Ships
- HMS Ceylon (30) Captain from 12 May 1945 · Relieved on 13 November 1945
Kenneth Lanyon Harkness commanded Ceylon from 12 May 1945 to 13 November 1945. He had her for the last Burma patrols, the postponed Malayan landing, and the Japanese surrender at Penang on 2 September 1945.
Uboat.net gives his birth as 24 August 1900 and his death as 12 January 1990. It gives no place for either, and it says it has no career note beyond the ranks, one decoration, and two commands.
Uboat.net's rank line is midshipman on 1 May 1917, acting sub-lieutenant on 15 September 1919, sub-lieutenant on 15 May 1920, lieutenant on 15 August 1921, lieutenant-commander on 15 August 1929, commander on 31 December 1934, and captain on 30 June 1940. The Distinguished Service Cross is dated 9 August 1940. He retired on 8 July 1949.
As a commander he had the destroyer Fearless from 17 August 1938 to 15 July 1940. The event list on his page puts Fearless with the Home Fleet patrol out of Scapa Flow at the end of August 1939. Uboat.net does not describe how that command ended. He next appears as captain of Ceylon on 12 May 1945, relieving Guy Beresford Amery-Parkes during the Andaman and Burma operations. From 1 June she patrolled off Burma with Phoebe and six Royal Indian Navy frigates. In July she prepared for Operation ZIPPER and covered convoys between Ceylon and Rangoon. The landing was postponed until after VJ Day. On 2 September he was at Penang when Vice Admiral Hirose surrendered the Japanese forces there, and on 9 September the ship covered the landings on the Malayan coast. Uboat.net ends his command on 13 November 1945.
Uboat.net dates his retirement to 8 July 1949 and his death to 12 January 1990. It does not say what he did between the end of the command and the retirement, or after it.