Harold Taylor Wood Grant military branch Royal Canadian Navy
Vice-Admiral Harold Taylor Wood Grant,  (March 16, 1899 – May 8, 1965) was a Canadian naval officer and a post-war Chief of the Naval Staff. The son of Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, MacCallum Grant, Harold Grant entered the Royal Canadian Navy as a cadet in 1914. He spent most of the First World War in training until 1917, when he became a midshipman aboard a British Royal Navy ship. Considered an above average officer, he was earmarked for early promotion during the interwar period and by 1938, commanded the destroyer HMCS Skeena.
During the Second World War, Grant was sent to command the British cruisers HMS Diomede and HMS Enterprise as training in preparation for the Canadian acquisition of the ship type later in the war. During his time in command of Enterprise, he took part in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay, earning his Distinguished Service Order, the invasion of Normandy and bombardment of Cherbourg where he was wounded. He then commanded the Canadian cruiser HMCS Ontario until war's end.
Following the war, Grant served as a staff officer and deputy to the Chief of the Naval Staff, Howard E. Reid. Grant succeeded Reid as Chief of the Naval Staff on September 1, 1947, and was made vice admiral. He commanded the Royal Canadian Navy through the early years of the Cold War and the Korean War, during which a series of personnel unrest, the restructuring of the navy, and the beginning of the anti-submarine warfare specialisation took place. Grant retired from the navy on December 1, 1951.Naval career
Early career
During the First World War, Grant was sent to the British Royal Navy for further training and was a midshipman with HMS Leviathan in February 1917. He then served aboard HMS Roxburgh and HMS Minotaur in the Atlantic and North Sea. In 1919, Grant was promoted to sub-lieutenant and posted aboard HMS Warwick that saw service in the Baltic Sea. He returned to Canada in 1923. That year he was posted to HMCS Patriot based at Halifax and HMCS Patrician based at Vancouver, British Columbia, the following year. Beginning in 1927, Grant served in several Royal Navy warships including the battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Queen Elizabeth. He returned to Canada again in 1934.Considered an above average officer by senior Canadian officers Leonard W. Murray and George C. Jones, Grant was earmarked for early promotion and reached the rank of commander in 1935. Grant chose navigation as his specialty and attended Royal Navy staff courses. Upon his return to Canada, he was appointed to HMCS Saguenay. In 1932, he married Christian Mitchell of Halifax, from an old Haligonian family and a secretary to the deputy minister of Defence. He served as Director of Canadian Naval Plans and Director of Naval Reserves. It was during this period that the Chief of the Naval Staff, Percy W. Nelles rebuked Grant, having thought his promotion had gone to his head and earned a reprimand for poor behaviour. In 1936, Grant was sent back overseas to join the staff of the Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet and take further staff courses. In 1938, he returned to Canada and was appointed commanding officer of the destroyer HMCS Skeena.
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