Alan Blackwood Ritchie

Lieutenant-Commander (retired) Alan Blackwood Ritchie, (30 August, 1895 – ) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Ritchie passed out of the training establishment in May 1913 and was appointed to the armoured cruiser Natal of the Second Cruiser Squadron. He was noted as speaking some French and had a flair for photography. He would later also demonstrate some talent at the Spanish language.

On 27 July 1915, he was appointed to the sweeping sloop Lavender to assist in making the ship ready for service. He served in her as part of the First Sloop Flotilla operating near Ireland upon her commissioning from about September 1915 through 16 March 1916 when he was appointed to the light cruiser H.M.A.S. Melbourne. He had requested, in February to join the Royal Australian Navy, and the support of Lavender's Lt. Cdr. Woodword's recommendation that he had proven a reliable watchkeeping and executive officer had proven enough to win him the transfer. On 11 November 1916, Ritchie completed a torpedo control course at H.M.S. Vernon.

Ritchie was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 May, 1917. At the end of 1917, Melbourne's Captain Astley-Rushton noted that Ritchie was an "ardent student of Naval History."

Ritchie's cursory training in torpedoes was greatly augmented when he took the long torpedo course at H.M.S. Vernon from April 1918, and stayed on there and then at Actæon for further work in torpedoes until 18 February, 1919, earning the qualification of Lieutenant (T) in October of 1918. Soon after the war ended, however, Ritchie was diagnosed with myopic astigmatism and he was placed on the Retired List as unfit on 10 March, 1919.

Ritchie was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander (retired) on 15 May, 1925.

World War II

Ritchie was called up for torpedo-related work, first at H.M.S. Vernon and Defiance, being eventually assigned to Captain (D), Liverpool for flotilla torpedo duties. He expressed a desire to be released from his duties in order to return to Australia to run a farm, but was refused on the grounds that torpedo specialists were very much in demand.

Eventually, he prevailed and was reverted to the Retired List on 16 December, 1942. It was noted that he was subject to recall as a torpedo specialist in Australia, so it appears that he indeed did return there during the war.

See Also

• Service Records