N.Z. NAVAL CHIEF

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 85, 11 April 1945, Page 2

N.Z. NAVAL CHIEF

CHANGE ANNOUNCED SIR A. LAKE'S SUCCESSOR O.C. WELLINGTON, Tuesday/ The Admiralty has appointed Captain G. H. Faulkner, D.S.C., R.N., to relieve Commodore Sir Atwell Lake, Bart., C.8., 0.8. E., as First Naval Member of the New Zealand Naval Board and Chief of the Naval Staff, with the rank of commodore, second class, to date from April 20, 1945. This was announced to-night by the Minister of Defence. Mr. Jones, who said that Captain Faulkner would leave England by sea route for New Zealand toward the end of this month. Commodore Lake's term of office was due to expire at the end of last year, but at the request of the Government this was extended for a further period. Visited New Zealand in Hood Captain Faulkner has seen about 38 years' service in the Royal Navy. He visited New Zealand in the Hood in 1924 when he was a member of the staff of Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field. Com-mander-in-Chief of the Special Service Squadron. Throughout the war of 1914-1918 Captain Faulkner served in destroyers of the Harwich Force commanded by RearAdmiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt. He joined the Laertes of the Third Destroyer Flotilla as a sub-lieutenant shortly before the outbreak of war and gained early promotion to lieutenant for his good service in the action in Heligoland Bight on August 28, 1914. In this action he was wounded. Subsequently he served In the destroyers Redgauntlet and Nimrod and from April, 1918, he commanded successively the Myotic and the Thruster. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in December, 1917. After his advancement to the rank of lieutenant-com-mander in October, 1922, he graduated at the Staff College. He was serving in command of the Voyager of the First Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean when he was promoted commander on June 30, 1928. Promotion to captain came on December 31, 1935, and he was subsequently employed on base defences in the Mediterranean and later attended a Staff College war course. Captain Faulkner's first command In that rank was in January, 1937, when he was appointed to the Bideford in the Persian Gulf. For several months in 1938 he was acting-Senior Naval Officer in that area in the Shoreham. Returning to England early in 1939, he attended a senior officers' war course and in, June was appointed to the Caledon for duty as Senior Officer of the Reserve Fleet at the Nore. From September, 1939, to March, 1941, Captain Faulkner was on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, the Nore. He was appointed to command the Berwick in May, 1941, and he remained in that cruiser until February, 1943. Period in South Africa In April, 1943, Captain Faulkner was appointed Chief of Staff to the Com-mander-in-Chief, South Atlantic, and principal sea- transport officer for the Union of South Africa with the rank of commodore, second class, with headquarters at Simonstown. This appointment he recently relinquished. Commodore Sir Atwell Lake succeeded Commodore W. E. Parry in April, 1942, as Chief of the Naval Staff and First Member of the Naval Board. He is the ninth baronet, the baronetcy being created in 1711. Born in 1891, Sir Atwell is a son of the late Admiral Atwell Peregrine Macleod Lake and succeeded his cousin in the title in 1924. He married in 1922 and has three sons, the heir to the baronetcy being his eldest son, born in 1923. During the last war he served under Admiral Beatty in the Lion and took part in the Battle of Jutland.