Robert Raikes (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Robert Henry Taunton Raikes KCB CVO DSO (23 August 1885 – 24 May 1953) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station.[1]

Sir Robert Raikes
Born23 August 1885
Died24 May 1953(1953-05-24) (aged 67)
London, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1900–1944
RankAdmiral
Commands heldSouth Atlantic Station
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order

Early life and education

Raikes was born in Chislehurst, Kent, the fifth son of Robert Taunton Raikes, and his wife, Rosa Margaret Cripps. He was educated at Radley College and aboard HMS Britannia in September 1900.[2]

Raikes joined the Royal Navy in 1900.[3] He served in World War I, earning the DSO in 1916,[4] and went on to be Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth[5] before becoming Director of the Royal Navy Staff College at Greenwich in 1932.[3] He was made Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1934 and Admiral in charge on a temporary basis at Alexandria in Egypt during the Abyssinian war in 1936 before becoming Rear Admiral Submarines in 1936.[3] He served in World War II initially as Vice Admiral commanding the Reserve Fleet destroyers on the Northern Patrol before becoming Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station in 1940.[3] He went on to be Flag Officer, Aberdeen from 1942 to 1944.[3]

He lived at Mantyley Chase in Newent in Gloucestershire.[6]

Family

He married Ida Guinevere Evans.[6] His son, Iwan Raikes, also served in the Royal Navy and became Flag Officer, Submarines.[7] His nephew, Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes DSO, also served in the Royal Navy and launched Operation Frankton, the first SBS personnel of the Royal Marines Commandos on their raid using the klepper canoe against German shipping in the Gironde estuary in 1942.[5] The story was told in the classic 1955 film The Cockleshell Heroes starring Trevor Howard.[8]

References
  1. "Obituary: Adml. Sir R. Raikes". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 26 May 1953. p. 8.
  2. "Robert Henry Taunton Raikes". Unit Histories. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  3. Admiral Sir Robert Henry Taunton Raikes Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  4. "No. 29799". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 October 1916. p. 10361.
  5. Obituary: Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2005
  6. The Hallowes Genealogy
  7. Debrett's People of Today 1994
  8. The Cockleshell Heroes at IMDb
Military offices
Preceded by
Cecil Talbot		 Rear-Admiral Submarines
1936–1938		 Succeeded by
Bertram Watson
Preceded by
Sir George Lyon		 Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station
1940–1941		 Succeeded by
Sir Algernon Willis
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