Arthur Hezlet

Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Richard Hezlet (7 April 1914 – 7 November 2007), nicknamed Baldy Hezlet, was a decorated Royal Navy submariner. He became the Royal Navy's youngest captain at the time – aged 36 – and its youngest admiral, aged 45. In retirement he became a military historian. He was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire, the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Legion of Merit. Early life Hezlet was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to Major-General Robert Knox Hezlet, CB, CBE, DSO and Josepha Dorothy Hezlet (née Arter). His father had a distinguished career in the British Army including appointments as director of artillery at the War Office (1930 to 1934) and in India (1934 to 1938). Hezlet joined the Royal Navy in January 1928, aged 13. He attended the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and went to sea in 1932, serving as a midshipman on the battleships HMS Royal Oak (September 1931 – January 1934) and HMS Resolution (March – July 1934). Hezlet was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 April 1936, achieving the highest mark in his Lieutenant's examinations, winning the Ronald Megaw Memorial Prize. In December 1935 he began the submarine course at HMS Dolphin, something for which he had "not applied or volunteered". By 1936, he was the correspondence officer on the destroyer HMS Daring, later volunteering to serve on submarines. By July 1937 he was serving on the submarine HMS Regulus on the China station as Navigating Officer and then Torpedo Officer. On his return home, he was appointed First Lieutenant of HMS H43 in which he served from January 1938 to April 1939.