Roy Dowling
Roy Russell Dowling, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Navy. He served as Chief of Naval Staff from 1955 until 1959, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1959 until 1961. In 1963 he became Australian Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, serving until his death in 1969. He died in Melbourne, Australia, in 1969, and is buried at Flinders Naval Depot, Victoria.
About Roy Dowling in brief
Roy Russell Dowling, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Navy. He served as Chief of Naval Staff from 1955 until 1959, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1959 until 1961. Dowling was born in northern New South Wales, and went to sea aboard various Royal Navy and RAN vessels, and later specialised in gunnery. He saw action in the Mediterranean theatre as executive officer of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Naiad, and survived her sinking by a German U-boat in March 1942. As CNS he had to deal with shortages of money, manpower and equipment, and with the increasing role of the United States in Australia’s defence planning, at the expense of traditional ties with Britain. In 1963 he became Australian Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, serving until his death in 1969. He was awarded the King’s Medal in 1918 for his “gentlemanly bearing, character, good influence among his fellows and officer-like qualities”; he also received the Distinguished Service Order in 1944 for his service in the South West Pacific. He died in Melbourne, Australia, in 1969, and is buried at Flinders Naval Depot, Victoria. He is survived by his wife, Jessie Blanch, and two sons and three daughters, all of whom served in the RAN or RAN equivalent of the Australian Army or RAAF.
He also leaves behind a wife and two daughters, both of whom were born in the 1920s and 30s, and a son and daughter-in-law, who served with him in the Australian Air Force in the Second World War. He had a son, David, who became the first Australian to serve in the U.S. Air Force, serving in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. He retired from the military in 1961, and was succeeded by his son David Dowling as Commander of HMAS Swan, a sloop-of-the-line, and the Australian Navy’s first aircraft carrier, HMAS Sydney. His son David was also a naval officer, serving on HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Anzac, as well as HMAS Platypus, and served as a gunnery officer on HMS Colombo, HMAS Anzac, and HMAS PlatypUS and HMS Plantypus. He later served as Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet and was promoted to vice admiral in 1953. In 1957 he was knighted in the Order of the Bath and appointed a Knight Commander of theRoyal Victorian Order. He went on to become Chief of the Naval Personnel in 1950, and Flag officer CommandingHM Australian Fleet in 1953, before taking up the position of CNS in 1955. In 1959 he was appointed Chairman of COSC, the forerunner of the role of Australia’s Chief of Defence Force. In 1961 he was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
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