Kenneth Dyer

Royal Canadian Navy officer

Kenneth Dyer
Born	7 November 1915 Toungoo, Burma
Died	9 October 2000(2000-10-09) (aged 84) Ottawa, Ontario
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	Royal Canadian Navy
Years of service	1933–1967
Rank	Vice-Admiral
Commands held	HMCS Skeena HMCS Kootenay HMCS Magnificent Atlantic Coast Royal Canadian Navy
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Canadian Forces' Decoration

Vice Admiral Kenneth Lloyd Dyer DSC, CD (7 November 1915 – 9 October 2000) was a senior officer in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Naval career

Dyer joined the Royal Canadian Navy as a cadet on 1 October 1933.^[1] He served in the Second World War^[2] in command of the destroyer HMCS Skeena and then the destroyer HMCS Kootenay.^[1]^[3] He later commanded the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent from 1951 to 1953.^[1] He went on to be Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Warfare) in 1956, Chief of Naval Personnel in 1957 and Flag Officer Atlantic Coast in 1960.^[1] In the latter role he put his fleet on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis.^[1] His last role was as Principal Naval Adviser from 1964 to 1966.^[1]

Awards and decorations

Dyer's personal awards and decorations include the following:

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)	Citation for Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)^[4]
	1939–1945 Star	WWII 1939-1945
	Atlantic Star	WWII 1939-1945
	Defence Medal (United Kingdom)	WWII 1939-1945
	Canadian Volunteer Service Medal	WWII 1939–1945 with Overseas Service bar
	War Medal 1939–1945 with Mentioned in dispatches	WWII 1939-1945
	Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal	Decoration awarded in 1952
	Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)	with two Clasp for 32 years of services

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Vice-Admiral Kenneth Lloyd DYER, DSC, CD" (PDF). Blatherwick. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ "Canadian Navy List" (PDF). p. 272. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ "Kenneth Lloyd Dyer DSC, RCN". Uboat.net. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ Distinguished Service Cross: London Gazette of 25 November 1942 and Canada Gazette 28 November 1942). "For Distinguished service before the enemy. Acting Lieutenant-Commander Dyer was Commanding Officer of HMCS Skeena when she joined a hunt with HMCS Wetaskiwin which resulted in the destruction of an enemy U-boat. The successful conclusion of this action was only achieved by the cool and careful handling of the two ships throughout the whole of the attack which lasted more than four hours. The skilful handling of his ship by this Officer contributed to a large degree to the destruction of the enemy U-boat."