George Hunt (Royal Navy officer)

Captain George Edward Hunt, (4 July 1916 – 16 August 2011) was a highly decorated Royal Navy submarine commander during the Second World War. While commanding HMS Ultor, he became the British submarine commander with the greatest number of sinkings of enemy vessels to his name, though David Wanklyn achieved sinkings of greater tonnage. Of the 68 torpedoes Hunt fired, 47% hit their targets.

Early life

George Edward Hunt was born in Milton of Campsie, East Dumbartonshire, Scotland, where his family owned a calico printing works in the town, However he was raised in Kampala in the British Protectorate of Uganda until the age of seven, where his father John was a chartered accountant in the Colonial Service. His parents then sent him back to Scotland to live with relatives and study at St Ninian's Preparatory School in Moffat until he was 13 and a half years of age.

Nautical education

In January 1930, while still 13, he entered HMS Conway as an officer cadet in the RNR (Royal Naval Reserve), graduating as a senior cadet in August 1932 with a nomination to midshipman RNR.

At the age of 16, he became an indentured cadet in the Merchant navy, joining the Henderson Line, serving first on board the SS Arracan then later on the SS Henzada as a senior cadet, both ships plying between Great Britain and the Burma.

In 1935, he joined the light cruiser HMS Achilles for RNR service as a midshipman. Her commanding officer, Captain Colin Cantlie, had been a submariner during World War I and his enthusiasm for the Submarine Service was to influence Hunt's future career and that of other midshipmen on board, five out of eight of whom subsequently joined the Submarine Service.

In 1936, Hunt returned to Glasgow to study for his second mate's certificate. There he met his future wife, Phoebe Silson, who had been born in South Africa and was in Scotland furthering her studies in physiotherapy.