Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
Loading
CB![]()
author
Capt. Geoffrey Bennett
Captain Geoffrey Martin Bennett DSC FRHS (7 June 1909 - 5 September 1983) was a British Royal Navy officer and author.
Born into a naval family, he attended the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and...view moreCaptain Geoffrey Martin Bennett DSC FRHS (7 June 1909 - 5 September 1983) was a British Royal Navy officer and author.
Born into a naval family, he attended the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and entered the service. After his promotion to Lieutenant he qualified as a signals specialist. He became Flag Lieutenant to a number of Admirals. In WWII he was first in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and then served as signals officer Force H in the Mediterranean, where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He was promoted to Commander at war end and published his first novel Phantom Fleet, a naval yarn, under the pseudonym “Sea Lion”.
He went on to captain the HMS St Brides Bay in the Mediterranean and served in the Admiralty at Bath. He was promoted to Captain in 1953 and spent two years as naval attaché in Moscow, also covering Warsaw and Helsinki, where he alerted the Admiralty to the potential growth of the Soviet Navy.
Retiring soon after his return to Britain, he joined the household of the Lord Mayor of London. In 1960 he became Secretary to the Lord Mayor of Westminster, where he became an authority on civic protocol.
Over the next two decades he produced about twenty novels for both adults and children and wrote a number of radio plays for the BBC, including several serials for Children’s Hour which featured the adventures of two midshipmen, “Tiger” Ransome and “Snort” Kenton.
After retiring he took to naval history, including publishing studies of the main battles of both world wars and Nelson and a biography of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, Charlie B. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Following his retirement, Bennett lived in Ludlow, Shropshire. He died in 1983 aged 74.view less