Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Maxwell Compston (12 September 1915 – 20 August 2000) 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 Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.
Naval career
Educated at the
Epsom College
Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orph ...
, Compston joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
in 1936
[Obituary: Vice Admiral Sir Peter Compston]
The Times, 19 September 2000 and transferred to the Royal Navy in 1937.
[Debrett's People of Today 1994] He 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 ...
with
810 Naval Air Squadron
810 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the amalgamation of the 12 Blackburn Dart aircraft from 463 and 44 Flight (Fleet Torpedo) Flights Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm. The ...
and then
700 Naval Air Squadron.
[Obituary: Vice Admiral Sir Peter Compston]
Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2000 He was appointed Commanding Officer of the
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
HMS ''Orwell'' in 1955, naval
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1960 and Commanding Officer of 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 1962.
[ ''Victorious'' was under Compston's command during service in the ]Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...
.[ He went on to be naval attaché in ]Washington D. C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in 1965, Flag Officer Flotillas Western Fleet in 1967 and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic in 1968.[ He retired in 1970.][
]
Family
In 1939 he married Valerie Marjorie Bocquet; they had one son and one daughter.[ Following the dissolution of his first marriage, he married Angela Brickwood in 1954.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compston, Peter
1915 births
2000 deaths
People educated at Epsom College
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Royal Navy vice admirals
Royal Navy officers of World War II