Vice Admiral Sir Neil Dudley Anderson OBE, KBE, CB
Hastings Boys' High School 1940 - 1944
Sir Neil was born in 1927 and attended then Hastings High School 1940 - 1944.
He joined the Royal New Zealand Navy in November 1944 as a Special Entry Cadet and was sent to the UK for training. He quickly established himself as a young man with talent, winning the King’s Telescope as the best all round cadet in 1945.
From 1945 – 1949 as a sub lieutenant he served on a variety of ships including the Battleship “Duke of York” during the occupation of Japan.
Returning to New Zealand he was appointed Navigator of the HMNZS Pukaki. In 1957-1959 he returned to the UK for an advance navigation course where he was Squadron Navigator for the 3rd Destroyer Squadron.
In 1960 he was promoted to Commander and commissioned Commanding Officer of HMNZS Taranaki, the second of New Zealand’s two newly built frigates. At age 33 he was the youngest New Zealand born and trained officer to command a frigate since the Royal New Zealand Navy was established.
After further studies at the Royal College in the UK, he returned to New Zealand and was appointed as the Secretary to the Chief of Staff and New Zealand Defence Council. In 1973 he was he was promoted Commodore and appointed Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and in December 1977 Neil was promoted to Rear Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff, in April 1980 Admiral Anderson was promoted to
Chief of the New Zealand Armed Forces as well as Principal Military Adviser to the New Zealand Government.
Admiral Anderson was awarded the KBE in June 1982 become Sir Neil. He retired as Chief of Defence in April 1983.
Sir Neil Anderson’s naval career saw him involved in key moments of New Zealand’s involvement in the nuclear age. He was on a frigate that observed the first British Hydrogen bomb tests at Christmas Island and just a few years later supervised the unprecedented naval protest against French atmospheric nuclear test over Mururoa.
Sir Neil Dudley Anderson OBE, CB, KBE defence chief was married to Barbara Wright had two sons and died in Wellington June 5th 2010 aged 83.
