He was promoted Sub-Lieutenant in 1899, and in that year he served aboard HMS Cleopatra before transferring to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich where he was based from 1899 to 1900.

He was the Director of Naval Intelligence from 1932 to 1935, and was awarded the CB in 1934 and, following his appointment as Rear-Admiral Commanding, Reserve Fleet in 1935, he was promoted to vice admiral in 1936.

[8] He was recommissioned as a rear admiral in 1939 and served in World War II as a naval attaché at The Hague in the Netherlands from February 1940 during the German invasion.

He evacuated to Britain by destroyer (HMS Wessex (D43)), where he was assigned as principal liaison officer, Allied Navies.

[citation needed] Sir Gerald Dickens died of a heart attack in London aged 83 in 1962 and was buried at sea from HMS Kirkliston off Chatham.