Rear-Admiral Stanley McArdle, CB, LVO, GM, Flag Officer and Port Admiral, Portsmouth, 1973-75, was born on September 27, 1922. He died on December 4, 2007, aged 85

Among the casualties of the great storm of January 31, 1953, was the Stranraer-Larne car ferry Princess Victoria, which sank in the Irish Sea with the loss of 135 lives. Only 44 were saved, all men. The inquiry identified ill-fitting car-deck doors, shifting cargo and inadequate drainage from flooded car decks as causes.

At Rothesay, the duty destroyer Contest, with Lieutenant-Commander Stanley McArdle, pictured, as her second-in-command, was ordered to assist and steamed southwards at her best speed, suffering weather damage on the way. Princess Victoria had wrongly reported her position as much closer to the Scottish coast than it was. By the time this had been realised and Contest had altered course to reach the mouth of Belfast Lough, the ferry had sunk, but survivors were in the water.

With lines round their waists, McArdle and Chief Petty Officer Wilfred Warren went over the side of the Contest to rescue men clinging to rafts. The destroyer rolled so violently that at one point McArdle was carried right underneath her and was himself rescued by Warren. Both men were awarded the George Medal for their courage.

Stanley McArdle rose to flag rank from the lower deck. Going to sea as a Boy 2nd Class, he served throughout the war, and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in September 1945.

As guard officer of the naval barracks at Chatham he was appointed MVO (later LVO) for his role at the funeral of King George VI in February 1952. His first command was the frigate Burghead Bay on the South Africa and South Atlantic station. While commanding the frigate Mohawk in 1965, he took part in the decade-long Beira patrol, which tried to prevent oil imports to Ian Smith’s rebel Rhodesia. In 1970 he was CO of the guided missile destroyer Glamorgan.

As Flag Officer Portsmouth and Port Admiral, 1973-75, his genius for managing people served the navy well in the always sensitive labour relations of Royal Dockyards.

Rear-Admiral John Dovers, CBE, DSC, HM Australian Fleet Commander, 1970-71, was born on February 12,1918. He died on October 3, 2007, aged 89

William John Dovers, always known as “Bill”, was one of the most distinguished admirals of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). In 1945 he was awarded the DSC for courage and skill during a seven-month period operating in light craft among the Pacific islands towards the end of the war against the Japanese.

He joined the RAN in 1932. His naval career included an unusual number of commands — the minesweeper Gladstone, the frigates Barcoo and Swan, the destroyers Arunta and Voyager, the carrier Sydney and the fast fleet oiler Supply. He also served as the captain of the Royal Australian Naval College and commanded the Royal Malayan Navy from 1960 to 1962, maintaining strong ties with them thereafter.

In 1963, when commanding the carrier Sydney, he was court-martialled over the loss of five junior officers when their whaler, one of three, overturned in sudden bad weather during adventurous training near the Great Barrier Reef. Although found guilty of one of the two charges brought against him, the verdict was quashed on a technicality, and Dovers was allowed to take up his sought-after studentship at the Imperial Defence College, London, in 1964.

The RAN went through a bad patch at this time, losing much public confidence because of a series of accidents, including the loss by fire of the ammunition ship Woomera in 1960 and, three months after Dovers’ court-martial, the loss of the destroyer Voyager and 82 lives by collision with the carrier Melbourne.

Promoted to rear-admiral in 1967 he was successively director of the joint tri-service staff, fleet commander, deputy chief of naval staff and flag officer in charge East Australian Area. Retiring in 1975 he was appointed CBE and, as a civilian, for eight years managed the project which amalgamated the Australian military staff colleges and set up the present Defence Force Academy.

Chris Capper, AFC, test pilot, was born on November 25, 1923. He died on July 8, 2007 aged 83

Among the aircraft flown by Chris Capper in the postwar period was the de Havilland 108 tail-less research aircraft whose role was to guide the design team in the early stages of creating the Comet airliner. After passing through the Empire Test Pilots’ School he had been posted to the Aero Flight at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and made 51 flights in the two DH108s on the flight. Both subsequely crashed, killing their pilots, a reminder of the extent to which test pilots were pushing the boundaries at that time.

After a further two years on the flight Capper was awarded the Air Force Cross. Leaving the RAF, he spent nine months flying helicopters with the Bristol Aircraft Company, and was also twice co-pilot on the prototype Bristol Brabazon airliner.

After the loss of the DH110 fighter prototype and its crew during the 1952 Farnborough air show Capper was invited by Hatfield’s chief test pilot, John Cunningham, to fill the test-pilot vacancy. The naval version of the DH110 was developed as the Sea Vixen, and Capper spent six years testing, latterly in charge of the Mark Two Sea Vixen programme.

With the number of military projects declining, Hatfield concentrated on the Trident airliner and the HS125 business jet. Capper was given the 125 as his own, and tested the aircraft through its many refinements and versions, becoming chief test pilot at Chester when all 125 activity was there in 1966. He was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air, retiring as airport manager at Hatfield.