After training, he was assigned to the armoured cruiser Good Hope, part of the Channel Fleet, with the rank of midshipman in 1908.

[1] Acland spent two years from March 1925 in the Naval Intelligence Division at the Admiralty, before serving aboard the heavy cruiser Kent from December 1927 as Fleet Gunnery Officer of the China Station.

After returning to England in 1930, he briefly commanded the reserve cruiser, Castor at Devonport, before being assigned to the battleship Revenge in the Mediterranean Fleet in December.

He returned to duty at the Admiralty in April 1936 and briefly commanded the target vessel Centurion in October of that year.

From 15 March 1941, he commanded the fleet repair ship Vindictive and, from 8 July 1941, served as Naval Aide-de-camp to the King.

[1] Acland was officially placed on the Retired List on 6 February 1942 but remained in service on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief at Rosyth in 1943, and from November of that year until the end of the war served under the Flag Officer-in-Charge, Northern Ireland, based in Belfast.