Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Derick Henry Fellowes Hetherington CB DSC & Bar (27 June 1911 – 23 November 1992) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer who became Flag Officer, Malta.

Early life and education

Hetherington was born on 27 June 1911, and educated at St Neot's School,

Eversley Eversley is a village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village is located around northeast of Basingstoke and around west of Yateley. The River Blackwater, and the border with Berkshire, form the northern boun ...

and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. In 1942 he married Josephine Mary Vavasour; they had a son and three daughters.

Naval career

Hetherington served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

becoming commanding officer of the destroyer HMS ''Windsor'' in May 1943 and commanding officer of the destroyer HMS ''Lookout'' in March 1944. He saw action in the

Battle of the Ligurian Sea The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of the Second World War fought on 18 March 1945, in the Gulf of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea. A '' Kriegsmarine'' flotilla of two torpedo boats and one destroyer was conducting an offensi ...

, destroying two German Ships in March 1945. After the War he was appointed Captain, (D), 4th Destroyer Squadron from March 1956 to November 1957. In July 1959 he was appointed Flag Officer, Malta, retiring from the service in 1961.

Later life and death

After leaving the Royal Navy, Hetherington was appointed as Domestic Bursar of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

in 1961, and made a Fellow of the college two years later. In retirement he served as President of the Watlington Branch of

the Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

from 1981 to 1989. Hetherington died in 1992 and was buried at St Mary's Church in

Pyrton Pyrton is a small village and large civil parish in Oxfordshire about north of the small town of Watlington and south of Thame. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 227. The toponym is from the Old English meaning "pear-tree ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hetherington, Derick 1911 births 1992 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Military personnel from Middlesex Royal Navy personnel of World War II