Alan McNicoll

Alan McNicoll was born in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, Victoria, on 3 April 1908. He was the second of five sons of Walter McNicoll, a school teacher and Militia officer, and Hildur (née Wedel Jarlsberg). The young McNicoll was of noble Norwegian descent through his mother. He was initially educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, before the family moved to Goulburn, from where he was sent to attend The Scots College in Sydney. On 1 January 1922, at the age of thirteen, McNicoll entered the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay. Described as "urbane and studious", On graduation in 1926, McNicoll was posted to Britain for service and further training with the Royal Navy. Advanced to acting sub-lieutenant in September 1928, McNicoll's appointment to the United Kingdom concluded the following year, at which point he returned to Australia and was initially posted to the land base HMAS Cerberus. He was attached to soon after, before being assigned for duties with . While in the UK, McNicoll wrote and published Sea Voices, a book of poems centred on naval life. From March 1939, McNicoll was once again seconded to the Royal Navy, receiving a posting to the torpedo school HMS Vernon; he was serving in Vernon on the outbreak of the Second World War. The couple later had two more sons, Guy and Anthony, and a daughter, Deborah. ==Second World War==

On 14 September 1939, eleven days after the outbreak of the Second World War, McNicoll was posted to HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Sir William James, the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. In April 1940, McNicoll was transferred to the light cruiser as a member of the ship's commissioning crew. McNicoll was awarded the George Medal and presented a Commander-in-Chief's Commendation. In April 1942, McNicoll transferred to the battleship and served as Squadron Torpedo Officer. In December 1942, HMS King George V deployed in support of Convoy JW 51A, the first Russian convoy to sail direct from the United Kingdom without stopping at Iceland. The journey was completed without incident. On receiving word of the German naval attack on Convoy JW 51B in what became known as the Battle of the Barents Sea, King George V was dispatched along with nine other ships from Scapa Flow on 31 December to provide cover for the returning Convoy RA 51 and to attempt to catch the German ships engaged in the previous assault. The German ships were ultimately not encountered, and RA 51 was returned safely. as a colonel with the Royal Australian Engineers; Frederick Oscar Ramsay as a lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); and David Ramsay—who would become an accomplished journalist—as a lieutenant in the 7th Division up to 1944, before spending the remainder of the conflict as a war correspondent for Consolidated Press, in which capacity he covered the Normandy landings. ==Senior command==

Ships' captain McNicoll was appointed executive officer of the light cruiser on 16 September 1945, a fortnight after the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific theatre. and McNicoll briefly transferred to HMAS Penguin before assuming the post of Director of Plans and Operations at the Navy Office in Melbourne on 6 January 1948. On the outbreak of the Korean War in June that year, Warramunga was selected as part of the Australian contribution to the conflict. Moreover, the ship was to be attached to a force of five Royal Navy destroyers led by a captain, making it expedient to have the Australian ship commanded by an officer of lower rank; McNicoll was consequently replaced by Commander Otto Becher on 28 July. McNicoll was then posted to the Navy Office to assist in the introduction and co-ordination of National Service in the Australian military in response to the National Service Act 1951. He moved to the land base HMAS Lonsdale in October 1951, on being made Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. McNicoll was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1954 New Year Honours List for his involvement in the British atomic program; he was presented with the decoration three months later by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Government House, Melbourne. As one of the ship's final duties with the Navy, Australia was tasked with transporting Field Marshal Sir William Slim, the Governor-General of Australia, along with his wife and their staff on a cruise around the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Passage. The voyage embarked on 4 May, and two days later Australia fired its 8-inch guns for the final time. Rise to Chief of Naval Staff , HMAS Australia. Captain Alan McNicoll served as Commanding Officer of Australia from 1952 to 1954. McNicoll relinquished command of HMAS Australia in July 1954 before the cruiser was paid off and marked for disposal the following month, and he briefly returned to duties at the Navy Office. In any event, McNicoll experienced a particularly demanding tenure as Fleet Commander since the RAN was in the process of a complete overhaul of its order of battle and, as a consequence, he had to manage the introduction and deployment into service of six Ton-class minesweepers acquired from the Royal Navy, along with the first batch of Westland Wessex helicopters and modernised afloat support capabilities. Furthermore, McNicoll was charged with the responsibility of ensuring Australian naval commitments to the Far East Strategic Reserve were met. McNicoll's two-year term as Fleet Commander concluded on 6 January 1964, at which point he returned to the Naval Board as Fourth Naval Member and Chief of Supply. However, this post proved short-lived with his appointment as Flag Officer-in-Charge East Australia Area, headquartered at the land base HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney, from June that year. Chief of Naval Staff On 24 February 1965, McNicoll was promoted vice admiral and made Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) in succession to Vice Admiral Sir Hastings Harrington. McNicoll's term as CNS was characterised by a period of heightened activity for the RAN in light of the Australian commitments to the Indonesia–Malaysia Konfrontasi and the Vietnam War. He furthermore had to oversee an extensive modernisation of the fleet, with the introduction into service of the Perth-class destroyers, Attack-class patrol boats, and the initial batch of Oberon-class submarines. The Fleet Air Arm was also re-equipped with American fixed wing aircraft. In addition to the RAN's materiel issues, McNicoll faced significant problems with morale and recruitment. A series of mishaps and accidents over the previous decade led to what naval historian Tom Frame termed as "an appreciable erosion of public confidence in the navy's professional standards". The situation intensified following the February 1964 collision between HMAS Melbourne and Voyager. The two subsequent Royal Commissions into the incident subjected the RAN to unprecedented scrutiny and damaged the public perception of its senior leadership. McNicoll had to cope with the turmoil occasioned by these events and concerned himself with the restoration of morale in the Navy. The tenure of Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger as Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee was set to expire in May 1966, and a replacement had to be selected from the service chiefs. The Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Sir John Wilton, had among defence and military circles been assumed to be the natural successor. However, mounting speculation arose from late 1965 over who was to be selected for the position as it became known Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies preferred McNicoll for the post, as did Secretary of the Department of Defence Sir Ted Hicks, who thought McNicoll more intelligent and objective than his army counterpart. McNicoll lobbied ardently for the position, and was supported by his wife, Frances, who actively campaigned on her husband's behalf. By December 1965, Scherger's replacement had still not been decided upon and Menzies chose to delay the decision until the new year. However, Menzies retired in January 1966 and was succeeded by his deputy, Harold Holt. Holt and the newly appointed Minister for Defence, Allen Fairhall, preferred Wilton and ultimately selected him to succeed Scherger. In any event, McNicoll was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1966 New Year Honours for his service as CNS. McNicoll was eager for a RAN contribution to the Vietnam War and, in July 1966, proposed that the four Australian minesweepers operating out of Singapore be deployed to Vietnamese waters since Konfrontasi was at an end and the vessels were no longer necessary in that area. The notion was rejected by Fairhall, however, who was conscious of an upcoming election and was adamant that nothing be decided until afterward. The possibility of a naval contribution to Vietnam was raised again in December, and it was decided that the guided missile destroyer and a clearance diving team of six personnel be deployed as the Royal Australian Navy Force Vietnam. Per an agreement between McNicoll and Admiral Roy L. Johnson, Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, HMAS Hobart was to be attached to the United States Seventh Fleet and conduct shore bombardment operations. To McNicoll's satisfaction, the RAN contribution to the theatre was further bolstered in 1967 with the formation of the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam and the dispatch of naval aviators to serve in an Army support role with No. 9 Squadron RAAF. The visible legacy of McNicoll's service as CNS is the Australian White Ensign. The government approved the proposal, and the Australian White Ensign was formally introduced throughout the RAN on 1 March 1967. As a man who "liked action", McNicoll later stated that he received a "great thrill" during the assault as he awaited transportation back to Australia. ==Ambassador and later life==

On his retirement from the Navy, McNicoll was appointed by the Australian government as its inaugural ambassador to Turkey. He was able to form amiable relations between the governments of Australia and Turkey, despite the physical and logistic issues associated with the establishment of a new embassy and the lack of knowledge both nations had of one another. ==Notes==