Sir Gilbert O. Stephenson was a British Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy. Vice Admiral is a naval rank of three star level, equivalent to Lieutenant General in seniority. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...

Stevenson had risen to Vice Admiral pre-war and been retired. When the war started he was accepted as a Commodore of Convoy and made several trips in that capacity before being called back to start the training school.

He is most famous for his rigorous training regime at the training base called HMS Western Isles at Tobermory at the Heibridean island of Mull, opening in July, 1940. He emphasized strict discipline in his training combined with encouraging a willingness to quickly adapt to various situations with suprise inspections and orders to trainees. HMS Western Isles was the name of a passenger ship in the Royal Navy. ... Tobermory is the name of several towns. ... July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

For instance, when inspecting a corvette and crew, he suddenly threw his hat on the deck and called it a unexploded bomb. A trainee immediately kicked it into the water and after Stephenson commended him for quick action, he then suddenly said the hat was now a man overboard and the trainee dove in to retrieve it. For the automobile, see Chevrolet Corvette. ...

He had the reputation of being a very hard taskmaster, with officers being replaced before the ship was allowed to leave (and even commanding officers being dismissed on occasion). HOwever, he was reportedly very pleasant to those who matched his standards.

Although he was disliked by the trainees who called him "The Terror of Tobermory" and "The Monkey", Stephenson was credited in producing capable sailors who were able to meet the demands of the Second Battle of the Atlantic of World War II. As such, Stephenson is credited with being a factor in turning the tide in favor of the Allies in that critical contest in the war. The Second Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II, running from 1939 right through to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and was at its height from mid-1940 through to about the end of 1943. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air. ... When spelt with a capital A, Allies usually denotes the countries that fought together against the Central Powers in World War I and against the Axis Powers in World War II. Other uses In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to...

A noted fictionalized depiction of the Vice Admiral and his World War II assignment is presented in Nicholas Monsarrat's novel The Cruel Sea. Nicholas Monsarrat (1910–1979) was the working name of Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat, a UK novelist best known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea (1951). ... The cover of the UK 1956 paperback edition of: The Cruel Sea The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. ...

External link

• A tribute page by The Western Isles Hotel