Background
Born the son of Admiral Sir Laurence E. Power Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Power was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth.
Born the son of Admiral Sir Laurence E. Power Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Power was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth.
He is chiefly remembered for leading the 26th Destroyer Flotilla that sank the Japanese cruiser Haguro in the Malacca Strait during Operation Dukedom. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1917. In 1939 he was promoted to Commander and appointed as Staff Officer (Operations) to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham.
In 1942, he was given command of HMS Opportune, escorting Arctic convoys, before returning as Staff Officer (Operations) in the Mediterranean in September 1942, in preparation for the invasion of North Africa and then became Staff Officer (Plans), on the staff of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, assisting the planning of the invasion of Sicily.
Power then became captain of the 26th Destroyer Flotilla, taking part in the Normandy landings, and as captain of the destroyer HMS Myngs participated in an action to destroy an enemy convoy off the Norwegian coast in November 1944. He was then appointed to command HMS Saumarez in the Eastern Fleet, and his flotilla destroyed the Japanese cruiser Haguro in May 1945.
Power was then Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers between 1956 and 1957 (becoming a Vice-Admiral in 1956) and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord from 1957 to 1959. He was made an Admiral in 1960, and Power"s final appointments were as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and Allied Commander-in-Chief, Channel (1959-1961), until his retirement in 1961.
In the early part of his career, he served mainly in submarines, attaining his first command (HMS H32) in 1934. He was promoted to Captain in 1943, and Deputy Chief of Staff (Plans), and stayed in the Mediterranean until March 1944, planning the invasion of Italy and the Anzio landings. Following this he served as Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet (Admiral Sir Philip Vian), then in May 1952 as Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean (Admiral 1st Lord Mountbatten of Burma).
Following the war, Power served as Deputy Director of Plans in the Admiralty between January and July 1946, then as Senior Naval Member of the Directing Staff at the Joint Services Staff College, later becoming commander of the Portland (Dorset) naval base. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1953, and in the following year was appointed Senior Naval Member of the Directing Staff of the Imperial Defence College.
