Vice admiral Sir Eric George Anderson Clifford, (3 September 1900 – 7 September 1964) 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 ...

officer who served as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff from 1954 to 1957.

Early life and education

Clifford was born in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, Sussex, the son of Captain William Trannock Clifford

RNR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

of Poplar and his wife, Clara Strutt, born in

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

. Like his father, Clifford was educated at the

Thames Nautical Training College {{Use British English, date=October 2017 The Thames Nautical Training College, as it is now called, was, for over a hundred years, situated aboard ships named HMS ''Worcester''. London shipowners, marine insurance underwriters and merchants ...

and aboard . In January 1917, he joined the Royal Navy Reserve as a midshipman, and then entered the

Naval career

Clifford served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the battleships and and then specialised in navigation.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He was appointed Fleet Navigating Officer, for the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

in 1938. He 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 opposi ...

as Commanding Officer of the destroyers and HMS ''Salisbury'' and then as Naval Assistant Secretary to the

War Cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...

from 1941 to 1943. In the closing stages of the war he commanded the cruiser . After the war Clifford became Chief of Staff in Hong Kong and then was given command of the Navigation School in 1947. He went on to command the aircraft carrier in 1949 before becoming

Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (A.C.N.S.) is a senior appointment in the Royal Navy usually a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7. History The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff was originally directly responsible to the Fir ...

in 1951 and Flag Officer commanding the 5th Cruiser Squadron and

Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet The Far East Fleet (also called the Far East Station) was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1952 and 1971. During the Second World War, the Eastern Fleet included many ships and personnel from other navies, including those of the N ...

in 1952. In the latter role he saw action during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He was made Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a

Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

in 1954; he retired in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Eric 1900 births Military personnel from Sussex 1964 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Lords of the Admiralty People from Hove Royal Navy vice admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Korean War Royal Navy personnel of World War I Royal Navy personnel of World War II