Durlacher joined the
Royal Navy and chose to specialise in signals. He served in
World War II initially as Commander of HM Signal School at the
Admiralty and then as Fleet Signals Officer on the staff of Admiral
Andrew Cunningham during the campaigns in North Africa,
Sicily and
Italy. and given command of
HMS Volage in the
Eastern Fleet in 1944. he became deputy director of the
Signal Division of the Naval Staff, and in 1949 was appointed Commander of the
3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the
Mediterranean Fleet. He went on to be Commander of the Admiralty Signals and Radar Establishment at
Haslemere in 1950 and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief,
Eastern Fleet in 1952 before becoming Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel (Personal Services) at the
Admiralty in 1955. He was made Flag Officer commanding
5th Cruiser Squadron and
Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet in 1957 and then
Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and
Fifth Sea Lord in 1959; he retired in 1962. ==Family==