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Bill King (Royal Navy officer)

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William Donald Aelian King (b. 1910) was a British naval officer, yachtsman and author, who in 1969 was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first solo non-stop around the world yacht race titleimage.

History

William Donald Aelian King, more commonly known as Commander Bill King, was born to Lieutenant-Colonel William Albert de Courcy King. He is the oldest surviving World War II submarine commander .

On 1 January 1949, King married Anne Theodosia Mouira Leslie (b. 1914, d. 1984), eldest child of Sir John Randolph Shane Leslie (3rd Baronet of Glaslough), and an American woman from Vermont, Majorie Ide. As Anita Leslie, Anne wrote over a dozen books, including Love in a Nutshell (1952), The Remarkable Mr. Jerome: The Life and Times of Leonard Jerome, Sir Winston Churchill's American Grandfather (1954). In 1974 she wrote the biography of Francis Chichester, the first person to sail around the world single-handedly. During World War II she served in the Motor Transport Corps in Africa (1940-42) and then as an ambulance driver in the French Army (1944-45). For the latter, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945. The Kings had two children, Richard Tarka Bourke King (b. 27 August 1949), and Leonie Rose King (b. 10 October 1951).

In the 1930s King enlisted in the Royal Navy, and in 1931 was posted on the submarine HMS Orpheus .

During World War II, King served in three submarines of the Royal Navy: HMS Snapper, HMS Trusty, and HMS Telemachus. He patrolled the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Far East, and gained the rank of Commander. Between December 1939 and July 1940 Lieutenant King served in the North Sea on HMS Snapper, a S-class submarine. The Snapper sunk six ships, mainly in the Skagerak Strait . In 1941 King served on the T-class submarine HMS Trusty in the Mediterranean Sea].

From July 1943 to August 1945 King commanded the T-class submarine HMS Telemachus, which in July 1944 sunk the Japanese submarine I-166 in the Strait of Malacca.

During the War, King was promoted to Commander, and awarded seven medals, including the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Distinguished Service Cross. In 2006 he received an eighth, the Arctic Emblem (2006).

King was still alive in September 2007 ].

Bibliography

Books authored by Commander Bill King:

  • 1958: The Stick and the Stars.
  • 1969: Capsize. (Nautical Publishing
  • 1975: Adventure in Depth.(Putnam Publishing).
  • 1983: Dive and Attack. Revises and updates The Stick and the Stars, describes author's experiences during World War II. (W. Kimber/ Hutchinson)
  • 1997: Kamikaze: the Wind of God (Minerva Press)

External links

References