Geoffrey Layton Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton GBE , KCB , KCMG , DSO ( 20 April 1884 – 4 September 1964 ) , was a British Royal Navy officer . Early life and career . He was the son of a Liverpool solicitor , George Layton and was educated at Eastman ' s Royal Naval Academy . He joined the Royal Navy as a naval cadet on 15 May 1899 on HMS " Britannia " . Following this he served as a Midshipman aboard cruisers in the English Channel and off the south coast of the United States . He took his Lieutenant ' s course and was promoted to that rank on 30 November 1905 . Layton then he joined the submarine branch of the navy , in which he had his first command . From 1910 he did two years general service and returned to submarines in 1912 , commanding several of them during the First World War . World War I . On 18 August 1915 his submarine HMS " E13 " was ordered to the Baltic to assist the Russians , but he ran aground on Saltholm off the Danish coast . " E13 " was destroyed early the following morning by a German torpedo boat , killing half his men . Layton and the others were interned at Copenhagen . Three months later , disguised as a local sailor , he managed to return to Britain . In 1916 - 17 he commanded the experimental steam submarine S - 1 . At the end of the war he was awarded the DSO . Between the Wars . He was promoted to Captain on 31 December 1922 and held the post of Chief of Staff to the Rear Admiral ( Submarines ) . In the late 1920s he was appointed Deputy Director of Operations at the Admiralty and in 1930 he attended a course at the Imperial Defence College . From 1931 to 1933 , he was posted as Chief of Staff on the China Station . He commanded the Royal Naval Base at Portsmouth from 1934 to 1936 when he became Director of Personnel Services at the Admiralty . Layton then transferred to battleships , firstly the " Renown " . Then , following another period at the Admiralty , he commanded the Battlecruiser Squadron , flying his flag on the " Hood " , from August 1938 until August 1939 . Layton was then appointed second - in - command of the Mediterranean Fleet , firstly under Admiral Dudley Pound and later under Admiral Andrew Cunningham . He is recorded as commanding the 1st Battle Squadron , consisting of " Barham " , " Warspite " , and " Malaya " , on the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 . World War II . Layton took command of the China Station in September 1940 . In May 1941 , he was informed that Admiral Sir Tom Phillips would succeed him . The battleship HMS " Prince of Wales " and battlecruiser HMS " Repulse " were deployed to Singapore in December 1941 as a deterrent to Japanese attack , with Phillips in the " Prince of Wales " . Layton broadcast a message to the Malayan people , telling them of the improvements to defence on the arrival of these two capital ships in Singapore . On 10 December , he handed over the naval command to Phillips and prepared to return home . Later that day , " Prince of Wales " and " Repulse " were sunk off Malaya by Japanese air attack . Layton was then recalled as Commander - in - Chief , Eastern Fleet . In January 1942 , the short - lived American - British - Dutch - Australian Command ( ABDACOM ) was formed , to direct Allied forces in South East Asia and the South West Pacific . On 5 January , the deputy commander of ABDA naval forces , Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser made Layton the senior naval officer at Tanjong Priok , the port for Batavia ( Jakarta ) , Java . His main role was organising better convoy protection . Following the fall of Singapore and dissolution of ABDA , command of the Eastern Fleet was given to Sir James Somerville . Layton was appointed Commander - in - Chief , Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ) in March 1942 , with wide - ranging powers that subordinated the civilian authorities . There was much to be done . Defences and organisation were inadequate ; harbour facilities were inefficiently run with many transports left waiting in exposed anchorages and Layton was horrified . He immediately set about improvements to radar , civil defence and Colombo ' s air raid system . Time was against Layton , however , as were the current appreciations of Japanese capabilities . On 5 April 130 Japan ese aircraft attacked Colombo , Ceylon , sinking an auxiliary cruiser , a submarine depot ship and a destroyer . It could have been far worse ; reacting to intelligence reports , warships and merchant ships had been ordered to disperse from harbours where they would have been easy targets . Two cruisers , however , were found at sea and sunk . On 9 April the Japanese attacked Trincomalee harbour and later found and sank an aircraft carrier , a destroyer and a corvette , all at sea . There were further Japanese raids on shipping along India ' s east coast . The Japanese returned to the Pacific , and on 11 April Layton sent a signal that the enemy had withdrawn from Ceylon to Singapore . The defence of the island of Ceylon had not been a total fiasco , even though there was criticism that the radar system had been switched off as it was a Sunday . The RAF and FAA squadrons on the island , although with few effective aircraft ( 50 Hurricanes against some 300 Japanese aircraft ) plus some obsolete or unsuitable ones ( Catalinas , Blenheims and Fulmars ) provided some defence . Up to 19 Japanese aircraft were shot down during the Colombo raid , for the loss of 27 Hurricanes and 12 other aircraft . There was a similar number of Japanese aircraft shot down over Trincomalee for the loss of 11 Hurricanes and Fulmars ( of 25 available aircraft ) . The early warning system set up by Layton was a shambles : the aircraft at Ratmalana were still on the ground when the Japanese aircraft flew overhead . Japanese aircraft had flown over the Ceylonese coastline for half an hour , in full view of everybody , before reaching Ratmalana . Despite the impact of the raids on Ceylon , Layton stayed as Commander - in - Chief until 1945 and was awarded the KCMG for his work and was promoted to Admiral . He also received the Dutch Order of Orange - Nassau and the French Legion of Honour . Arthuer Bryant , in " Turn of the Tide " puts the contribution made by Admiral Layton in a very positive light . " Thanks to the timely action of the island ' s Commander - in - Chief what had happened in the Ceylon skies over Easter proved one of the turning points of the war . . . Through the foresight shown by the Chiefs of Staff ( in appointing one supreme Comamnder , Layton , to the island ) and the presence of mind of the two admirals to whom the island and the Eastern Fleet had been entrusted , the air defences of Ceylon - the key to the Indian Ocean - remained unbroken and the fleet safe at sea . For the first time since the start of the Japanese war a major assault by the Rising Sun had been repulsed . " ( Name : Ernest reader , Ref Page 293 Turn of the Tide , Author Arthur Bryant - pub 1958 by Reprint Soc , First pub Collins , Sons & Co , 1957 ) Later life . Following the war Layton returned to the UK as Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth a post he held until his retirement in 1947 . Sir Geoffrey Layton died at Portsmouth on at the age of 80 . Honours and awards . Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire - 1 January 1947 < br > Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath - 11 July 1940 ( CB - 1936 ) < br > Knight Commander of the Order of St . Michael and St . George - 1 January 1945 , ( CMG - ? ) < br > Distinguished Service Order - 1918 < br > Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau ( Netherlands ) - 19 January 1943 < br > Chevalier de la Legion d ' Honneur ( France )