NEW NAVAL HEAD

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28451, 4 December 1957, Page 7

NEW NAVAL HEAD

Fine Record In War And Peace [From the London Correspondent of "The Press”) LONDON, November 28. Captain J. M. Villiers, who will be promoted to Rear-Admiral in January and will succeed RearAdmiral J. E. H. Mcßeath as Chief of the New Zealand Naval Staff, is an officer of the Royal Navy with a fine record of service in World War II and subsequently. The third son of the late RearAdmiral E. C. Villiers, Captain Villiers is aged 50 and entered the Royal Navy as a public school entry cadet in 1925. After serving in the American and West Indies Squadron he specialised in ignals and subsequently saw much service in destroyers in the Mediterranean.

Captain Villiers served as Squadron Signal Officer and Flag Lieutenant to the Admiral commanding the bat tle cruiser squad-

ron from 1939 to 1941. He left H.M.S. Hood when Admiral Sir William Whitworth relinquished command at Scapa Flow. This was immediately before the Hood’s last engagement in which she exploded and sank with the loss of almost all lives. Renown and War spite He served in H.M.S. Renown during her action with the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and also in H.M.S. Warspite during the Second battle of Narvik. From May, 1941 he served on the staff of Admiral, Submarines and in October, 1941, he was appointed to the staff of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay then engaged on planning operations in North Africa. He subsequently served with Admiral Ramsay during the invasion of Sicily. From 1943 to 1945 he was on the staff of Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Tovey, at the Nore and left Britain to command H.M.S. Ursa in the. British Pacific Fleet. Between 1946 and 1951 he served in the American and West Indies Squadron and the Admiralty in London. From 1952 to 1954 he was Queen’s Harbour Master and Captain of the Dockyard in Malta. In 1954 Captain Villiers assumed command of the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Bulwark when she was first commissioned and remained in command until January this year when the ship returned to Britain at the conclusion of the Suez operation. Captain Villiers is married and at present lives at Packhurst Farm, Clanfleld, Hampshire.