of in the Atlantic Fleet 1924–26. He was promoted to captain in 1926 and was again in charge of the Air Section of the Naval Staff 1926–28. He was Chief Staff Officer to the Rear Admiral commanding 1st Cruiser Squadron in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

1929–30, and Liaison Officer for the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

1931–33. He commanded on the China station 1933–35 and the naval base at Devonport (HMS ''Drake'') 1936–38. He 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 1938 and from 1939 to 1941 was Rear Admiral, Naval Air Stations, based at RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus''). He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours of 1939. Davies 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 Vice ...

upon retiring on 29 May 1941, aged 55. He then joined the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

(RNR) with a reduction in rank 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 ...

. As an RNR officer, he served as a convoy commodore, and as commissioning captain of the escort carrier and the trials carrier . He left the RNR in 1944.

Death and legacy

He died at RNH Haslar in Gosport,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. His Victoria Cross is on display at the

Fleet Air Arm Museum The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintings ...

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. On 19 November 2015, he was remembered at a memorial service in central London, with a memorial stone laid in Sloane Square, Chelsea.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources *

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Hampshire)''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Richard Bell 1886 births 1966 deaths Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Kensington British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross Companions of the Order of the Bath Royal Naval Air Service aviators Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Navy admirals of World War II Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave Royal Naval Reserve personnel Convoy commodores People educated at Bradfield College