Commander Bill King
| William Donald Aelian King | |
|---|---|
Bill King
|
|
| Nickname(s) | Bill |
| Born | 23 June 1910 |
| Died | 21 September 2012 (aged 102) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 Royal Navy
|
| Years of service | December 1927 – April 1946 |
| Rank | Commander |
| Unit | Submarine Service |
| Commands held |
|
| Battles/wars |
North Sea (1939–40) Mediterranean Sea (1941) Action of 17 July 1944 |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Order (1940) Distinguished Service Cross (1940) Bar to the DSO (1945) Arctic Emblem (2006) Others: 1939–1945 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, War Medal 1939–1945 Civilian: Blue Water Medal (1975) |
| Relations |
Anita Leslie (spouse) William King (grandfather) |
| Other work | Farmer Solo circumnavigator (1969–73) Author (1958–97) |
Commander William Donald Aelian "Bill" King, DSO & Bar, DSC (23 June 1910 – 21 September 2012) was a British naval officer, yachtsman and author. He was the oldest participant in the first solo non-stop, around-the-world yacht race, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the only person to command a British submarine on both the first and last days of World War II. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving British World War II submarine commander.
Brought up by his mother and grandmother, King went to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He was first assigned to the battleship Resolution, and later became commanding officer of the submarine Snapper. He served on three separate vessels in World War II, and was promoted to commander and awarded seven medals during the war. King not only survived World War II, but succeeded in a singlehanded circumnavigation in 1973 on his third attempt. During the latter journey, he managed to reach port despite a collision with a large sea creature 400 miles (640 km) southwest of Australia.
William Donald Aelian King was born to William Albert de Courcy King and Georgina Marie MacKenzie in 1910. King's grandfather, William King, was Chair of Mineralogy and Geology at Queen’s College, Galway. He was appointed when the College first opened in 1849. Grandfather King was the first to argue that neanderthals were a species separate from modern humans.
King's father, William Albert de Courcy King, was born in 1875. He married Georgina Marie, daughter of a "Mr. D. F. MacKenzie, of Collingwood Grange, Camberley, Surrey" in June 1908. De Courcy King attended Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and then the School of Military Engineering, Chatham. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1894. Prior to World War I, his postings included Saint Lucia in the 1890s, where the Engineers constructed gun emplacements and fortified coal stations, and South Africa, where the Engineers built blockhouses (designed by Major S. R. Rice, RE) during the Anglo Boer War. De Courcy King was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916 while a major. During the First World War Lieutenant-Colonel De Courcy King served with the 36th (Ulster) Division in Belgium.
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