Ships
- HMS Argonaut (61) Captain from 21 April 1942 · Relieved on 1 January 1943
- HMS Argonaut (61) Captain from 27 October 1943 · Relieved on 10 January 1945
Eric William Longley Longley-Cook commanded HMS Argonaut twice. The first command runs from 21 April 1942. Uboat.net ends it on 6 January 1943. The Navy List compilation ends it on 1 January 1943. The command line uses 1 January. He had her again from 27 October 1943 until 10 January 1945, and those dates agree.
Uboat.net gives his birth as 6 October 1898 and no death. Unithistories.com places the birth at Macclesfield, Cheshire, and the death on 20 April 1983 at Haslar. He had lived at Cordwainers, Titchfield, Hampshire. His parents were Herbert William Cook and Alice Longley, of Bures, Suffolk. He married Helga Mayre Lowles in 1920 at Amersham. She was the daughter of John Lowles, of Egham, and they had one daughter. She died on 29 July 1962. On 13 March 1965, at Frant, he married Elizabeth Blake, widow of Sir Ulick Temple Blake. She died on 21 August 1978. The page prints that day as 21,08.1978.
He was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges Osborne and Dartmouth, and he served at sea in the European war of 1914–18, including the Dardanelles in 1915. Uboat.net lists him as midshipman from 2 August 1914, acting sub-lieutenant from 15 March 1917, sub-lieutenant from 15 November 1917, lieutenant from 15 June 1919, lieutenant-commander from 15 June 1927, commander from 30 June 1932, and captain from 31 December 1938. The same page makes him rear-admiral on 8 January 1948 and vice-admiral on 1 May 1951, and dates his retirement 15 September 1951. Unithistories adds a commodore first class from November 1946 to 11 February 1948.
He commanded Caradoc from 31 July 1939 until 8 June 1940. The event list has him on Western Approaches patrol with Ceres in September 1939, then at Halifax, Bermuda, Kingston and Colon, and on a patrol toward Cocos Island. From June 1940 he was on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, then Deputy Director of Training and Staff Duties, then Deputy Director (Gunnery) of the Gunnery and Anti-Aircraft Warfare Division, until 23 March 1942.
HMS Argonaut commissioned on 14 July 1942, inside the first command. In October she went to Murmansk and back, with a call at Spitzbergen. In November she was in Force H for Torch and then in Force Q at Bone. On 2 December Force Q sank four transports and the Italian destroyer Folgore. On 14 December Mocenigo blew off her bow and stern west of Galita Island. His mention in despatches of 6 April 1943 is tied by unithistories to Force Q and the Italian convoy of 1 December 1942. Mason's chronology dates that action on 2 December.
From 2 January 1943 the Navy List page makes him Captain of the Fleet to the Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force, at Algiers, and from 20 February Captain of the Fleet to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, until 26 October 1943. The CBE of 21 December 1943 is tied to Operation Husky. He was back in HMS Argonaut on 27 October 1943. The second command covers the Normandy bombardment, Dragoon, the Aegean, and the passage out to the British Pacific Fleet, including Operation Robson in December 1944. The mention of 28 November 1944 is tied to Neptune and Bombarding Force K. The DSO of 27 March 1945 is tied to Dragoon. The mention of 14 August 1945 is tied to the relief of Greece. Unithistories also lists a Legion of Honour and a Croix de Guerre for the North African campaign, both with a question mark. He left the ship on 10 January 1945, before Meridian and before Okinawa.
Unithistories has no appointment listed for January 1945, then a temporary appointment from March to April 1945 as Captain of the Fleet to the Vice-Admiral Second-in-Command, British Pacific Fleet, in King George V. From 23 July 1945 he was Director of the Plans Division. From November 1946 he was Chief of Staff, Home Fleet, in Duke of York. From 28 May 1948 until August 1951 he was Director of Naval Intelligence. The CB is the New Year list of 2 January 1950. He retired on 15 September 1951. The same page says he was afterwards managing director of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, a director of the Lithgow Group, a member of the committee of Lloyd's Register and of the American Bureau of Ships, and a General Commissioner of Income Tax. He was president of the Gallipoli Association in 1981, and vice-president in 1975. He died on 20 April 1983.