On this Day the George Medal was awarded to LCDR Alan Wedell Ramsay McNicoll, RAN. The award for bravery was for disarming eight torpedoes inside the captured Italian submarine Galileo Galelei, off Aden when he was serving in HMS Kandahar.
The submarine had been forced to surrender by the trawler HMS Moonstone. LEUT G. F. E. Knox, RAN, also served in Kandahar. He was appointed prize captain of the submarine for the passage into Aden.
LCDR McNicoll joined the RAN in 1922 as a Cadet Midshipman and rose to be was Deputy Secretary of Department of Defence, 1958-1959; Second Naval Member of the Naval Board, 1960-1961; Flag Officer Commanding H.M. Australian Fleet 1962-1964; as Vice Admiral Sir Alan McNicoll he became First Naval Member of the Naval Board, , 1965-1968 – the position which is now Chief of Navy.
