Percy Douglas
| Sir Percy Douglas | |
|---|---|
_Percy_Douglas_by_Walter_Stoneman,_1919.jpg)
Vice-Admiral Douglas, 1919, by Walter Stoneman
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| Birth name | Henry Percy Douglas |
| Born |
1 November 1876 Higher Bebington, Cheshire |
| Died | 4 November 1939 (aged 63) Dover, Kent |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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| Service/branch |
 Royal Navy
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| Years of service | 1890 – 1932, 1939 |
| Rank | Vice Admiral |
| Commands held |
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| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | |
Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Douglas KCB CMG FRGS FRAS AICE (1 November 1876 – 4 November 1939) was a British naval officer who specialised in surveying and was Hydrographer of the Navy.
Henry Percy Douglas was educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy, Southsea before entering the Royal Navy training ship HMS Britannia as a cadet in 1890. In 1892 he was appointed to HMS Cleopatra as a midshipman. In 1894 he was part of a landing party at Bluefields during the Nicaraguan campaign to annex the Mosquito Coast. In 1895 he was transferred to the newly launched Majestic as acting sub-lieutenant; his promotion was confirmed in March 1896 and he was appointed to HMS Stork, the first of the many surveying ships in which he served at various times all over the world. In 1898 he was promoted to lieutenant.
In 1908, still with the rank of lieutenant, he was given his first command, the surveying ship Waterwitch. From 1910 to 1914 he was Superintendent of Charts in the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty. He was promoted to Commander on 31 December 1910.
In February 1915, at the beginning of the Dardanelles Campaign, Admiral John de Robeck asked the Admiralty for a good surveying officer and Douglas was sent out to join the flagship Inflexible. Later he transferred to Queen Elizabeth and Lord Nelson. De Robeck's dispatches contain several mentions of Douglas' "work of inestimable value to the fleet". His expertise was in fact indispensable for successful landing operations. His zeal and ability were recognized by promotion to acting captain in October 1915, confirmed at the end of the year. After the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula in January 1916 Douglas returned to the Admiralty and served as Director of the Naval Meteorological Service. Then in 1918 Admiral Roger Keyes, commanding the Dover Patrol, who had been with de Robeck in the Dardanelles campaign, asked for Douglas to join his staff at Dover to prepare for the Zeebrugge Raid and the First Ostend Raid in April 1918. After the raids Douglas was appointed CMG "in recognition of distinguished services during the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend on the night of the 22nd–23rd April, 1918." He was also awarded the Belgian Order of Leopold and the Italian Medal of Military Valor.
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