Edward Dudley Norman

Commodore Edward Dudley Norman DSO DSC PJM PKB (2 August 1910 – 1998, in Dorset) was a distinguished World War II submarine commander, senior Royal Navy officer and senior Royal Malayan Navy (now known as Royal Malaysian Navy) officer.^[1] He is the first Chief of Navy for Federation of Malaya (now known as Malaysia).^[2]

Early life[]

Norman was born on 2 August 1910, in Burton Bradstock, to Alfred Headley Norman (b. 1881; d. 1973), a Royal Navy Lieutenant (later Vice Admiral).^[3] Born into a navy family, Norman joins the Royal Navy as Cadet and later was commissioned as Lieutenant in 1934.^[2][1]

Military career[]

Royal Navy[]

Norman was assigned into Royal Navy Submarine Service and commanded six submarines throughout World War II. His first submarine was HMS H44, which he took command of on 12 March 1940. His mission with H44 was to do combat patrol in the North Sea. Under his command, H44 sank enemy shipping off the Norwegian coast, for which Norman was awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross.^[3] He was then assigned to HMS Otway until December 1940.^[4]

Norman was given a new task, to take command of Malta-based submarine HMS Upright. He was then involved with the Siege of Malta with other nine Royal Navy submarines. Upright and the other nine submarines were later dubbed as 'The Fighting Tenth'. Their story was documented in 'The Fighting Tenth: The Tenth Submarine Flotilla and the Siege of Malta' a 2003 book by John Wingate. On 5 February 1941, Upright made a torpedo attack to Italian convoy near Kerkenah, Tunisia. But the attack failed, and all four torpedoes fired missed their targets. The hunt for enemy convoy continued, and on 23 February, Upright torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant ship, SS Silvia Tripcovich.^[5] Two days later, on 25 February, Upright attacked an Italian convoy. Upright managed to torpedo and sink Italian cruiser Armando Diaz; however, they missed a bigger prize, a destroyer. Because of his success to attacking the enemy convoy and also the siege, Norman was awarded with the Distinguished Service Order.^[3][2][6][7]

Norman then took command of a surrendered German Type VIIC U-boat, U-570, which had surrendered to an RAF Hudson aircraft at south of Iceland in August. The submarine then was renamed to HMS Graph. Norman commanded the Graph for one year and from his experiences, he gave valuable information to the Allies forces about construction, performance and weaponry of the standard Type VII-boat. After Graph, Norman commanded HMS Tuna and HMS Alcide, both long range A-Class patrol submarines, for the Pacific region.^[3]

Norman left the Submarine Service in 1947, and appointed at the Admiralty in London and later as executive officer of HMS Heron (now known as RNAS Yeovilton), a naval air station, where he learned to fly. Norman later took command of HMS Nereide, a sloop on the South African Station.^[3][2]

Royal Malayan Navy[]

Prior to 1957, Norman operated with HMS Nereide at Southern Atlantic. After getting their independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, Malayan government start purchasing Royal Navy minesweepers and Norman was promoted to captain by Royal Navy to assist the newly formed Royal Malayan Navy as the Commanding Officer of the Royal Malayan Navy, succeeding Captain H.E.H. Nicholls CBE DSC RN. When Malayan government completely took over the Royal Malayan Navy from the Royal Navy on 1 July 1958, Norman was loaned into the new navy.^[3][8]

Malayan government then promoted Norman to Commodore and in the same time appointed him as the first Chief of Navy.^[2]

Commodore Norman made a very crucial part in setting up the future of the Royal Malayan Navy. All his setups helps Malayan a lot during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Under his command, Commodore Norman encourages the locals to take up important role and officer positions in the Royal Malayan Navy. Under him too, new recruiting plans are implemented thus made many locals want to join the navy.^[8]

Retirement from military[]

Commodore E. D. Norman retired from Royal Malayan Navy on 7 February 1960 and from Royal Navy on 2 August 1960, with rank of Commodore (Royal Malayan Navy) and Captain (Royal Navy).^[3][2][6][8]

Honours[]

Norman received many awards for his involvements in World War II and Malayan Emergency. Among the awards he has received is Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, Active Service Medal (Malaya) (Malay: Pingat Khidmat Berbakti — PKB) and Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM).^[3]

Later work[]

After retirement, Norman became the secretary of the Royal Malta Yacht Club and played an influential role in establishing the first Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race (now known as Volvo Ocean Race).^[3]

References[]