Skule Storheill Skule Valentin Storheill ( 17 August 1907 – 25 November 1992 ) was a Norwegian naval officer who reached prominence in World War II while serving aboard Norwegian warships within the Royal Navy , and received Norway ' s highest military decoration , the War Cross with Sword . Early life . Storheill was born and grew up in Brønnøysund . He joined the Norwegian Merchant Navy but then joined the Naval Academy in Horten . He became a naval officer in 1928 , and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1931 and by 1936 was an Inspection Officer at the Naval Academy . Military career . World War II . In June 1940 he was the Norwegian liaison officer on board the heavy cruiser HMS " Devonshire " , flying the Flag of Vice Admiral John Cunningham , which evacuated Norway ' s King Haakon VII and Government ministers from Tromsø to Great Britain to continue the struggle against the German occupation of their country . Then , as a Lieutenant - Commander , Storheill was in command of the Norwegian lend - lease destroyer HNoMS " St Albans " from July 1941 . Along with other British warships , " St Albans " sank a German U - boat in the Atlantic Ocean on August 3 , 1941 . For this he received the War Cross . He became Commander in 1942 and took command of the newly built destroyer HMS " Eskdale " . He participated in Operation Torch ( the Allied landing in North Africa ) in the autumn of 1942 . " Eskdale " was sunk in battle with German E - boat in the English Channel in 1943 . Voluntarily reducing his rank again to Lieutenant - Commander , he took command of the destroyer HNoMS " Stord " from August 1943 until the end of June 1944 . In the Home Fleet , " Stord " escorted convoys to the Soviet Union through the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea , and took part in the Battle of North Cape in which the German battleship " Scharnhorst " was sunk on December 26 , 1943 . He took his ship within 400 yards ( 360 m ) of " Scharnhorst " before firing torpedoes . In " Stord " he was also present at the Normandy landings in June 1944 , and there is a small model of the ship in the D - Day Museum at Arromanches , Normandy , France . Towards the end of the wat , Storheill escorted Allied convoys in the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean , and in May 1945 led Norwegian authorities back to Tromsø following the German surrender . Also as a result of his war service he was created a Commander with Star of the Order of St . Olav followed by awards of the St . Olav ' s Medal with Oak Branch , the War Medal , the Grand Cross of the Order of Orange - Nassau ( Netherlands ) , and Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog ( Denmark ) . He was honoured by France with the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour . He was awarded the British Distinguished Service Cross on three occasions . Post war career . In 1946 , Storheill was Commander and Chief of Naval Staff , 1946 and 1949 he became chief of Coastal Squadron . Storheill was promoted to vice admiral in 1951 and was until 1954 Chief of the Navy . From 1954 to 1958 , Storheill was chief of the Norwegian military mission to the United States . He was also a member of the NATO Military Committee and the liaison officer to NATO ' s Atlantic Command in Norfolk , Virginia , USA . In 1958 Storheill became commander of Supreme Northern Norway with headquarters in Harstad . Storheill moved to Bodø in 1963 and there opened a new and bigger war headquarters at Reitan . He oversaw a period when NATO changed its strategy from massive retaliation to so - called flexible response , which resulted in an ever increasing NATO training operations in Northern Norway from 1964 . Storheill ended his military career as director of the Joint Staff College from 1967 to 1969 and spent his last years in Drøbak .