He was the son of General Sir Walter Congreve and entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne in 1911.

In the post-war years Congreve served as aide-de-camp to his father, who was commander of the British Troops in Egypt and Palestine.

During the Second World War Congreve returned to the navy, taking command of the 16th Anti-Submarine Group of four naval trawlers with which he participated in the 1940 Namsos campaign.

After several months of convoy duties and anti-submarine warfare, Congreve received orders on 25 April to cross the North Sea to the coast of Norway, against the German Operation Weserübung.

[11][12] The trawlers were under William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, commanding the fleet of the allied forces attempting to capture Narvik.

[16] On 7 May he was sent with HMT Northern Gem to destroy the oil tanks at Svolvær, with success, and engaged in armed action there.

[18] Robert Hamilton, an administrator in the Aden Protectorate tasked in August of that year with taking the war across the Red Sea to the Italians then occupying British Somaliland, went to Lochailort for consultation with and instruction from William Stirling and Congreve.

[15][20] On 26 September 1940 it was announced in the London Gazette that Congreve, with rank of commander, had been made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

In the same issue the Distinguished Service Cross was awarded to William Arthur George, skipper of HMT Northern Gem.