Military Wiki
Sir Laurence Durlacher
Born 1904
Died 1986 (aged 81–82)
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom Royal Navy
Rank Admiral
Commands held HMS Volage
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Cross

Admiral Sir Laurence George Durlacher KCB OBE DSC (1904–1986) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Fifth Sea Lord.

Naval career[]

Durlacher joined the Royal Navy and chose to specialise in signals.[1] He served in World War II initially as Commander of HM Signal School at the Admiralty and then as Fleet Signals Officer on the staff of Admiral Andrew Cunningham during the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.[1] He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the US Government for his services in these campaigns[2] and given command of HMS Volage in the Eastern Fleet in 1944.[1] After the War, having been promoted to Captain in 1945,[3] he became Deputy Director at the Admiralty Signal Division and, in 1949, was appointed Commander of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet.[1] He went on to be Commander of the Admiralty Signals and Radar Establishment at Haslemere in 1950 and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet in 1952 before becoming Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel (Personal Services) at the Admiralty in 1955.[1] He was made Flag Officer commanding 5th Cruiser Squadron and Flag Officer, second in charge, Far East Fleet in 1957 and then Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord in 1959; he retired in 1962.[1]

Family[]

In 1934 he married Rimma who went on to become a pillar of the British community on the Riviera.[4]

References[]

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Manley Power
Fifth Sea Lord
1959–1962
Succeeded by
Sir Peter Gretton
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Laurence Durlacher and the edit history here.