17 Facts About Peter Gretton

Peter Gretton was active in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War, and was a successful convoy escort commander.

Peter Gretton eventually rose to become Fifth Sea Lord and retired as a vice admiral before entering university life as a bursar and academic.

Peter Gretton served in the aircraft carrier Courageous before seeing action in the cruiser HMS Durban during the Abyssinia crisis and the Spanish Civil War.

Peter Gretton led a landing party in Haifa during the Arab rebellion in Palestine.

Peter Gretton attended an anti-submarine course at Portland and, on the outbreak of the Second World War, was assigned to the destroyer HMS Vega as first lieutenant.

Peter Gretton took part in Operation Pedestal, the Malta convoy operation in August 1942, and sank the Italian submarine Dagabur by ramming.

Peter Gretton assumed command of HMS Duncan on 7 April 1942 when Escort Group B7 arrived in Derry after covering Convoy HX 231.

From 22 April 1943 to 6 May 1943, Commander Peter Gretton led Escort Group B7 in covering Convoy ONS 5, considered to be the turning point of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Peter Gretton continued in command of Escort Group B7 until the summer of 1944, when it was disbanded as part of the preparations for Operation Neptune, the naval portion of the Normandy invasion.

Peter Gretton's next posting was to the Admiralty plans division, where he worked from 1944 to 1946.

Peter Gretton served as the domestic bursar of University College, Oxford, from 1965 until 1971, and became a senior research fellow in 1971.

Peter Gretton published widely on defence matters and was the president of the Royal Humane Society.

Peter Gretton died on 11 November 1992 at the age of 80.

Peter Gretton was featured talking about his wartime experience on the World at War documentary series, where he appears in Episode 10 "Wolf Pack: U-Boats in the Atlantic " which was first screened on 9 January 1974.

Peter Gretton was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1936 and was mentioned in dispatches in 1940.

Peter Gretton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1941 Birthday Honours.

Peter Gretton received the Distinguished Service Order and Two Bars; the first in 1942 for Operation Pedestal; the second in 1943 for the defence of ONS 5; and the third in late 1943 for the actions as support group leader.