Ragnar Colvin
| Sir Ragnar Colvin | |
|---|---|
Robert Menzies and Admiral Ragnar Colvin at the HMAS Perth march, 1940
|
|
| Born |
7 May 1882 Whitehall, London |
| Died | 22 February 1954 (aged 71) Royal Hospital Haslar, Hampshire |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1896–1944 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held |
Chief of the Australian Naval Staff (1937–41) Royal Naval College, Greenwich (1934–37) 2nd Battle Squadron (1932–33) HMS Revenge (1924–25) HMS Caradoc (1919–21) |
| Battles/wars |
First World War Second World War |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath |
Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin KBE, CB (7 May 1882 – 22 February 1954) was a long-serving Royal Navy officer who commanded the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Colvin was the son of Clement Sneyd Colvin and his wife Alice Jane, née Lethbridge. This connected him with a long and illustrious line of British Empire soldiers and administrators, the Colvin family; his grandfather was John Russell Colvin, lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India during the mutiny of 1857. His uncles included Walter Mytton and Auckland, also lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. A first cousin, Brenda Colvin (1897–1981), was an important landscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalization. A more distant cousin was Sidney Colvin, who grew up to be a critic, curator, and great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Colvin joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in HMS Britannia in 1896, was commissioned lieutenant six years later and, after qualifying as a gunnery specialist in 1904, was promoted commander in 1913. In the First World War he served as Executive Officer in the cruiser Hibernia, and in the battleship Revenge in which he served in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Promoted captain on 31 December 1917, he served in the Admiralty as Assistant Director of Plans and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
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