Stanley Brian de Courcy-Ireland (1900–2001) was an officer in the Royal Navy, starting as a midshipman at the age of 13 and retiring as Deputy Director of Naval Equipment in 1951.
During the First World War, he served in the battle of Jutland, survived a torpedo attack by a U-boat and saw the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow. In the interwar period, he joined the Fleet Air Arm and served as an observer. During the Second World War, he saw action on HMS Newcastle in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He then returned to naval aviation, commanding an air station, coordinating air and naval action and then serving as Director of Combined Operations for the invasion of Europe. Post-war, he commanded HMS Ajax in the Mediterranean, seeing action in the Balkans and the blockade of Palestine.
Legacy
His recollection of action in the First World War is preserved as an oral history in the Imperial War Museum.
DeCourcy Ireland Circle in Ajax, Ontario is named after him.
References
- ^ "Obituary: Captain Brian de Courcy-Ireland RN (1900-2001)", Naval Historical Review, Naval Historical Society of Australia, March 2002
- Arthur, Max; de Courcy-Ireland, Brian (11 November 1996), "Press reports were rather bad: 6,097 killed", The Independent
- Hart, Peter M; de Courcy-Ireland, Stanley Brian (1991), de Courcy-Ireland, Stanley Brian (Oral History), Imperial War Museum
- Ajax Veterans Street Dedication: DeCourcy Ireland Circle
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- 1900 births
- 2001 deaths
- Royal Navy officers of World War I
- Royal Navy officers of World War II
- Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Fleet Air Arm aviators
- Deputy directors of the Royal Navy
- British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency
- Captains of the Royal Navy
- British men centenarians
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