Walter Cowan Admiral Sir Walter Henry Cowan , 1st Baronet , KCB , DSO & Bar , MVO ( 11 June 1871 – 14 February 1956 ) , known as Tich Cowan , was a British Royal Navy admiral who saw service in both World War I and World War II ; in the latter he was one of the oldest British servicemen on active duty . Early days . Cowan was born in Crickhowell , Brecknockshire , the son of an officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers . After his father ' s retirement from the Army , the family settled in Alveston , Warwickshire , where his father became a justice of the peace . Cowan never went to school , but entered the Royal Navy in 1884 at the training ship , HMS " Britannia " , a classmate to fellow future admiral David Beatty . Early service . In 1886 , as Midshipmen , Cowan and Beatty joined HMS " Alexandra " , flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet . Cowan saw service in Benin and Nigeria in 1887 . He fell sick and was invalided home after less than a year , but later rejoined the " Alexandra " , returning with her to Britain in 1889 . He then joined HMS " Volage " in the Training Squadron and was commissioned as a Sub - Lieutenant in 1890 . He was appointed to HMS " Boadicea " , flagship of the East India Station . In 1892 he was promoted Lieutenant and became First Lieutenant of the gunboat HMS " Redbreast " . However , in 1893 he was invalided home with dysentery . In 1894 he was appointed to the light cruiser HMS " Barrosa " off West Africa . During this time he participated in a number of expeditions against native and Arab insurgents . In 1898 , he was appointed to the destroyer HMS " Boxer " in the Mediterranean , but only stayed in her for six months before being given command of the Nile gunboat HMS " Sultan " . He took part in the Battles of Atbara and Omdurman and then commanded the entire Nile gunboat flotilla during the Fashoda Incident . He received the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) for these actions . Cowan then particiated in the Second Boer War , acting as aide - de - camp to Lord Kitchener and then to Lord Roberts . Returning to England in 1901 , he was appointed First Lieutenant of the battleship HMS " Prince George " . In June 1901 he was promoted Commander at the early age of thirty . He later took command of the destroyer HMS " Falcon " and acted as second - in - command of the Devonport destroyer flotilla under Roger Keyes , who was then developing new destroyer tactics . They became fast friends . Cowan commanded several more destroyers , acquiring a widespread reputation as a destroyer captain , and then succeeded Keyes in command of the flotilla . In 1904 he was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order ( MVO ) . In 1905 he took command of HMS " Skirmisher " and he was promoted Captain in 1906 . He transferred to the cruiser HMS " Sapphire " in 1907 and in 1908 took command of all destroyers of the Channel Fleet . In 1909 he transferred to the Reserve Fleet and in 1910 he became captain of the new light cruiser HMS " Gloucester " . In 1912 he became chief of staff to John de Robeck , who was then Flag Officer Patrols . World War I . In 1914 , shortly before the outbreak of the First World War , he was given command of the old pre - dreadnought HMS " Zealandia " . Six months later he took over the 26 , 270 ton HMS " Princess Royal " as flag captain to Osmond Brock . He commanded her at the Battle of Jutland , where she was badly damaged . He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in 1916 . The Baltic . In June 1917 Cowan was made Commodore of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron . In 1918 he was promoted Rear - Admiral , staying in command of the squadron . In January 1919 the squadron was sent to the Baltic . The squadron kept the sea lanes open to the newly independent Estonia and Latvia , enabling them to secure their freedom . During the course of this campaign , coastal torpedo boat s attached to Cowan ' s command sank two Bolshevik battleships and one cruiser at Kronstadt naval base . Augustus Agar received the Victoria Cross for his part in these events . Andrew Browne Cunningham , later Britain ' s leading World War II admiral , commanded Cowan ' s destroyers in this campaign . Cowan ' s forceful diplomacy ensured a successful mission , for which he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ) in 1919 and created a Baronet , " of the Baltic " , in the 1921 New Year Honours . Between the Wars . In 1921 , Cowan was appointed to command the Battlecruiser Squadron , flying his flag in HMS " Hood " . He was unemployed from 1923 to 1925 , although he was promoted Vice - Admiral in 1923 . In 1925 he was appointed Commander - in - Chief , Coast of Scotland and in 1926 Commander - in - Chief , America and West Indies Station , holding the command until 1928 . He was promoted Admiral in 1927 . His final appointment was as First and Principal Naval Aide - de - Camp to the King in 1930 . He retired in 1931 . Oldest warrior . During World War II he was given a job by his old friend Roger Keyes , then head of the Commandos . Cowan voluntarily took the lower rank of Commander and went to Scotland in 1941 to train the commandos in small boat handling . He served in North Africa , where he saw action at Mechili and at the Battle of Bir Hakeim , where he was captured on 27 May 1942 , having attached himself to the Indian 18th King Edward VII ' s Own Cavalry ( his commando unit having been disbanded ) . He was fighting an Italian tank crew single - handedly armed only with a revolver . He was repatriated in 1943 under an unusual agreement with Italy whereby some 800 Italian seamen interned in neutral Saudi Arabia from the Red Sea squadron were exchanged for a similar number of British POWs . An unusual feature was that there was no stipulation about the men ’ s future activities and they were free to return to action so he rejoined the commandos and saw action in Italy during 1944 . He was awarded a bar to his DSO . He retired once more in 1945 . After the war he was invited to become Colonel of the 18th King Edward VII ' s Own and visited India to receive this honour , which he considered the greatest he had received . Tribute . In 2007 the Estonian Navy named a British - made minehunter of the " Sandown " class the " Admiral Cowan " . Memorials to the 110 men of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force killed in the Baltic action of 1919 are now in the Estonian capital Tallinn , the Latvian capital Riga and Portsmouth cathedral .