Alastair Shand Cumming

Commander Alastair Shand Cumming, R.N., Retired (31 May, 1894 – 21 July, 1941) was an officer in the Royal Navy. His first name is misspelled as "Alistair" sin his Service Records.

Life & Career

The son of John Arthur Cumming, Esq., a member of the Indian Civil Service.

He was promoted to Midshipman as he passed out of the Training Establishment on 15 January, 1912. He was appointed to the battleship Colossus, and served in her through the Battle of Jutland, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority 15 December, 1915. He was admitted to Haslar Hospital to be treated for an ear condition in August, 1916. He was soon ordered to return to Colossus, but was sent back to Plymouth Hospital in a matter of weeks.

On 1 March 1917, he was appointed to Dolphin for a two month submarine course, after which he was appointed to Maidstone to serve in her submarines. Two service records indicate he was appointed to different submarines on 12 June, 1917: E 29 and C 24. These, or this, appointment may have ended on 7 July 1918, when he was placed in K 5, on the books of H.M.S. Fearless. This lasted through late April, 1919, when he was appointed to H.M.S. Thames and for the two and a half month Periscope Course.

Following treatment at Haslar for a nasal obstruction, Cumming was appointed in command of the submarine L 18 on 6 December, 1920.

Cumming was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 15 December, 1923. He passed a preliminary interpreter examination in French in 1924, and qualified as an interpreter in 1926.

In 1925 while at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Cumming developed a new circular plotting board for submarines. It went into service and was for a time known as the Cumming Plotting Board.

Cumming was placed on the Retired List at his own request with a gratuity of £1200 on 3 May, 1927.

Cumming was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31 May, 1934.

Around 1938 when Alastair Cumming was conducting sea trials in Ursula, he met Lieut. Commander George Phillips, who was to be in command. Phillips was at that time developing improved foul weather gear for submariners and incorporated into its design a German leather two piece overall which Cumming used to wear, having acquired it at the end of World War I. The new suit became known as the “Ursula Suit”, and there is (or was) an example of it on display at the Submarine Museum in Gosport.

World War II

Cumming received a total exemption from service, owing to his employment at Vickers-Armstrongs. He died in mid-1941 in Barrow-in-Furness.

See Also

• Service Records
• H.M.S. Colossus at the Battle of Jutland

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Charles E. A. W. Cox	Captain of H.M.S. H 28 3 Jul, 1919 – 20 Nov, 1920	Succeeded by William D. Stephens
Preceded by Anthony B. Lockhart	Captain of H.M.S. L 18 6 Dec, 1920 – 24 Jun, 1921	Succeeded by Charles H. Allen
Preceded by Andrew L. Besant	Captain of H.M.S. L 52 23 Sep, 1922 – 30 Apr, 1923	Succeeded by Frank D. Morris
Preceded by Lancelot V. Donne	Captain of H.M.S. H 32 30 Apr, 1923 – 7 Sep, 1924	Succeeded by Gerald E. Colpoys
Preceded by Jermyn Rushbrooke	Captain of H.M.S. L 53 17 Jul, 1926 – 20 Nov, 1926	Succeeded by George A. W. Voelcker
Preceded by John D. A. Musters	Captain of H.M.S. L 54 20 Nov, 1926 – 1 Apr, 1927	Succeeded by Rupert R. Devlin