View source for Robert Don Oliver

{{Short description|Royal Navy Vice Admiral (1895–1980)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix   = [[Vice-admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]]
| name          = Robert Oliver
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|CBE|DSC|DL}}
| image         =
| caption       =
| birth_date          =17 March 1895  
| death_date          =6 October 1980
| nickname      = 
| branch        = {{navy|United Kingdom}}
| serviceyears  = 1908–1948
| rank          = [[Vice-admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]]
| unit          =
| commands      = [[HMS Iron Duke (1912)|HMS ''Iron Duke'']]<br>[[HMS Devonshire (39)|HMS ''Devonshire'']]<br>[[HMS Excellent (shore establishment)|HMS ''Excellent'']]<br>{{HMS|Swiftsure|08|6}}
| battles       = [[World War I]]<br>[[World War II]]
| awards        = [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br>[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<br>[[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]]
| relations     = 
}}
[[Vice-admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]] '''Robert Don Oliver''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|CBE|DSC|DL}} (17 March 1895 – 6 October 1980) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer who was appointed [[Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff]].

==Naval career==
Oliver served in [[World War I]] taking part in the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]] in 1914, fighting at [[Gallipoli]] in 1915 and then undertaking mine-laying off the German and Belgian coast.<ref name=nmm>[http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=MED2043&picture=3 National Maritime Museum]</ref> Promoted to [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]], he was given command of [[HMS Iron Duke (1912)|HMS ''Iron Duke'']] in 1939.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/OLIVER.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref>

He also served in [[World War II]] and was commanding [[HMS Devonshire (39)|HMS ''Devonshire'']],<ref>[http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1176.html HMS Devonshire at www.uboat.net]</ref> a heavy [[cruiser]], on 21 November 1941, when he was informed that codebreakers had determined that German [[U-boat]]s were going to be surfacing near him, to refuel from a [[merchant raider]], the [[cruiser|Hilfskreuzer]] (cruiser) [[German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis|''Atlantis'']]. Using the intelligence, ''Devonshire'' sunk ''Atlantis''.<ref>[http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/1941SOND.html Churchill Society]</ref> He later commanded the gunnery school [[HMS Excellent (shore establishment)|HMS ''Excellent'']] and then the cruiser {{HMS|Swiftsure|08|6}}.<ref name=lh/>

After the War he was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Weapons) and then [[Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff]] in 1946.<ref name=lh/> His last appointment, in 1947, was as Flag Officer commanding the 5th Cruiser Squadron,<ref name=lh/> before he retired on 26 September 1948, and was promoted to [[Vice-admiral (Royal Navy)|vice-admiral]] on the same day.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=38461|page=6076| date=19 November 1948}}</ref>

In retirement he became [[Deputy Lieutenant]] of [[Roxburghshire]].<ref name=unit>[http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersO.html#Oliver_RD Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939–1945]</ref>

==Family==
In 1928 he married Torfrida Lois Acantha Huddart; there were no children.<ref name=unit/> Following the death of his first wife, he married Mrs M.J. Glendinning van der Velde in 1965.<ref name=unit/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-mil}}
|-
{{s-vac|last = [[Tom Phillips (Royal Navy officer)|Sir Tom Phillips]]}}
{{s-ttl
|title=[[Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff]]
 |years=1946&ndash;1947
}}
{{s-vac|next= [[Edward Evans-Lombe|Sir Edward Evans-Lombe]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, R.D}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Navy vice admirals]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Roxburghshire]]
[[Category:Lords of the Admiralty]]