Rear-Admiral Michael Kyrle-Pope RIP

[Kyt]

Now here's a man who lead a very full and eventful life

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...fset=12&page=2

Four and a half years in a prisoner-of-war camp is not an auspicious start to a naval career, but Michael Kyrle Pope rose above this setback to give distinguished service in the Admiralty’s oprations division, in intelligence, and on the staff.

He was senior naval officer in the Gulf at a tense time following Iraq’s 1961 attempt to annexe Kuwait, and ended his career in the important post of chief of staff to the C-in-C Combined forces Far East.

The son of a distinguished naval officer, Michael Donald Kyrle Pope joined the Navy in 1934 and the submarine service in 1938. At the outbreak of war he was serving in the submarine Oswald based at Alexandria in the Mediterranean. Patrolling south of Messina in July 1940, Oswald made some useful reports by wireless. But Italian radio-direction-finding was better than expected and a force of destroyers found her on the surface and she was rammed and sunk.

Controversially, Oswald’s captain did not dive or fire torpedoes and had ordered his men to abandon ship even before the collision. Three were drowned; Kyrle Pope tried to save one but eventually lost his grip before being rescued by an Italian warship. He was much embittered by this experience and reported the facts to his superiors after his repatriation. In the autumn of 1945, Oswald’s commanding officer was severely reprimanded and stripped of his seniority while the second-in-command was dismissed from the Service.

Kyrle Pope was incarcerated in various Italian PoW camps, the first on an island near Venice where he and three others managed to steal a boat but were discovered as missing before they could make a move. In his second camp in the Abruzzi he was noted for his skill in picking locks and his collection of Italian uniforms. His group of volunteers dug a tunnel but were discovered at the camp perimeter.

In January 1941 Kyrle Pope and two RAF officers escaped over the wire on a ladder and worked their way through snow to the Adriatic, hoping to sail to Yugoslavia. After five days they were caught and given 30 days’ “fortress imprisonment” which turned out to be tolerable, with individual rooms and a batman. Kyrle Pope was lent binoculars so that he could watch the girls outside the prison.

In 1943 at Gavi, north of Genoa, he suffered solitary confinement as the leading culprit in a plan involving 14 escapers. Only three made it but they were soon recaptured.

His last camp was near Lübeck in northern Germany, having been a prisoner of the Germans for the final three years of the war. On return home after 5½ years away, he found that his wife had left him. He contacted an old friend, Suzanne Parlby, whom he had met in Malta before the war. The daughter of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, sometime C-in-C Portsmouth, and brought up by him in an oppressively “anchor-faced” family atmosphere, Suzanne had, in a state of innocence, married an army officer, a marriage which also eventually failed.

Her exciting and often dangerous wartime experience as a cypher clerk in much-bombed Malta and her adventurous life with Michael Kyrle Pope are recorded in her lively account The Same Wife in Every Port (The Memoir Club, 1998) which is also a beguiling portrait of the often unsung life, times and contribution to diplomacy made by naval wives during the last century.

In 1946 Kyrle Pope was appointed MBE for his leadership as a prisoner of war.

The couple were married in 1947 against much oppositon from her father on the ground that Kyrle Pope was a divorcé. Admiral Layton tried to scotch Kyrle Pope’s appointment to the new battleship Vanguard before that ship’s royal tour to South Africa. Fortunately, Admiral Layton’s career-breaking policy failed. But Suzanne lost custody of her daughter for some years.

After the naval staff course, Kyrle Pope was appointed to the Admiralty’s operations division, inter alia conducting trials of explosive materials. As first lieutenant of the light fleet carrier Warrior he went twice to Korea, ferrying aircraft to the war zone.

He was then sent to the US as staff officer (plans) to the British Joint Services Mission, 1951-53. On arrival in America he was promoted to commander, the first competitive “step”, and an acknowledgement of his quality given the experience forgone by his years as a PoW.

Two appointments in the Portsmouth area were followed by the Joint Services Staff College and a tour in an intelligence post in Germany. This was 1955 and a frigid time for the Cold War. His activities involved co-ordinating naval intelligence throughout West Germany and running spying patrols into the Baltic using ex-German navy E-boats with ex-Kriegsmarine sailors in plain clothes, infiltrating agents and garnering electronic and other forms of intelligence.

Promoted captain in 1958, Kyrle Pope was appointed Chief Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the naval C-in-C Far East, covering a huge “parish” from Korea to Hawaii and Australia to Sri Lanka and at that time concerned with the aftermath of the Korean war and pockets of communist insurgency in Malaya, threats to Hong Kong, growing troubles in Indonesia, the need to prop up the South East Asia Treaty Organisation and an ongoing intention to create the politically independent states of Singapore and Malaysia. The post required much travel.

In 1961 Kyrle Pope was selected to attend the prestigious year-long Imperial Defence College course at Belgrave Square, London, its students destined to “go far”.

In 1962 he was sent to the post of Senior Naval Officer Persian Gulf, overseeing a British naval presence in the Gulf that had originated in the early 19th century. Iraq’s recent attempt to annex Kuwait in 1961 had been foiled by British sea power and Kyrle Pope’s base at HMS Jufair in Bahrain now co-ordinated a permanent presence of three frigates, several minesweepers and a substantial amphibious capability matched by RAF and land forces, including tanks. Relations had to be maintained with a parallel Foreign Office network, the Sultan of Muscat’s armed forces and the Trucial Oman Scouts — both British trained — as well as diplomatic visits to local rulers up and down the Gulf.

Returning to London in 1965, Kyrle Pope was appointed to the Admiralty as deputy director of naval intelligence, becoming head of the naval branch when the administration of the three services was merged into the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

His work included responsibility for the worldwide skein of British naval attachés and their reports as well as liaison with foreign attachés working in London, including those of the Warsaw Pact.

Promoted rear-admiral, his final tour was chief of staff to the C-in-C, Combined Forces, Far East, based in Singapore. The issues of the day included implementing the intentions of the 1967 Defence Review, to withdraw about 80,000 people from the Far East and close a dozen bases to a timescale that was shortened yearly by national balance of payments pressures. The South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (Seato) was a key preoccupation as were intercommunal riots in Malaya and a five power defence agreement for the future defence of Malaysia and Singapore.

Kyrle Pope was appointed CB on leaving the Navy in 1969. He was briefly naval sales manager for Hawker Siddeley when he was offered and gladly accepted the post of general manager of the Middle East Navigation Aids Service based at Bahrain. With his love of the region and its people this responsible position suited him admirably. The service began life as the Persian Gulf Lighting Service when Abadan, in Iran, started to export oil and has played a major role in the safety of navigation for nearly a century. Kyrle Pope’s tenure from 1971 to 1977 marked many updates including the introduction of Decca radio fixing chains. He travelled extensively in the service’s flagship Relume. He was a governor of St Christopher’s School, Manama, Bahrain.

While in Singapore he had joined the Royal Ornithological Society and continued this enthusiasm in the Persian Gulf; indeed his name Kyrle Pope could be found footnoted 20 years later in such scholarly papers as a study of the conservation of the white-cheeked and bridled tern populations of Qarnein Island north of Abu Dhabi (now an important World Wide Fund for Nature site).

On return to England he became the Dean’s Administrator, St Albans Abbey and for 14 years from 1978 a director of the Jerusalem and East Mission Trust, supporting the Anglican diocese, founded in 1841, that ministers to Christians across the Middle East.

He was appointed deputy-lieutenant for Hertfordshire in 1983. At his death he had the considerable distinction of being the longest serving of the more than 300 Younger Brethren of Trinity House, having been admitted in 1947.

He is survived by his wife, their son and daughter and a stepdaughter.

Rear-Admiral Michael Kyrle Pope, CB, MBE, Chief of Staff to C-in-C Far East 1967-69 and general manager, Middle East Navigation Aids Service, 1971-77, was born on October 1, 1916. He died on September 14, 2008, aged 91

[liverpool annie]

Originally Posted by Kyt

Now here's a man who lead a very full and eventful life

Rear-Admiral Michael Kyrle-Pope: Chief of Staff to CinC Far East 1967-69 | Times Online Obituary

Seems his brother was kept pretty busy too !

May 28 1998 TIMES OBITUARIES, VICE-ADMIRAL SIR ERNLE POPE

Vice-Admiral Sir Ernle Pope, KCB, Commander Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe, 1974-76, died on May 21 aged 76. He was born on May 22, 1921.

While serving as a young lieutenant in the destroyer Lively, Ernle Pope suffered the rare distinction of being sunk twice in one day. In May 1942 the turning point of the hard-fought Mediterranean campaign was still a year away and the Royal Navy's grim determination not to lose Malta - and to interdict supplies for the Axis armies in North Africa - was leading to many losses. Intelligence of a convoy bound for Benghazi prompted sorties by the destroyers Jervis, Jackal, Kipling and Lively from Alexandria.

On May 11 these ships were attacked by German bombers from the expert Fliegerkorps II, sinking the Lively. At sunset, a heavy attack by another squadron sank the Kipling, which had rescued many survivors from Lively, as well as badly damaging the Jackal. Next morning, Jackal had to be abandoned and sunk by a torpedo from Jervis, which retired carrying the 650 survivors.

The son of a naval officer, John Ernle Pope entered the Royal Navy at Dartmouth in 1935.

It was his talent for driving and motivating people which led to his next two successful tours, first as the second-in-command of the boys' training establishment HMS St Vincent

http://www.rjerrard.co.uk/royalnavy/grub/grub.html

[Antipodean Andy]

What an incredible career. RIP.

Found this particularly fascinating:

running spying patrols into the Baltic using ex-German navy E-boats with ex-Kriegsmarine sailors in plain clothes

[barnsey]

Hello everyone from Westport on the NW coast of the South Island of New Zealand ... stumbled across this site this evening because of Rear Admiral Kryle-Popes obituary. I just had to join ...and make some comments. This is my first posting.

Apart from this thread which I will come to in a moment ... strange to say I had studiously avoided reading much about WW II and "The Battle of the Atlantic" all my life until two years ago. A mate from training ship days asked a question regarding his Dads ship HMS Wren which was in Escort Group 2, Captain Walkers famous group. It set me off and by sheer luck I got a couple of books which analysed the battle with the hindsight of todays information, Enigma and so on. I have now become an addict and have an extensive library on the subject .... so watch out. Another, older member of the training ship was also in EG2 as it happens so I have some info from him as well.

Kryle-Pope .... you should compare the obituary psoted in this thread with the one in the Telegraph. Note that The Times makes mention that ... Kryle-Pope was embittered by the experience.

The commander of the Oswald was our executive officer on my training ship HMS Worcester on the Thames at Greenhithe in 1955. For my sins, I went at the age of thirteen and a half I was aboard with Commander Fraser for four years. We all looked up to him and he was held in great esteem ... terrific bloke.

The Oswald saga enfolded at the Courts martial of David Fraser was pretty much distorted by Kryle-Popes evidence. The submarine was spotted by the very large Italian destroyer Vivaldi at 2,500 metres or 1.5 nautical miles. The Italian commander stated that the two vessels heeled over, the submarine considerably and that the Vivaldi suffered only a crease along her side. On the Oswald the flare of the bow of the destroyer bent the conning tower and periscope standards and the ballast and fuel tanks were opened by the collision. Kryle-Pope was detailed by David Fraser to make a damage report he found she was making water forward and also aft in the engine room where the after hatch was distorted and unable to be closed. This is very different from the tale in The telegraph obituary.

Over the last year my mates from the Worcester and I have compiled a dossier on the loss of Oswald which bears a lot more investigation. Kryle-Pope was third hand on her ... and he made much of himself at the inquiry. He was embittered by his experience in the PoW camp reading between the lines and we have not got to the bottom of that yet. There was a second submarine sunk at the time Oswald was sunk with only 3 survivors. They all finished up in the same PoW camp and it seems there were some events there which, after the PoWs were repatriated led to an inquiry and eventually the Courts martial. Pope seems to have made much of himself as I said and my fellow shipmate from Worcester has examined part of the file at the Gosport Museum where the historian is exceedingly helpfull. There would appear to be a note by Kryle-Pope, who has had the file out many times annotating the fact that "I was a bit heavy with the facts at the time"

Its all very well Kryle-Pope wanting to man the gun and fight back but thos who have read articles on submarines be they British or U-boats will know that just getting the shells up on deck was a major feat let alone dealing with one in a bent state after collison with an Italian destroyer. As for firing torpedoes Oswald was swung hard a port to present the stern but the Vivaldi Commander had the speed to keep ahead of any stern firing position of oswald and states that was his intention, in fact he let off a torpedo at Oswald.

Anyway its past my bed time .... I shall return to this tomorrow.

[Antipodean Andy]

Welcome to the forum, Barnesy, with an excellent first post! Hope you enjoy it here.

You raise an interesting opposing view to what the obit says and it is great to hear further detail from someone who has committed some hard core research. Why would Pope have changed the story so much to "suit himself". Was he worried about looking like a shirker or being painted with the same brush if the crew was found lacking (find it hard to understand how a sub crew could be found lacking!)?

Am looking forward to your Battle of the Atlantic expertise. May I ask why you "studiously avoided" this area of the war?

[barnsey]

Originally Posted by Antipodean Andy

Welcome to the forum, Barnesy, with an excellent first post! Hope you enjoy it here.

You raise an interesting opposing view to what the obit says and it is great to hear further detail from someone who has committed some hard core research. Why would Pope have changed the story so much to "suit himself". Was he worried about looking like a shirker or being painted with the same brush if the crew was found lacking (find it hard to understand how a sub crew could be found lacking!)?

Am looking forward to your Battle of the Atlantic expertise. May I ask why you "studiously avoided" this area of the war?

Thanks for the welcome Andy,
Why did I studiously avoid reading about "The Battle of the Atlantic" ??? Well when I was a cadet on Worcester in 1955 there were a number of books coming on the market written by people, both German and Allies of "Their particular experiences". Those books were somewhat "coloured" and not what I would call objective. In particular there were various tales of U-boats machine gunning survivors in lifeboats, Tankers blowing sky high and people being smothered in oil and burning to death......and so on. Then and now I hate unfairness and I am not enamoured with blood and thunder. Being on tankers also got me closer to those stories. I sailed with a few people who had war service and one Master in particular spoke of his torpedoing and subsequent survival trip from the top of Australia to the bottom. I avoided reading the books......they did not appeal and did not inetrest.

Here we are 63 years on from the end of hostilities with historians having analised all sorts of documents from both sides of the equation and in doing so painted the true picture of what actually happened. We have groups such as this where the even finer details come out and get discussed. The books now available are fascinating. A mate on the Worcester asked me a question about HMS Wren, which was his fathers command at the start of last year. That got me curious and as a result by pure chance I picked up Tarrants book "The U-boat offensive 1914-1945" .... that did it. There one finds out that in fact the U-boats "machine gun incidents" were but 2 documented ones, that in fact they often righted the lifeboats and supplied them. One has to admire the courage and skills not only of my fellow Merchant Service crews but also that of the U-boats crews. It is pleasing to often read of the friendships existing between those adversaries today.

The books produced in the early 50's are now shown, for the most part to have painted a false picture which did none of the adversaries any favours.

Hagues "The Allied Convoy system" along with Chay Blairs two volumes "The Hunters" and "The Hunted" demonstrate that in the convoys there were comparitively few convoys out of the hundreds each year where masses of ships were lost. When you speak of masses we are talking the loss of perhaps 20 - 25 and often there were around 10 out of a total of perhaps 50 ships. We have a fellow here in Westport who did 5 trips across and never heard or saw any action in his convoys ..... and when you look at things realistically, to have fed Britain and do the build up for the Normandy invasion the losses had to have been comparitively small. I'll stand to be corrected as I have not the time right now to check my memory that some 5 % of shipping was sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic. Thats not to say it was small ... quite the contrary it was a horrific slaughter. But I hope you see the picture i am trying to paint.

Another book I have been lucky to collect is Cmdr K Edwards "Operation neptune" which describes the logistics behind the Normandy invasion .. funnily enough written in 1946 just to prove me a fool. But reading that makes one realise just what had to come across the Atlantic ...and did.

We now know that through various lucky turns the U-boats did not stand a chance of succeeding ... the terrible loss of crews was more or less equal on both sides around 33,000 but when you look at it from crews per vessels the U-boat percentage is suicide.

Although have rapidly built an excellent library on the subject I have much yet to read and find out about ...fascinating.