{{for|his son, the Vice-Admiral|Arthur Mackenzie Power}} {{short description|Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet (1889–1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Admiral of the Fleet | name = Sir Arthur Power | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|GBE|CVO}} | image = Rear Admiral Arthur J Power on board HMS Cleopatra, 5 Nov 1942 IWM A 13495 (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Power in 1942 | birth_name = Arthur John Power | birth_date = {{birth date|1889|04|12|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1960|01|28|1889|04|12|df=y}} | birth_place = London, England | death_place = Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar | burial_place = | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = {{RN}} | service_years = 1904–1953 | rank = Admiral of the Fleet | service_number = | unit = | commands = {{ubli|Allied Commander in Chief, Channel and Southern North Sea Command (1952)|Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth (1950–52)|Mediterranean Fleet (1948–50)|Second Sea Lord (1946–48)|East Indies Fleet (1944–45)|1st Battle Squadron (1943–44)|Flag Officer, Malta (1943)|15th Cruiser Squadron (1942–43)|{{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} (1938)}} | battles = {{ubl|First World War|Second World War}} | awards = {{ubli|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Royal Victorian Order|KStJ|Mentioned in Despatches (4)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36526|supp=y|page=2355|date=19 May 1944}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36771|supp=y|page=4977|date=27 October 1944}}</ref>|Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35833|supp=y|page=5569|date=18 December 1942}}</ref>|Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37448|supp=y|page=720|date=25 January 1946}}</ref>|Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=38563|page=1334|date=15 March 1949}}</ref>}} | spouse = | relations = | other_work = {{ubli|First and Principal Naval Aide-de-camp to George VI (1951–52) and Elizabeth II (1952)|Deputy Lieutenant, Southampton}} }} Admiral of the Fleet '''Sir Arthur John Power''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|GBE|CVO}} (12 April 1889 – 28 January 1960) was a Royal Navy officer. He took part in the First World War as a gunnery officer and saw action in the Dardanelles campaign. During the inter-war years he commanded the gunnery school at {{HMS|Excellent|shore establishment|6}} and then the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}}. During the Second World War he played a leading role in the planning for the Allied invasion of Sicily and for the Allied invasion of Italy and then commanded the naval forces for the actual landing of V Corps at Taranto in Italy in September 1943. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Fleet in the closing stages of the war and conducted naval strikes on the Imperial Japanese Army in Borneo and Malaya. After the War he became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and then Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.
==Naval career== ===Early career=== Born the son of Edward John Power and Harriet Maud Power (née Windeler),<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35592|title=Arthur Power|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35592|accessdate=25 August 2014}}</ref> Power joined the training ship HMS ''Britannia'' as a cadet in 1904 and, having won the King's medal as best cadet of his year, he was promoted to midshipman on 15 September 1905.<ref name=heath218>Heathcote, p. 218</ref> He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant on 15 January 1909<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28287|page=6814|date=10 September 1909}}</ref> and to lieutenant on 15 April 1910<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28424|page=7253|date=14 October 1910}}</ref> on his appointment to the battlecruiser HMS ''Indomitable'' in the Home Fleet.<ref name=heath218/> He became First Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS ''Nautilus'' in October 1912 and then attended HMS ''Excellent'', the gunnery school at Portsmouth, in 1913.<ref name=heath219>Heathcote, p. 219</ref>
Power served as a gunnery officer throughout the First World War, initially in the battleship HMS ''Magnificent'', then in the cruiser HMS ''Royal Arthur'' and next in the monitor HMS ''Raglan''.<ref name=heath219/> In the ''Raglan'' he saw action in the Dardanelles campaign, before transferring to the battlecruiser HMS ''Princess Royal'' in the Grand Fleet.<ref name=heath219/> He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 15 April 1918.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30640|page=4742|date=19 April 1918}}</ref>
After the war Power joined the directing staff at HMS ''Excellent''.<ref name=heath219/> Promoted to commander on 31 December 1922,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32782|supp=y|page=14|date=29 December 1922}}</ref> he became an assistant to the Director in the Naval Ordnance Department at the Admiralty in January 1923 and, after attending the Royal Naval Staff College, he became Executive Officer on HMS ''Hood'', flagship of the battlecruiser squadron in the Atlantic Fleet in 1925.<ref name=heath219/> He joined the directing staff at the Royal Naval Staff College in 1927 and, having been promoted to captain on 30 July 1929,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33513|page=4360|date=2 July 1929}}</ref> he joined the Ordnance Committee at the Royal Arsenal.<ref name=heath219/> He became Flag Captain of the Second Cruiser Squadron in the Home Fleet in the cruiser HMS ''Dorsetshire'' in April 1931 and, having served on the directing staff at the Imperial Defence College in 1933, he became commanding officer of the gunnery school HMS ''Excellent'' in October 1935.<ref name=heath219/> He was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 29 January 1936.<ref name=cvo>{{London Gazette|issue=34253|page=811|date=7 February 1936}}</ref> He went on to be commanding officer of the aircraft carrier HMS ''Ark Royal'' in September 1937, and in that capacity, also became Flag Captain to the Flag Officer commanding aircraft carriers in the Home Fleet in July 1939.<ref name=heath219/>
===Second World War=== [[File:HMS Ark Royal h85716.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Power commanded {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|2}} in the early months of the Second World War]] [[File:SC180476.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Allied invasion of Sicily, for which Power conducted the planning]] Power served in the Second World War as assistant chief of the Naval Staff from May 1940 and was granted promotion to rear admiral on 25 June 1940.<ref name=heath219/> Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 July 1941,<ref name=cb>{{London Gazette|issue=35204|supp=y|page=3735|date=10 June 1948}}</ref> he became commander of the 15th Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet with his flag in the cruiser {{HMS|Cleopatra|33|6}} in August 1942.<ref name=heath219/>
Appointed Flag Officer in charge of Malta in May 1943, he played a leading role in the planning for the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and, having been promoted to vice admiral on 4 August 1943,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36133|page=3648|date=13 August 1943}}</ref> he led the planning for the Allied invasion of Italy and then commanded the naval forces for the actual landing of V Corps at Taranto in September 1943.<ref name=heath219/> Following the landings, he became head of the Allied military mission to the Italian government and was briefly Commander of the 1st Battle Squadron and second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet.<ref name=heath219/>
Advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1944,<ref name=kcb>{{London Gazette|issue=36309|supp=y|page=3|date=31 December 1943}}</ref> Power became commander of the 1st Battle Squadron and second in command of the Eastern Fleet with his flag in the battlecruiser {{HMS|Renown|1916|6}} in January 1944.<ref name=heath219/> He went on to be commander-in-chief of that fleet, renamed the East Indies Fleet, in November 1944, and conducted naval strikes on the Imperial Japanese Army in Borneo and Malaya.<ref name=heath219/> Flying his flag in ''Cleopatra'', the first British ship to enter Singapore since its fall in the Battle of Singapore over three years earlier, Power arrived in style to attend the final surrender of the Japanese there in September 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-final-surrender-1597089.html |title=The final surrender|work= The Independent|date= 20 August 1995|accessdate=25 August 2014}}</ref>{{clear}}
===Later career=== Power was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1946<ref name=gbe>{{London Gazette|issue=37407|page=13|date=28 December 1945}}</ref> and became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel in February 1946.<ref name=heath220>Heathcote, p. 220</ref> Promoted to full admiral on 6 May 1946,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37615|supp=y|page=3078|date=18 June 1946}}</ref> he proceeded to manage the run-down in naval manpower after the War.<ref name=heath220/> He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in May 1948 and, having been advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1950,<ref name=gcb>{{London Gazette|issue=38797|supp=y|page=2|date=30 December 1949}}</ref> he became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in September 1950.<ref name=heath220/> He was also appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King on 15 January 1951<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39175|page=1441|date=16 March 1951}}</ref> and was double-hatted as NATO Allied Commander-in-Chief, Channel and Southern North Sea Command from 1952.<ref name=heath220/> He attended the funeral of King George VI in February 1952<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39575|supp=y|page=3366|date=17 June 1952}}</ref> and was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 April 1952.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39571|page=3238|date=13 June 1952}}</ref>
Power retired in September 1952 and became a Deputy Lieutenant of Southampton on 27 April 1953<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39841|page=2421|date=1 May 1953}}</ref> shortly before attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40020|supp=y|page=6268|date=17 November 1953}}</ref> He died at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar on 28 January 1960.<ref name=heath220/>
==Family== In 1918 Power married Amy Bingham; they had three sons (including Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Mackenzie Power).<ref name=odnb/> Following the death of his first wife in 1945, he married Margaret Joyce Watson in 1947.<ref name=odnb/>
== Legacy == The Power Papers are housed at the British Library. The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.<ref>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-001961813 Power Papers], archives and manuscripts catalogue, the British Library. Retrieved 2 June 2020</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Heathcote |first=Tony |title=The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734–1995 |publisher=Pen & Sword Ltd |year=2002 |isbn=0-85052-835-6}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Sir Arthur John Power}} * {{NPG name}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Stuart Bonham Carter}} {{s-ttl|title=Flag Officer, Malta|years=May – October 1943}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Louis Hamilton}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Geoffrey Layton}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station|years=1945–1946}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Clement Moody}} |- {{succession box | title=Second Sea Lord | before=Sir Algernon Willis | after=Sir Cecil Harcourt| years=1946–1948}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Algernon Willis}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet|years=1948–1950}} {{s-aft|after=Sir John Edelsten}} |- {{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth | before=Sir Algernon Willis | after=Sir John Edelsten| years=1950–1952}} |- {{s-hon}} {{s-bef | before=Sir Henry Moore}} {{s-ttl | title=First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp | years=1949–1952}} {{s-aft | after=Sir Rhoderick McGrigor}} {{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Arthur John}} Category:Royal Navy admirals of the fleet Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I Category:Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:Commanders of the Legion of Merit Category:Knights of the Order of St John Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Category:1889 births Category:1960 deaths Category:Academics of the Royal College of Defence Studies Category:Lords of the Admiralty Category:Admiralty personnel of World War II Category:Military personnel from London