A solicitor in the City and a member of the RNV(S)R, he was called up as war began. He spent some time shuttling between Malcolm and Wren. The two destroyers worked on training reservists, escorting troops to France, escort and A/S work then Dunkirk. From October 1941 he was based at Derry, briefly in a shore post. Late in 1941 he took a party of signallers on Prince of Wales to cover the Churchill–Roosevelt meeting at Argentia. He next acted as Secretary to Commander (D) on Brighton an escort group for minelayers based at Loch Alsh. He took radar training and was appointed to Queen Elizabeth and the Eastern Fleet based in Ceylon. In January 1945 he was promoted Lieutenant Commander and moved to the depot ship Woolwich, before returning to the UK as an instructor at the radar school in Portsmouth.