Draft:Commander Walter Roger Marshall AʻDeane

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Walter Roger Marshall-A’Deane (1902 – 22 May 1941) was a Royal Navy officer who commanded the destroyer HMS Greyhound during the Second World War. His decorations included the Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Service Cross and a posthumous Albert Medal for attempting to rescue sailors during the Battle of Crete.

Marriage and change of Surname

Following his 1926 marriage in New Zealand to Miss Margaret Hamilton A’Deane the then Lieutenant Roger Marshall added the maiden name of his bride to his own family name. Henceforth the couple were known by the family name Marshall-A’Deane. The couple had met in New Zealand when Lieutenant Walter Roger Marshall and Lieutenant Laurence Lyonel Tollemanche, who were both officers from HMS Dunedin at the time visited the A’Deane family home of Ashcott, Takapau, Hawke’s Bay on New Zealand’s North Island. At the time, Lieutenants Marshall and Tollemanche were attachés to Lord Jellicoe, Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy, a regular visitor to Ashcott while he in New Zealand.

Naval career

Marshall-A’Deane entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne, in 1916. He was promoted to commander on 30 June 1939 and took command of Greyhound on 5 July that year, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Under his command, Greyhound undertook convoy escort and other wartime operations. The ship participated in the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940, the Battle of Dakar in September 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. During the Dunkirk evacuation, Greyhound sustained bomb damage and was towed back to Dover. Greyhound sank the Italian submarine Anfitrite on 6 March 1941. Marshall-A’Deane’s appointment to the Distinguished Service Order was announced in the London Gazette on 8 July 1941, recognising his conduct in a successful attack on an Italian submarine. The announcement identified him as already holding the Distinguished Service Cross.

Battle of Crete and death

On 22 May 1941, Greyhound was sunk by German aircraft during the Battle of Crete. Marshall-A’Deane survived the sinking and was rescued by the destroyer HMS Kandahar. Later that day, the cruiser HMS Fiji was also sunk, and Kandahar went to rescue its survivors. Despite having already survived the loss of his own ship, Marshall-A’Deane entered the water to help the men from Fiji. He was not seen again.

He was awarded the Albert Medal posthumously. The award citation, reproduced in a later historical account, concluded: “This was the last proof of his great gallantry.”