Frank Twiss
Sir Frank Roddam Twiss, was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1967 to 1970. He went on to serve as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod from 1970 to 1978.Naval career
The son of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Twiss and his first wife Margaret Edmondson née Tate, he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1924.
During the Second World War, Twiss was Gunnery Officer of which was badly damaged during the Second Battle of the Java Sea: Twiss was captured and was a Japanese prisoner of war for three years. He was the last captain of before she was transferred to the Peruvian Navy on 9 February 1960.
Twiss was appointed Naval Secretary to the First Lord in 1960. Lord Carrington, who had been First Lord of the Admiralty when Twiss was Naval Secretary, later said:
Twiss was appointed Flag Officer Flotillas for the Home Fleet in 1962. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet in 1965 and Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel in 1967. In that capacity he presided over the abolition of the naval rum ration. He retired in 1970.Later life
In retirement, Twiss served as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod from 1970 to 1978 and was a member of Commonwealth War Graves Commission from 1970 to 1979.
