Walter Couchman

Admiral Sir Walter Thomas Couchman, KCB, CVO, DSO, OBE (19 March 1905 – 2 May 1981) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from February to November 1960, when he retired from service.

Sir Walter Couchman
Born(1905-03-19)19 March 1905
Madras, India
Died2 May 1981(1981-05-02) (aged 76)
Sudbury, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1918–1960
RankAdmiral
Commands heldVice Chief of the Naval Staff (1960)
Flag Officer, Air (Home) (1957–60)
HMS Glory (1946)
HMS Broke (1941–42)
HMS Veteran (1940–41)
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order
Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, Couchman joined the Royal Navy and specialized in naval aviation.[1]

He served in the Second World War as Commander in the Air Materials Division and then as Commanding Officer of the destroyer HMS Veteran.[1] In 1941 he was appointed Staff Officer (Plans) for the Mediterranean Fleet.[1] Later in the War he became Naval Assistant (Underwater Weapons) and then Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer Air (Home).[1]

After the War he became Captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Glory and then, from 1947, Director of Naval Air Organisation and Training at the Admiralty.[2]

He went on to be Flag Officer, Flying Training in 1951, Flag Officer, Heavy Squadron in 1953, Flag Officer, Aircraft Carriers in 1954 and Deputy Controller of Supplies (Air) at the Ministry of Supply in 1955.[2] He became Flag Officer, Air (Home) in 1957 and Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in 1960.[1] He retired in November 1960.[1]

Family

He married Phyllida Connellan.[3] Following the dissolution of his first marriage, he married Hughe Thelma Hunter Blair née Reid in 1965.[4]

References
  1. Obituary:Admiral Sir Walter Couchman
  2. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  3. Bunbury family history
  4. Burke's landed gentry of Great Britain by Peter Beauclerk Dewar, p.75
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Caspar John		 Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
1960		 Succeeded by
Sir Varyl Begg
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