Vice Admiral Sir Ian Stewart McIntosh KBE, CB, DSO,

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

(11 October 1919 – 31 July 2003) 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 Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operational Requirements).

Naval career

Educated at

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"(1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ty ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, McIntosh joined the

in 1938 and served in

World War II 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 ...

.Debrett's People of Today 1994 By the end of 1940 he had been promoted to

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

and volunteered for service in

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s. In March 1941 he joined the passenger ship ''Britannia'' at Liverpool, bound for a posting with the First Submarine Flotilla based in

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, Egypt. On the morning of 25 March ''Britannia'' was sunk by gunfire from the German raider ''Thor'' approximately 700 miles west of

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, Sierra Leone. McIntosh took command of Lifeboat No. 7 with 82 survivors on board - 26 more than the boat was rated for - and successfully navigated 1,500 miles in 23 days to

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Brazil. For this remarkable feat he was awarded the military

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, normally reserved for senior ranks. He served aboard the submarines HMS ''Porpoise'' and HMS ''Thrasher'' earning the

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

for his service in the latter in 1942. As commanding officer of the submarine HMS ''Sceptre'' he sank almost 15,000 tons of enemy shipping and took part in

Operation Source Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – ''Tirpitz'', ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Lützow'' – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines. The attacks took place in September 1943 at Kaaf ...

, the attacks on heavy German warships in Norwegian waters by towed

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

s.Obituary: Vice Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh
The Guardian, 16 August 2003 He commanded the submarine HMS ''Alderney'' from 1946, the submarine HMS ''Aeneas'' from 1950 and then the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

in the 1960s. He became Director-General Weapons (Naval) at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1969 and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operational Requirements) in 1970 with the promotion to vice admiral on 20 November 1970, before retiring in 1973. In retirement he became an executive search consultant with Alexander Hughes & Associates.

Family

In 1943 he married Elizabeth Rosemary Rasmussen; they had three sons and one daughter (who died).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIntosh, Ian Royal Navy vice admirals 1919 births 2003 deaths Royal Navy officers of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)