page_title: Ian McGeoch
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Ian McGeoch / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: British S class submarine HMSM SPLENDID underway off Sheerness.
context_page_description: Vice-Admiral Sir Ian Lachlan Mackay McGeoch, KCB, DSO, DSC was a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. He commanded the submarine HMS Splendid during the Second World War, and was later Flag Officer Submarines and Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland.
context_section_description: McGeoch was serving with HMS Clyde when the Second World War broke out, returning to England in January 1940. He then served as 1st lieutenant (second-in-command) of the old H-class submarine HMS H43, engaged in landing secret agents on Guernsey. He was appointed as second-in-command of the new submarine HMS Triumph in July 1940, but was selected for the Commanding Officers' Qualifying Course before he saw active service. The course, still run, is known as the "perisher" due to its high failure rate, and that failure means an end to a career on submarines. He passed and was returned to the 10th Submarine Flotilla on Malta as a "spare" commanding officer, to cover for illness or injury.
  McGeoch took command of HMS Ursula on one patrol, but was not confident in his own abilities, so, unusually, elected to return to England to take the "perisher" a second time. He passed again, and took command of the new S-class submarine P228, just launched at Chatham Dockyard on 13 January 1942. He and his brand new ship (named HMS Splendid January 1943) were posted to Gibraltar to take part in Operation Torch, and then back to Malta.
  From November 1942 to May 1943 (the Operation Torch landings to the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa), Splendid sank more tonnage on its six patrols than any other submarine. Lieutenant McGeoch was awarded the DSO after his fourth patrol, and the DSC after his fifth. Under McGeoch's command, Splendid sank the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser San Paolo, the Italian merchants Luigi Favorita, Devoli, and XXI Aprile, the small Italian merchant Commercio, the Italian auxiliary minesweeper No. 107 / Cleopatra, and the Italian tanker Giorgio.
  Splendid also sank the Italian Soldati-class destroyer Aviere, escorting the German transport ship Ankara with her sister ship Camicia Nera - Splendid also attacked Ankara, but missed her. Splendid also sank the Italian merchant Emma, despite her being heavily escorted by the Italian torpedo boats Groppo, Uragano and Clio. The German merchant Sienna (the former French Astrée) was missed in the same attack. Splendid also torpedoed and damaged the Italian destroyer Velite.
  Splendid left Malta for the last time on 17 April 1943. Her sixth patrol would take her to the waters off Naples and Corsica. Off Capri on 21 April 1943, she ran into the German destroyer Hermes (formerly the British-built Greek destroyer Vasilefs Georgios). Splendid's periscope was spotted in the calm conditions in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Three accurately-dropped patterns of depth charges forced Splendid to the surface, where McGeoch ordered the crew to abandon ship and scuttled the vessel. Five officers, including McGeoch, and 25 ratings were picked up; 18 men were lost with the ship. McGeoch suffered a wound to his right eye, and never recovered its sight.
  McGeoch and the other survivors from her crew became prisoners of war in Italy. Despite blindness in one eye, McGeoch nevertheless made several escape attempts. After the surrender of Fascist Italy in September 1943, he was able to walk out of the camp gate and travelled 400 miles (600 km) to Switzerland, where a metal fragment was removed from his sightless right eye. He travelled across occupied south France in December 1943 to Spain. He was interned in Figueres, but British diplomats arranged for his release to Gibraltar, and he returned to England on the old battleship HMS Centurion. His escape won him a mention in dispatches.
  Returning to duty, McGeoch attended the Naval Staff Course in 1944. Promoted to lieutenant commander, he became Staff Officer (Operations) for the 4th Cruiser Squadron in the British Pacific Fleet in the run up to the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945.
caption: HMS Splendid, photographed on 18 August 1942, ten days after she was commissioned.
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