MICHAEL POLLOCK’S own judgment about his six and a half years of war service was that it was “miraculous that he had never suffered a scratch from the enemy, nor ever had to swim for his life — though very nearly — while taking part in a variety of operations from the Arctic Circle to the Equator”. These included heavy air attack while protecting convoys in the Mediterranean and a duel in the cruiser Norfolk with the battlecruiser Scharnhorst during the Battle of North Cape.

Michael Patrick Pollock was born in 1916. In 1930 he entered Dartmouth from which he passed out in 1933. A series of training courses and sea appointments culminated in a tour in the cruiser York, flagship of the West Indies station, in 1937.

Soon after the outbreak of war he was sent as second-in-command of the old destroyer Vanessa, escorting equipment across the Channel for the British Expeditionary Force and convoys in the eastern Atlantic. In July 1940 Vanessa was escorting East Coast convoys off Dover when she was attacked by German aircraft and badly damaged, requiring a tow back to Chatham for repairs. After a spell of coastal convoy protection against German E-boats, in 1941 Pollock specialised in gunnery.

He was then appointed gunnery officer of the cruiser Arethusa, joining her in Alexandria. In the Mediterranean she took part in the series of violent battles fought to ensure that supplies reached beleaguered Malta. In November 1942, during Operation Stoneage, the final and effective relief of the siege, Arethusa was hit from a Junkers Ju88 torpedo bomber. The explosion tore a rent in her hull and ignited a fuel tank. Fire engulfed the forepart of the ship, killing 155 of the crew. Somehow Arethusa survived this devastating blow and a perilous tow in a rising gale back to Alexandria for rough repairs, after which she was sent to America. Pollock was mentioned in dispatches for his gallantry.

He returned to England and was appointed gunnery officer of the 8-inch gun cruiser Norfolk, soon to be engaged in protecting the vital convoys to north Russia. On Christmas Day 1943, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst and six destroyers sailed from Norway to attack two convoys, inward and outward bound from Murmansk. The British screening force of three cruisers twice intercepted Scharnhorst as she attempted to reach the convoys. Despite darkness and bad weather, Norfolk’s guns obtained hits on both occasions, albeit receiving serious damage from the battlecruiser’s 12-inch guns. Scharnhorst finally came under fire from the battleship Duke of York and was sunk with nearly all hands.

When Norfolk was again ready for sea, the war in Europe was almost over. Several minor actions off the Norwegian coast culminated in the return of King Haakon to Oslo. Norfolk was in Malta on her way to the Far East when the Japanese surrendered. For his service in Norfolk, Pollock was twice mentioned in dispatches and awarded the DSC.

During his postwar appointments Pollock was appointed LVO for his prominent role in organising the funeral of King George VI in 1952. By 1954 he was second-in-command of the Far East fleet flagship and then, after an Admiralty tour in the plans division was given command of a destroyer flotilla.

In 1963-64 he commanded the aircraft carrier Ark Royal in the Far East and African waters. As Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, 1964-66, he had his first taste of high-level budgetary argument as the Labour Government’s defence review started to threaten the future of naval fixed-wing aviation. He was appointed CB in 1966.

During his final seagoing tour as second-in-command of the Home Fleet, Pollock’s flagship was the cruiser Tiger. He was thus closely involved in the first “Tiger talks” between the Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the Rhodesian leader Ian Smith about the future of the rebel colony.

Pollock was appointed Flag Officer Submarines in January 1968. This was an unusual but not unknown posting for a non-submariner which, although requiring a steep learning curve, brought positive benefits. In this case it was clear that Pollock was being groomed for the Admiralty Board as Controller of the Navy, responsible for programmes among which nuclear submarine construction and the bedding-in of the Polaris force would loom large. His main aim was to try to correct the imbalance between the huge expenditure on nuclear submarine hulls and propulsion, as against a submarine weapons programme.

As Controller, Pollock was part of a dynamic team, led by Admiral Sir Michael Le Fanu as First Sea Lord and Dr David Owen as Under-Secretary of State. This did much to set the Royal Navy on course for the following decade. But Le Fanu’s untimely death caused Admiral Sir Peter Hill-Norton to be advanced to Chief of the Defence Staff in his stead after only a short period as First Sea Lord. Pollock was appointed First Sea Lord and GCB in his place in March 1971.

His three-year tenure covered such events as the 1972 “Cod War” with Icelandic fishery protection vessels, and mine clearance of the Suez Canal after the Yom Kippur war. At home, Pollock had to lead a navy struggling to adjust to its loss of a worldwide role in favour of an Eastern Atlantic and Nato focus, and to deal with the problems following the 1973 economic downturn, the 1974 oil price shock and a consequent marked reduction in defence expenditure.

He was active in the policy decisions which led to the “through deck cruiser” — the Invincible class light carriers. He recalled interminable tri-service chiefs of staff committee meetings, before he got his way. He retired in 1974 before the crucial decisions to procure the Sea Harrier — the corollary to the carrier programme — were made.

In retirement Pollock was Bath King of Arms, 1976-85, and chairman of the Naval Insurance Trust, 1976-81.

His first wife, Margaret Steacy, died in 1951. In 1954 he married Marjory Reece (née Bisset), who died in 2001. He is survived by the two sons and daughter of the first marriage and the stepdaughter of the second.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Pollock, GCB, LVO, DSC, First Sea Lord, 1971-74, was born on October 19, 1916. He died on September 27, 2006, aged 89.