Richard Valentine Moore, (14 February 1916 – 25 April 2003) was an officer of

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

who was awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for the "great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" he showed in rendering mines safe during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

of 1940 despite having "no practical training".

Early life

Moore was born in London in 1916 and educated at the

Strand School Strand School was a boys' grammar school in the Tulse Hill area of South London. It moved there in 1913 from its original location at King's College in London's Strand. Distinguished in its heyday for its contribution of young men to the civil ...

and at

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where he obtained a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

. He worked for the

County of London Electricity Supply Company The County of London Electric Supply Company Limited (C.L.E.S.Co) was a British electricity undertaking. It was incorporated as a public company in 1891 to generate and supply electricity to parts of south west London and two parishes adjacent t ...

from 1936 until war was declared in September 1939. Commissioned into the

in 1939, he joined the Naval Unexploded Bomb Department from , serving as an assistant torpedo officer.

Second World War

In 1940, the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' began bombing British ports. They also mined the approaches to the ports with non-contact mines, triggered by a ship's magnetic field, which were difficult to detect and "sweep" using conventional methods.

16/17 September 1940

On the night of 16/17 September 1940, the Luftwaffe dropped 25

parachute mine A parachute mine is a naval mine dropped from an aircraft by parachute. They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command. Frequently, they were dropped on land targets. Hist ...

s on to London, causing widespread damage. Seventeen failed to explode and Sub-Lieutenant Moore and Lieutenant Commander

Dick Ryan Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

of the Royal Navy's Torpedo and Mining School at Portsmouth volunteered to deal with them. Though the first mine had been initially ticking it was silent when the two men arrived to examine it. They were aware the bombs had self-destruction mechanism with a 22-second delay clock, but they could not tell if the clock had stopped or be sure of preventing it from restarting. If they heard the bomb start to tick they would have to run for cover. The operation to neutralise the first three mines was successfully completed and Ryan formed two teams, each manned by an officer and a petty officer, to deal with the remainder.

Dagenham 1940

On the night of 20/21 September 1940, four parachute mines fell on

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

but only one exploded. Moore, working alongside Chief Petty Officer George Wheeler, examined one of the unexploded bombs with a very damaged fuse ring which could not be removed. Moore used a borrowed drill to drill either side of the fuse so it broke in half and could be extracted. He was removing the mine's magnetic trigger when Ryan arrived after disarming another mine. Having satisfied himself that the mine which Moore was handling had been made safe, Ryan went to a warehouse some 200 yards away, to deal with the last mine. As he and his assistant entered the building the mine, which was hanging by its parachute, exploded, killing both men. Moore was one of the first to be invested with the George Cross by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on 17 June 1941; Ryan and his assistant received posthumous George Crosses. His citation, published in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' of 27 December 1940, noted his courage in tackling a damaged mine that had fallen on

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, on 20 September 1940.

Later war career

Moore served with the mines counter-measures section at the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

until appointed torpedo officer of the light cruiser in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

in 1942. He saw action in support of the Eighth Army in the coastal waters of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and during

Operation Vigorous Operation Vigorous (known in Italy as 1942, "the Battle of mid-June 1942") was a British operation during the Second World War, to escort supply convoy MW11 from the eastern Mediterranean to Malta, which took place from 11 to 16 June 1942. Vigor ...

, when Rear Admiral

Sir Philip Vian Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Louis Vian, & Two Bars (15 July 1894 – 27 May 1968) was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars. Vian specialised in naval gunnery from the end of World War I, and subsequently received seve ...

tried to fight a relief convoy through to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. After being involved in the Navy's support for the Allied landings in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

and

Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...

, Moore served as deputy director of Torpedoes and Mining on the Admiralty delegation in Washington, D.C. for the last year of the war.

Post-war career

On leaving the Navy in 1946, Moore worked for the

Atomic Energy Research Establishment The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) was the main Headquarters, centre for nuclear power, atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Governm ...

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, where he was appointed maintenance manager of the research reactor Bepo. Soon he was drawing on his pre-war experience to conduct a study on whether a larger reactor could produce heat at cheaper prices. With his service experience Moore was frequently chosen to be the public spokesman on atomic issues. When

Georgi Malenkov Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov ( – 14 January 1988) was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the par ...

, the Russian energy minister, was shown round the

Calder Hall Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

plant in 1956, it was Moore, by then chief design engineer, who assured the press that care had been taken not to tell him either the station's output or commercial value. After the construction of Calder Hall was completed, Moore became director of reactor design at the

UK Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ( ...

and managing director of the establishment's reactor group. As such, he was the driving force behind the advanced gas-cooled reactors, which have led to today's more efficient

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

. In 1966, he toured the country giving his

Faraday lecture The Faraday Lectureship Prize, previously known simply as the Faraday Lectureship, is awarded once every two years (approximately) by the Royal Society of Chemistry for "exceptional contributions to physical or theoretical chemistry".. Named afte ...

"Nuclear Power Today and Tomorrow". Dick Moore, who was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1963, died on 25 April 2003.Lieutenant-Commander Dick Moore – Daily Telegraph Obituary
/ref>

Personal life

Moore married Ruby Edith Pair in 1944. She predeceased him with one of their three sons.

References

External links

* ttp://www.naval-history.net/WW2MedalsBr-GC.htm#moor George Cross citation for Richard Moore {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Dick Bomb disposal personnel British nuclear engineers British recipients of the George Cross Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Nuclear history of the United Kingdom People educated at the Strand School Royal Navy recipients of the George Cross Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II Military personnel from London 1916 births 2003 deaths