Geoffrey Layton
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Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, GBE KCB KCMG DSO, (20 April 1884 - 4 September 1964), was a British Royal Naval officer.
He was the son of a Liverpool solicitor, George Layton. He joined the Royal Navy as a naval cadet in May 1899 on HMS Britannia. Following this he served as a Midshipman aboard cruisers in the English Channel and off the South Coast of America.
He took his Lieutenant's course in 1905 and he joined the submarine branch of the navy, in which he had his first command. From 1910 he did two years general service and returned to submarines in 1912, commanding several of them during the First World War.
On 18 August 1915 his submarine E13 was ordered to the Baltic to assist the Russians, but he ran aground on Saltholm off the Danish coast. E13 was destroyed early the following morning by a German torpedo boat, killing half his men. Layton and the others were interned at Copenhagen. Three months later, disguised as a local sailor, he managed to return to Britain. At the end of the war he was awarded the DSO.
He was promoted to Captain and held the post of Chief of Staff to the Rear Admiral (Submarines). In the late 1920s he was appointed Deputy Director of Operations at the Admiralty and in 1930 he attended a course at the Imperial Defence College. From 1931 to 1933, he was posted as Chief of Staff on the China station.
He then transferred to the 'Big Ships, firstly the Renown and following another period at the Admiralty, he commanded the Battle cruiser squadron, flying his flag on the Hood from August 1938 - August 1939. He was then appointed Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, firstly under Admiral Dudley Pound and later under Admiral Andrew Cunningham.
He then took over as Commander-in-Chief China Fleet, September 1940. In May 1941, he was informed that Admiral Sir Tom Phillips would be taking over from him and the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse were sent to Singapore in December 1941 with Phillips flying his flag on the Prince of Wales. Sir Geoffrey broadcast a message to the Malayan people, telling them of the improvements to defence on the arrival of these two capital ships in Singapore.On 10 December he handed over the naval command to Phillips and made preparations to embark for home. At 1.20pm on the same day Admiral Phillips was lost on the Prince of Wales off Malaya, when both ships were sunk by Japanese action. He was then recalled as Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet.
On January 5th Sir Geoffrey left Singapore taking his headquarters to Java in order to organise better convoy protection, taking Rear-Admiral Palliser with him and appointed him as Senior Naval Officer at Tanjong Priok, Batavia, until the fall of Singapore.
The command of the Eastern Fleet was given to Sir James Somerville. Sir Geoffrey was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
On 5 April 1942 the Japanese attacked Colombo, sinking two cruisers, an auxiliary cruiser and a destroyer. On 9 April they attacked Trincomalee and sank an aircraft carrier, a destroyer and a corvette. The Japanese now switched their attack from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, and on 11 April Sir Geoffrey sent a signal that the enemy had withdrawn from Ceylon to Singapore.
The defence of the island had been a fiasco. The RAF squadrons on the island proved no match for the Japanese Zeroes, losing at least twice as many aircraft as the Japanese. The early warning system set up by Sir Geoffrey was a shambles: the aircraft at Ratmalana were still on the ground when the Japanese aircraft flew overhead. None of the local inhabitants had reported the Japanese aircraft, which had flown over the Ceylonese coastline for half an hour, in full view of everybody, before reaching Ratmalana.
Following the war Sir Geoffrey returned to the UK as Commander in Chief, Portsmouth a post he held until his retirement in 1947.
Sir Geoffrey Layton died at Portsmouth on at the age of 80.
[edit] See also
- Indian Ocean Raid
- Participation of Ceylon in World War II
- South-East Asian Theatre of World War II#Indian Ocean
| Military Offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by not known |
Commander-in-Chief British Eastern Fleet 1940–1941 |
Succeeded by Sir Tom Phillips |
| Preceded by Sir Tom Phillips |
Commander-in-Chief British Eastern Fleet 1941–1942 |
Succeeded by Sir James Somerville |
Categories: 1884 births | 1964 deaths | Royal Navy admirals | Royal Navy submarine commanders | Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire | Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath | Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George | Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
