Sir Laurence Durlacher
Born24 July 1904[1]
Marylebone, London[2]
Died16 January 1986(1986-01-16) (aged 81)[3]
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Volage
Signal Division
3rd Destroyer Flotilla
Commander,Signals and Radar Establishment
Chief of Staff, Eastern Fleet
Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel
5th Cruiser Squadron
Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet
Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff
Fifth Sea Lord
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsKnight 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 (24 July 1904 – 16 January 1986) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Fifth Sea Lord.

Durlacher joined the Royal Navy and chose to specialise in signals.[4] 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.[4] He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the US Government for his services in these campaigns[5] and given command of HMS Volage in the Eastern Fleet in 1944.[4]

After the War, having been promoted to captain in 1945,[6] he became deputy director of the Signal Division of the Naval Staff, and in 1949 was appointed Commander of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet.[4] 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.[4] He was made Flag Officer commanding 5th Cruiser Squadron and Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet in 1957 and then Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord in 1959; he retired in 1962.[4]

Family

In 1934 he married Rimma who went on to become a pillar of the British community on the Riviera.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Durlacher, Lawrence George". The National Archives (UK). 15 January 1918. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ↑ 1911 England Census
  3. ↑ "Deaths". The Times. 20 January 1986.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  5. ↑ "No. 37757". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 October 1946. p. 5077.
  6. ↑ U-boat.net
  7. ↑ "Fleet Air Arm obituaries". Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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