Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Frank Roddam Twiss, (7 July 1910 – 27 January 1994) was a senior

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 served as

Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel The Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (formerly Second Sea Lord) is deputy to the First Sea Lord and the second highest-ranking officer to currently serve in the Royal Navy and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establish ...

from 1967 to 1970. He went on to serve as

Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod Black Rod (officially known as the Lady Usher of the Black Rod or, if male, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod) is an official in the parliaments of several Commonwealth countries. The position originates in the House of Lords of the Parliam ...

from 1970 to 1978.

Naval career

The son of Lieutenant Colonel

Edward Twiss Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Kemble Twiss (6 November 1882 – 1 August 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and an officer in both the British Army and the British Indian Army, as well as playing first-class cricket while serving in Britis ...

and his first wife Margaret Edmondson née Tate, he joined the

as a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

in 1924.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> During 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 ...

, Twiss was Gunnery Officer of which was badly damaged during the

Second Battle of the Java Sea The Second Battle of the Java Sea was the last naval action of the Netherlands East Indies campaign, of 1941–42. It occurred on 1 March 1942, two days after the first Battle of the Java Sea. It saw the end of the last Allied warships operating ...

: Twiss was captured and was a Japanese

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

for three years. He was the last captain of before she was transferred to the

Peruvian Navy The Peruvian Navy ( es, link=no, Marina de Guerra del Perú, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Addit ...

on 9 February 1960. Twiss was appointed Naval Secretary to the First Lord in 1960.

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton, (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secret ...

, who had been First Lord of the Admiralty when Twiss was Naval Secretary, later said: Twiss was appointed Flag Officer Flotillas for the Home Fleet in 1962. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet in 1965 and

in 1967. In that capacity he presided over the abolition of the naval rum ration. He retired in 1970.

Later life

In retirement, Twiss served as

from 1970 to 1978 and was a member of

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

from 1970 to 1979.

Notes

, - , - , - 1910 births 1994 deaths British World War II prisoners of war Ushers of the Black Rod Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Lords of the Admiralty Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Navy admirals Serjeants-at-arms of the House of Lords World War II prisoners of war held by Japan {{UK-navy-bio-stub