Walter Lingen Allen

Captain Walter Lingen Allen, R.N. (14 October, 1876 – 20 August, 1960) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He would receive a considerable number of command appointments in destroyers and leaders and fight at the Battle of Jutland. This experience would exhaust him and place him on shore duties after September 1916.

Life & Career

The son of T. W. Allen.

Allen entered the Navy in July 1892 and received his first appointment to the corvette Cleopatra on the North American Station on 21 September 1892. This appointment would extend over three years until the ship paid off on 5 December 1895.

Allen was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 31 December, 1898 and appointed to the battleship Empress of India.

Allen attended the Portsmouth Signal School in 1902 and then spent a year as Flag Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Curzon-Howe in H.M.S. Magnificent.

Allen returned to Portsmouth Signal School in 1904 to participate on a committee on signalling between naval vessels and merchant ment, and emerged to an appointment to Good Hope of the Cruiser Squadron, additional, as Flag Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral E. S. Poe, extending from 2 November 1904 to 15 July 1905. Allen was to become a destroyer commander, beginning now with an appointment to Kale. On 2 October he was placed in command of the "C" Class destroyer Leopard for seven months before receiving command of Roebuck, which would last over two years.

Allen was appointed in command of the Desperate on 29 September 1908 and re-appointed in her command upon his promotion to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1910.

After spending a little over two years in larger ships Theseus and his ship of 1903 Magnificent, Allen returned to destroyer command with a five-month appointment to Rother on 22 February, 1913 followed by a longer temporary appointment to Doon.

Allen was finally to receive an appointment in command of a modern destroyer on 6 April, 1914 when he was appointed in command of the destroyer Achates.

Allen was appointed to the flotilla leader Broke on 21 August, 1915 and it was in her that he led the second half-flotilla of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla at the Battle of Jutland. She collided with Sparrowhawk after attempting to fire her second torpedo at a cruiser and took considerable fire suffering over 40 men killed, several missing, and over thirty wounded. Allen was mentioned in despatches for maintaining "unshaken" morale in his ship in spite of this terrible test, gazetted 15 September 1916. Recommended for promotion for these services, Allen was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1916.

In mid September 1916, Allen took ill and was sent to a hospital ship. Discharged on 3 October,

After a final seagoing command in Ithuriel as Captain (D) of the Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla ended in March, 1917, Allen was sent to a hospital ship to be treated for shell shock for four days, though he would not be declared fit to return to command until 10 May, 1917. To spare him stress, Allen was appointed to Ceto additional as Senior Naval Officer, Ramsgate in late May, 1917, remaining there until being superseded on 21 March, 1919, though he may have received 46 days' full paid leave early in his appointment and also participated in a Court Martial.

Allen was diagnosed with varicose veins at Haslar Hospital on 21 September, 1920 and placed on the Retired List on 12 January, 1921.

Allen would die on 20 August 1960 at 5 Cantilupe Street, Hereford about a half kilometer from the river Wye. His funeral was held at St. Peter's Church in Hereford on 23 August.

See Also

• Fourth D.F. (Royal Navy) at the Battle of Jutland
• Wikipedia

Naval Appointments
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Kale 15 Jul, 1905 – 2 Oct, 1905	Succeeded by Walter Hose
Preceded by Bernard E. Prichard	Captain of H.M.S. Leopard 2 Oct, 1905 – 28 May, 1906	Succeeded by Osmond J. Prentis
Preceded by Stanley V. Ellis	Captain of H.M.S. Roebuck 28 May, 1906 – 29 Sep, 1908	Succeeded by John G. de O. Coke
Preceded by Nigel K. W. Barttelot	Captain of H.M.S. Desperate 28 Sep, 1908 – 23 Aug, 1910	Succeeded by Montague G. B. Legge
Preceded by Robert A. Hornell	Captain of H.M.S. Rother 22 Feb, 1913 – 6 Apr, 1914	Succeeded by Quentin C. A. Craufurd
Preceded by Reginald V. Holt	Captain of H.M.S. Doon 15 Jul, 1913 – Aug, 1914	Succeeded by Harry MacL. Fraser
Preceded by Frederick P. Loder-Symonds	Captain of H.M.S. Achates 6 Apr, 1914 – 7 Aug, 1915	Succeeded by William J. F. Dunlop
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Kempenfelt 7 Aug, 1915 – 21 Aug, 1915	Succeeded by Harold E. Sulivan
Preceded by Harold E. Sulivan	Captain of H.M.S. Broke 21 Aug, 1915 – 10 Jun, 1916	Succeeded by Edward O. Gladstone
Preceded by Charles D. Roper	Captain of H.M.S. Botha 30 Jul, 1916 – 5 Aug, 1916	Succeeded by Brien M. Money
Preceded by Charles D. Roper	Captain (D), Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla 30 Jul, 1916 – 5 Aug, 1916	Succeeded by Harry R. Godfrey
Preceded by Brien M. Money	Captain of H.M.S. Ithuriel 5 Aug, 1916 – Mar, 1917	Succeeded by Harry R. Godfrey
Preceded by George N. Tomlin	Senior Naval Officer, Ramsgate 27 May, 1917 – 25 Mar, 1919	Succeeded by Walter J. T. Saunders