George Davis-Goff

Commodore George Raymond Davis-Goff CBE DSC* (24 September 1905 – 30 May 1987) was a senior officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

Based at the shore establishment HMS Vernon, he undertook formal study to obtain qualifications to improve his prospects of advancement in the navy alongside his regular training.

He received a further promotion to acting leading seaman in 1927 and the next year, he sailed with the ship to Samoa where he helped suppress a non-violent uprising by the Mau movement.

[2] He served in the Abyssinia Crisis, when Diomede was diverted to the Middle East in case it was required to take offensive operations against Italy.

He was mentioned in despatches for his conduct in the battle looking after the depth charges despite being exposed to gunfire from the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee.

In June 1942 he was posted to HMNZS Leander, a cruiser of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN),[Note 1] which was part of the Mediterranean Fleet at the time but was soon sent to the Pacific.

[1] In early 1945, Davis-Goff was posted to HMNZS Gambia,[1] at the time operating in the Pacific as part of the British Fourth Cruiser Squadron.

[5] At the end of the war, with Gambia off Tokyo Bay, Japan, he went ashore with two platoons of seamen and some Royal Marines to receive the surrender of the Yokosuka naval base.

[1] In the immediate postwar period, Davis-Goff performed shore duties in Auckland from 1946 with the rank of acting commander (which was made substantive the next year).

[1] Hawea was one of two RNZN frigates serving off the coast of Korea at the time as part of New Zealand's contributions to the United Nations commitments to the Korean War.

[1] Davis-Goff lived in Australia in the early years of his retirement before moving back to New Zealand and settling in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga.