Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The outstanding post-war C.B., “Operation Torch” C.B.E., Bailiff Grand Cross St. John, and White Sea operations 1918 D.S.C. group of twenty to Rear-Admiral Sir Royer Dick, Royal Navy: first seeing action off the Falklands as a Midshipman in H.M.S. Carnarvon, and afterwards at Jutland in the Barham, he won his D.S.C. for command of the gunboat Razlyff in the River Dvina and Tchamova operations in 1918, and served with equal distinction in the 1939-45 War on “ABC” Cunningham’s staff, when he was present in the Warspite at Calabria, Cape Matapan and off Crete, where ‘the grand old lady’ was severely damaged - post-war, he rose to flag rank himself and added the C.B. and Bailiff Grand Cross of St. John to his accolades, the latter for his services as Chief Commissioner of the St. John Ambulance Brigade

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Bailiff Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver-gilt and enamel; Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1918, the reverse privately engraved, ‘Royer Mylius Dick, Dec. 11th 1918’; 1914-15 Star (Mid. R. M. Dick, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. R. M. Dick, R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Pacific Star; Italy Star; War Medal, M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; St. John Service Medal, unnamed; United States of America, Legion of Merit, Officer’s breast badge, with gilt riband fitment; France, Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel; France, Croix de Guerre 1939, with oak leaf, together with a wire-framed set of tunic ribands, mounted court-style as worn where applicable (excepting the Coronation 1953 and St. John Medal), the Legion of Honour with badly chipped enamel, otherwise generally very fine or better (20) £5000-6000

C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1951.

C.B.E. London Gazette 20 April 1943.

Bailiff Grand Cross of St. John London Gazette 17 October 1967.

D.S.C. London Gazette 12 December 1918 - Honours for services in White Sea Operations, 1918:

‘In command of the river gunboat Razlyff during the Dvina operations, he saved a number of boats and a barge from falling into the enemy’s hands, the ship being repeatedly fired on. In the Tchamova operations he handled the ship with conspicuous success.’

Royer Mylius Dick was born in October 1897, the son of L. H. Dick, Secretary of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses, and attended the R.N.Cs Osborne and Dartmouth - a glimpse of Dick’s time at Osborne is to be found in The Sailor’s War 1914-18, by Peter Liddle, in which he is noted as having won the Bantam Weight Boxing Semi-Final in the summer of 1911.

The Falklands and Jutland

Appointed a Midshipman in the cruiser H.M.S. Carnarvon on the outbreak of hostilities, aged 16 years, he quickly saw action, being present at the battle of the Falklands in December 1914, when Carnarvon lent valuable support to the Invincible and Inflexible in their spirited engagement with the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and was present at the final exchange of fire in the early evening, in addition to assisting in picking up some 20 German survivors. Mention of Dick’s account of proceedings appears in The Sailors War 1914-18:

‘I don't mind admitting freely that I was in the deuce of a funk when we sallied out. I hope I did not show it. But I got so excited that I soon forgot all about the purely personal view before we were an hour out of the harbour. I think these remarks apply to most people. The long wait was rather trying but once we got firing we had no time to think.’

The Midshipman was rightly proud of Carnarvon's gunnery, stirred by the King's congratulatory message ('I am swelling 'visibly' with pride'), but he returned again to the aftermath of battle. As Gneisenau vanished, she left 'a great mass of floating wreckage with funny black dots bobbing up and down seen as we reached the crest of the wave. I told my coxswain to steer towards the edge because being a small boat in a heavy sea, if we had gone to the middle we might have been swamped by a rush and I had to consider my own men. When we got to the spot, there was a huge quantity of wreckage: stools, hammocks, baulks of timber, life buoys and all sorts of things, all bearing a freight of men. Most of them could not climb into the boat and we had the most awful job to get them in.’ Then, on having to take extra men in: ‘They fought, and bit and held onto one's legs ... one in particular who apparently took a dislike to me rose at me with a mad grip and eyes starting nearly out of their sockets. I said: “Sitten sie down” with great firmness in my best German but with little effect.'

In July 1915, Dick removed to the Barham, the flagship of the Fifth Battle Squadron, and he was subsequently present at Jutland, when she was heavily engaged with Hipper’s battle cruisers, scoring hits on the Lutzow, Derfflinger and Seydlitz, but was herself badly mauled in the process, several hits causing her serious casualties, among them four officers and 22 ratings killed.

White Sea - North Russia operations 1918 - D.S.C.

Having in the interim served as a Sub. Lieutenant for General Staff Duties to Vice-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair in the Dreadnought, Dick joined H.M.S. Attentive, under Captain Edward Altham, R.N., in May 1918, which ship was ordered to Archangel in support of the North Russia Expeditionary Force and arrived at Murmansk in the following month, from whence operations were undertaken in the White Sea, including shore bombardment work before returning home in October. However, assorted river craft were also manned by officers and ratings from Attentive, and other ships, to assist in the operations on the Dvina.

Four craft, including the paddle steamers Advokat, Gorodok and Razlyff, each armed with 12-pounders, were manned by White Russian volunteers under British command, and, together with M. 25, and two small seaplanes from Nairana, were placed under the immediate command of Captain Altham, with orders to co-operate with Army. M. 25 drew 9 feet of water, and it was not possible to reduce her draft materially, so only abnormally high water in the river during the summer permitted her employment. During the latter half of August, September and until the advent of ice-conditions in October caused the flotilla to be withdrawn to Archangel, it was in constant action with the enemy gunboats and shore batteries, including engagements at Bereznik, Troitsa, Borka and Chamovo. Three enemy ships were sunk and twenty-four mines swept up. Much zeal and gallantry was shown by the flotilla, and the value of their services in assisting the Army to establish themselves in their advanced positions some 200 miles up the river before winter was warmly appreciated by the General Officer Commanding.

And, as cited above, Dick distinguished himself in command of the Razlyff, in which capacity he saved boats and barges from falling into Bolshevik hands, in addition to lending valuable support to the landings at Tchamova. He was awarded the D.S.C.

The Second World War - “ABCs” Deputy Chief of Staff in the Mediterranean - C.B.E. and a brace of “mentions”

Advanced to Lieutenant-Commander in November 1926 and to Commander in June 1933, Dick was appointed a Staff Officer (Plans) to the C.-in-C. Mediterranean on the renewal of hostilities, in which capacity he joined Admiral “ABC” Cunningham’s flagship, the Warspite, at a time of crisis in respect of the fate of the French Fleet. As a fluent French speaker, Dick’s role in forthcoming events was to prove crucial and, as is evident from Cunningham’s autobiography, Sailor’s Odyssey, he won his senior’s admiration and respect. The feeling was mutual, for in refusing to repeat events that took place at Mers-el-Kebir, and convincing the French Admiral at Alexandria to peacefully scuttle his ships, Cunningham proved himself to be an expert diplomat - and an effective opponent of bullying directives from his seniors in London. Dick later wrote:

‘ABC’s moral courage and width of view of this period is the moment when one first realised his qualities of greatness. Of course we knew him as a fine, dashing leader, but his handling of the French problem was masterly and one wonders how many others would have had the breadth of mind let alone the moral ‘guts’ to disregard his instructions. That was truly Nelsonic.’

Dick was subsequently present with Cunningham at Calabria in July 1940, when Warspite obtained one of the longest range gunnery hits of the war, disabling the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare from a distance of 24 kilometres, in operations in support of the Taranto air strike, and at Cape Matapan on 28-29 March 1941, when the Italian Fleet paid dearly with the loss of two cruisers and two destroyers.

But in May 1941, while acting as a floating A.A. battery off Crete, Warspite was herself heavily damaged by enemy aircraft - one 500lb. bomb ripped open her side, killing 38 men - and she was compelled to make for the west coast of America for extensive repairs. For his own part, Dick was appointed Cunningham’s Deputy Chief of Staff and advanced to Captain, in addition to being mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 1 July 1941, refers).

Having then returned to an operational footing in Warspite under Admiral Sir James Somerville, Dick was ordered to the U.S.A. in June 1942 as Deputy C.O.S. of Saker II in Washington, the base for personnel standing by ships under refit of construction. He was again mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 11 June 1942, refers).

Returning to the Mediterranean for “Operation Torch” in November of the same year, when he served as Chief of Staff to the Naval Commander Expeditionary Force at Algiers, Dick was awarded the C.B.E. ‘for his skill and judgement in the organisation of the landing of the Allied forces in North Africa’ (his service record refers), which distinction he received at a Buckingham Palace investiture on returning home in April 1944; so, too, awarded the American Legion of Merit (London Gazette 7 September 1943, refers), and French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre.

In July 1944, he was given command of the cruiser Belfast in the rank of Commodore 1st Class, and he remained so employed until the War’s end, latterly in the British Pacific Fleet - in early September 1945, the Belfast arrived off Shanghai, where she was greeted by hundreds of thousands of cheering people lining the waterfront.

The post-war years

A Director of Tactical and Staff Duties at the Admiralty 1947-48, and Chief of Staff to the Flag Officer, Western Europe 1948-50, Dick was advanced to Rear-Admiral and next served as Fleet Officer of the Training Squadron, in which capacity he was awarded the C.B. - a distinction he received at a Buckingham Palace investiture held in February 1951. Having then served as Standing Group Liaison Officer to the North Atlantic Council, he was placed on the Retired List in August 1958.

Subsequently employed as Deputy Commissioner of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of St. John (London Gazette 9 July 1957, refers), and a Knight (London Gazette 6 January 1961, refers), and, having then served as Chief Commissioner 1962-67, he was advanced to Bailiff Grand Cross in the latter year.

The Admiral, who was a member of the St. John Council for London 1971-75, died in 1991. His extensive career papers are held in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, including letters from Cunningham, Mountbatten and Eisenhower (reference code GB 0064 DCK); sold with a file of research.