The son of a lieutenant-colonel in the Australian Light Horse who had died of influenza after the Dardanelles campaign without meeting his son, Courtney Anderson was accepted for naval training at Dartmouth, getting to sea as a midshipman in September 1934 in the light cruiser Achilles. He was in command of a motor torpedo boat at Portsmouth as war broke out in September 1939.

In January 1940 he was given command of the newly created 10th MTB Flotilla at Gosport but was alarmed at its motley collection of five small, unreliable, underarmed boats.

After an abortive attempt to rescue Leopold, King of the Belgians, his flotilla was ordered to make for Dunkirk, where Anderson had been given instructions to pick up Lord Gort, who said he would not consider leaving his army at such a time. Under fire, the 10th Flotilla rescued soldiers and ferried them to larger ships offshore.

Unsuited to offensive patrols across the Channel, the “Wobbly Tenth” patrolled inshore as a precaution against the invasion threat until sent to the Middle East, a two-month voyage around the Cape in a freighter.

In April 1941 they sailed for Crete — clearly the next Axis target for invasion. Three of the five eventually made it to Suda Bay, where they were destroyed in an attack by German fighter-bombers, while their crews were ashore. Anderson and his crews were evacuated from Crete by the destroyer Jaguar.

Next, with the remaining two boats that had not reached Crete, Anderson, with two seconded Swordfish aircraft, briefly blockaded Vichy French Lebanon from a base in Cyprus, sinking a destroyer. Then, re-equipped with powerful American MTBs, the now not so “Wobbly Tenth” supported the siege of Tobruk until its fall to Rommel’s Afrika Korps in June 1942.

After a spell as naval liaison officer to a troopship full of American infantry, bound for North Africa and Operation Torch, he returned to the UK and was appointed second-in-command of the sloop Scarborough at Londonderry, which took part in several hard-fought Atlantic and Freetown convoys. In the spring of 1944 he was given command of the destroyer Wivern, and allocated to East Coast convoys based at Harwich.

On March 14, 1945, a ship was sunk by U-714 to the rear of Wivern’s convoy. Anderson swung round and was delighted to see the new anti-submarine South African frigate Natal armed with the new Squid antisubmarine mortar arriving. Guided by Wivern, Natal attacked with one salvo and departed. Unsatisfied, Anderson made further depth charge attacks and was gratified when heavy oil appeared. Wivern was responsible for the kill, but subsequently Natal alone was credited and her CO decorated. Anderson was only mentioned in dispatches with two of his shipmates.

After the Japanese surrender, Anderson took the frigate Loch Killisport to the Far East. This was a difficult period; everyone wanted to go home and there were mutinies among the Army in Gibraltar and the RAF at Aden. Morale in Loch Killisport was very low with many “hostilities-only” ratings. By strong leadership, Anderson won his people round, demonstrating that there was still a task for the Royal Navy amid the chaotic events in Java where Indonesian nationalists who did not want the return of the Dutch had obtained Japanese arms and were killing British servicemen and massacring Dutch prisoners. He rescued more than 100 Dutch women and children under fire and transported them to Singapore.

After commanding the frigate Loch Achray, he had tours that included a period as assistant chief of naval intelligence in Occupied Germany, requiring a careful briefing in “tradecraft” and dealings with some very peculiar people engaged in espionage for whichever side of the Cold War.

Anderson’s last sea command was the destroyer Contest in the Home Fleet. A shortage of ships and a surplus of eligible captains now prompted the Admiralty to create what became known as the “wet” and “dry” lists. Those condemned to the “dry” list with no further seagoing opportunities resigned in multitudes.

Despite his creditable command performance, Anderson was labelled “dry”. His subsequent land-based appointments included a tour in the British Joint Services Mission in Washington; a period in the Admiralty intelligence division during the 1956 Suez crisis; management of the Devonport naval barracks; second-in-command of the naval air station at Yeovilton; a year at the Imperial Defence College; British naval attaché in Germany; and director of naval recruiting.

He was chairman of the Admiralty Interview Board until retirement in 1971, having been appointed CB.

For seven years he wrote the Admiralty Board’s annual Bulletin. His war memoir, Seagulls in My Belfry, appeared in 1997.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela, and their three sons.

Rear-Admiral Courtney Anderson, CB, Flag Officer Admiralty Interview Board, 1969-71, was born on November 8, 1916. He died on December 8, 2008, aged 92