Roy Dowling Vice Admiral Sir Roy Russell Dowling ( 28 May 1901 – 15 April 1969 ) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) . He served as Chief of Naval Staff ( CNS ) , the RAN ' s highest - ranking position , from 1955 until 1959 , and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee ( COSC ) , forerunner of the role of Australia ' s Chief of the Defence Force , from 1959 until 1961 . Born in northern New South Wales , Dowling entered the Royal Australian Naval College in 1915 . After graduating in 1919 he went to sea aboard various Royal Navy and RAN vessels , and later specialised in gunnery . In 1937 , he was given command of the sloop . Following the outbreak of World War II , he saw action in the Mediterranean theatre as executive officer of the Royal Navy cruiser , and survived her sinking by a German U - boat in March 1942 . Returning to Australia , he served as Director of Plans and later Deputy Chief of Naval Staff before taking command of the light cruiser in November 1944 . His achievements in the South West Pacific earned him the Distinguished Service Order . Dowling took command of the RAN ' s first aircraft carrier , , in 1948 . He became Chief of Naval Personnel in 1950 , and Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet in 1953 . Soon after taking up the position of CNS in February 1955 , he was promoted to vice admiral and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath . As CNS he had to deal with shortages of money , manpower and equipment , and with the increasing role of the United States in Australia ' s defence planning , at the expense of traditional ties with Britain . Knighted in 1957 , Dowling was Chairman of COSC from March 1959 until May 1961 , when he retired from the military . In 1963 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and became Australian Secretary to HM Queen Elizabeth II , serving until his death in 1969 . Pre - war career . Roy Russell Dowling was born on 28 May 1901 in Condong , a township on the Tweed River in northern New South Wales . His parents were sugar cane inspector Russell Dowling and his wife Lily . The youth entered the Royal Australian Naval College ( RANC ) at Jervis Bay , Federal Capital Territory , in 1915 . An underachiever academically , he excelled at sports , and became chief cadet captain before graduating in 1918 with the King ' s Medal , awarded for " gentlemanly bearing , character , good influence among his fellows and officer - like qualities " . The following year he was posted to Britain as a midshipman , undergoing training with the Royal Navy and seeing service on and . By January 1923 he was back in Australia , serving aboard the cruiser . He was promoted to lieutenant in March . In April 1924 , " Adelaide " joined the Royal Navy ' s Special Service Squadron on its worldwide cruise , taking in New Zealand , Canada , the United States , Panama , and the West Indies , before docking in September at Portsmouth , England . There Dowling left the ship for his next appointment , training as a gunnery officer and serving in that capacity at . After his return to Australia in December 1926 , Dowling spent eighteen months on and , where he continued to specialise in gunnery . In July 1928 , he took on an instructional role at the gunnery school in Flinders Naval Depot on Western Port Bay , Victoria . He married Jessie Blanch in Melbourne on 8 May 1930 ; the couple had two sons and three daughters . Jessie accompanied him on his next posting to Britain commencing in January 1931 . He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 15 March , and was appointed gunnery officer on the light cruiser in May . Dowling returned to Australia in January 1933 , and was appointed squadron gunnery officer aboard the heavy cruiser that April . The ship operated mainly within Australian waters over the next two years . In July 1935 , Dowling took charge of the gunnery school at Flinders Naval Depot . He was promoted to commander on 31 December 1936 . The following month , he assumed command of the newly commissioned " Grimsby " - class sloop , carrying out duties in the South West Pacific . Completing his tenure on " Swan " in January 1939 , he was briefly assigned to the Navy Office , Melbourne , before returning to Britain in March for duty at HMS " Pembroke " , where he awaited posting aboard the yet - to - be - commissioned anti - aircraft cruiser , . World War II . Dowling became executive officer on HMS " Naiad " when the ship was commissioned in 1940 . Following service with the British Home Fleet , the cruiser transferred to the Mediterranean Station in May 1941 , where she took part in the Battle of Crete . She was involved in action against German torpedo boat s on the night of 20 – 21 May . On 22 May , after engaging a German destroyer with , " Naiad " was severely damaged by air attack . Following repairs , she became flagship of the 15th Cruiser Squadron and conducted shore bombardments in support of Allied troops during the Syrian campaign in June and July . She also escorted convoys resupplying Malta . In December , " Naiad " participated in the First Battle of Sirte against Italian naval forces . On 11 March 1942 , she was torpedoed by a German U - boat off the Egyptian coast , and sank in just over twenty minutes . Dowling remained in the water for an hour and a half before being rescued by a destroyer . Having survived " Naiad " s sinking , Dowling returned to Australia and was appointed Director of Plans at the Navy Office in July 1942 . In September the following year he was made Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff ( DCNS ) and raised to acting captain ; his rank became substantive in June 1944 . As DCNS , he was involved in planning the post - war Navy ' s composition , which for the first time was to include aircraft carrier s . He wrote in October 1943 : In November 1944 , Dowling was given command of the light cruiser , which had been undergoing repair and refit in Sydney since being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Solomons on 20 July 1943 . Dowling took her on her shakedown cruise to Melbourne on 30 December , before embarking for the South West Pacific Area in February 1945 . The following month , " Hobart " supported the US forces that recaptured Cebu during the liberation of the Philippines . She bombarded Tarakan Island prior to the Allied invasion on 1 May and , later that month , covered the Australian 6th Division ' s operations at Wewak . The cruiser supported the Allied landings on Brunei in June , and on Balikpapan in July . For his " outstanding courage , skill and initiative " during these operations , Dowling was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) , gazetted on 6 November 1945 . Post - war career . Dowling joined the Australian contingent at the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 . Following the cessation of hostilities , " Hobart " became flagship of HM Australian Squadron , and Dowling flag captain and chief of staff to Commodore John Collins , the squadron commander . The war had taken a toll on Dowling ' s health , however , and he required leave before commencing his next appointment in May 1946 as Director of Ordnance , Torpedoes and Mines at the Navy Office . Rear Admiral James Goldrick , in the " Australian Dictionary of Biography " , observed that Dowling " was thrust into the highest positions of the R . A . N . largely as a result of the heavy casualties of World War II " . When John Armstrong — the only similarly qualified and more senior Navy captain — was pronounced unfit for seagoing duty , Dowling was given the chance to command Australia ' s first aircraft carrier , , commissioned in England on 16 December 1948 . In April the following year , two months after the ship ' s belated acceptance into service due to teething troubles , Dowling embarked " Sydney " for Australia with two squadrons of fighters aboard . In June 1950 , he was promoted to commodore and appointed Second Naval Member and Chief of Naval Personnel , serving in this capacity until the end of 1952 . His term coincided with the outbreak of the Korean War , and resultant increased demands on manpower . Dowling was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in the 1953 New Year Honours , before travelling to London to attend the Imperial Defence College . Raised to rear admiral in July 1953 , he returned home to take up the post of Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet that December , serving through the following year . He had to preside over cutbacks to operations brought on by government stringency after the end of the Korean War . On 24 February 1955 , Dowling succeeded Vice Admiral Sir John Collins as First Naval Member , Australian Commonwealth Naval Board , and Chief of Naval Staff ( CNS ) . He was promoted to vice admiral on 7 June , and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in the Queen ' s Birthday Honours two days later . On 15 June , he joined fellow chiefs of staff Lieutenant General Henry Wells and Air Marshal John McCauley , Prime Minister Robert Menzies , and senior government members in approving a draft directive for the role of the Far East Strategic Reserve ( FESR ) ; this made Commonwealth forces available for the fight against communist insurgents in Malaya , as well as for the security of Malaya and Singapore against external aggression . The Navy ' s contribution to the FESR was to be at least two destroyers or frigates on an ongoing basis , as a well as a yearly visit by an aircraft carrier . The destroyers and , already in the region on an exercise , were immediately committed , and Dowling flew to Singapore to personally announce the plan and the reasons for it to the ships ' crews . Dowling was an early advocate for the establishment of an Australian submarine fleet ; it was not until 1963 however , after several false starts , that the first of six " Oberon " class submarine s were ordered . As part of a general Western trend that viewed with alarm the increasing capability of the Soviet Navy ' s surface fleet , Dowling also worked to improve the offensive power of the Fleet Air Arm . In March 1956 , he went so far as proposing purchase of nuclear weaponry for the RAN ' s De Havilland Sea Venom s . During much of Dowling ' s remaining time as CNS , faced with the obsolescence of HMAS " Sydney " and in accordance with its two - carrier policy , the Navy tried unsuccessfully to acquire a new and larger aircraft carrier to augment . Believing in the maintenance of traditionally close ties between the RAN and the Royal Navy , he worked to coordinate his policies as CNS with those of Britain ' s First Sea Lord , Earl Mountbatten . Taking into account the provisions of the ANZUS treaty and the absence of suitable supplies from Britain , however , the RAN began to turn reluctantly towards the United States in terms of strategy and equipment , as Dowling explained to Mountbatten : Other issues facing the RAN during Dowling ' s term as CNS were its relegation — since the beginning of the 1950s — to third place behind the other armed forces in terms of Federal budget allocations , its replacement by the RAAF as the country ' s first line of defence , and a shortage of manpower . Dowling himself considered " separation from families , lack of houses , over employment , high wages and overtime payment in civvie street " as the causes for the Navy ' s inability to attract and retain personnel ; the Allison Report in 1958 resulted in various improvements to service conditions , which helped reduce wastage . The RANC had moved to Flinders Naval Depot in 1930 , and Dowling was pleased to be able to oversee its return to Jervis Bay in 1958 , the year before he relocated the office of the CNS to Canberra . Dowling was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) in the 1957 New Year Honours , and completed his term as CNS on 23 February 1959 . On 23 March he took over from Sir Henry Wells as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee ( COSC ) , a role foreshadowing that of the latter - day Chief of the Defence Force . He was succeeded as CNS by Vice Admiral Henry Burrell . Happily surprised by his appointment as Chairman of COSC , Dowling hoped to transform the position such that it would exercise command authority over the service chiefs , but in this he was to be disappointed . The position ' s rank remained the same as the heads of the Army , Navy and Air Force , and was only responsible for putting their views on military matters to the Minister for Defence . Other setbacks during his tenure included the Defence Department ' s decision — rescinded after his term — to disband the Fleet Air Arm , and the Federal government ' s failure to back him when he announced at a SEATO press conference in March 1961 that Australia was prepared to intervene militarily in the second Laotian crisis should it become necessary . In September 1959 , during the first Laotian crisis , the Australian government had authorised Dowling to commit " an infantry battalion , a squadron of RAAF fighters , air transport , and two RAN destroyers " to support US and SEATO forces , but no intervention took place . Later life . Dowling retired from the military on 27 May 1961 and was succeeded as Chairman of COSC by Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger . Though keen to secure a diplomatic appointment , nothing was offered to him and , as a practising Anglican , he instead busied himself with church affairs in Canberra . In July 1962 , however , the government gave him responsibility for organising Queen Elizabeth II ' s upcoming royal tour . In this role he was required to liaise with the state governments to plan the Queen ' s itinerary , and to become a member of the royal household for the duration of the tour , the first time an Australian tour planner had been given such close access to a visiting monarch . He was rewarded with appointment as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order ( KCVO ) as of 27 March 1963 , and became Australian Secretary to the Queen on 1 November the same year . Dowling was also the Australian Red Cross Society ' s Canberra chairman from 1962 to 1967 ; at the time he took over the chairmanship , Lady Dowling was acting president of the organisation , in the absence of Lady William Oliver . Roy Dowling died of a heart attack on 15 April 1969 in Canberra Hospital . He was given a naval funeral at St John ' s Church , and cremated . His wife and five children survived him .