William Frank Cook, RAN
Australian, (1916 - 2003)
His first posting took him to England, followed by two years service in the Mediterranean. Around 1937 he spent a year at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
At the outbreak of WWII Cook was serving on the light cruiser HMAS PERTH, in mid-1940 he was posted as First Lieutenant (XO) in the destroyer HMAS VOYAGER, based in Egypt. The ship operated in support of the Army in North Africa, including the supply runs, often under near constant air attack, into besieged Tobruk. The most sustained operation was the Greek campaign in mid-1941.
In 1942 he was posted as First Lieutenant of the destroyer HMAS NIZAM serving in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
In 1944 Cook was posted to his first command in 1944 taking over the troop-carrying destroyer HMAS VENDETTA, one of the escorts at the Australian Army landing at Jacquinot Bay, New Guinea.
He was then promoted to command HMAS NIZAM as operations moved northward during the Pacific War. Kamikaze attacks were a constant danger even after Japan surrendered in 1945. On the eve of the formal surrender HMAS NIZAM was the first RAN ship into Tokyo Bay.
After the war, Cook served as First Lieutenant on the research ship HMAS WYATT EARP on the first postwar Australian expedition to the Antarctic in 1947-1948.
He was a RAN Escort Officer for HM the Queen’s 1954 Tour.
In the late 1950s he helped oversee the fitting out of the aircraft carrier HMAS MELBOURNE and became its Commander.
He resigned from the RAN in 1960.
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