Ships
- HMNZS Gambia (48) Captain from 25 November 1941 · Relieved on 23 June 1943
Maurice James Mansergh commanded Gambia from 25 November 1941, while she was still building, until 23 June 1943. He commissioned her for trials at Newcastle upon Tyne on 4 February 1942 and took her to the Eastern Fleet. He is not Cecil Aubrey Lawson Mansergh, who commanded HMNZS Achilles in 1942.
Uboat.net gives his birth as 14 October 1896 at Brentford, England, and his death as 29 September 1966 in London. It has no further biographical note.
Uboat.net's rank line is midshipman on 15 May 1914, acting sub-lieutenant on 15 March 1916, sub-lieutenant on 30 September 1916, lieutenant on 30 October 1917, lieutenant-commander on 30 October 1925, and captain on 30 June 1937. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1941, so he already held that decoration when Gambia commissioned. The same page lists a mention in despatches on 28 November 1944 and a Companion of the Bath on 10 April 1945.
His only wartime command on uboat.net is Gambia, from 25 November 1941 to 23 June 1943. The ship's event list has him in her at the trials commission of 4 February 1942 and at the full commission on 21 February, when the builder handed her over at Rosyth. He worked her up at Scapa Flow, took her out with convoy WS 18 in April, and joined the Eastern Fleet at Kilindini on 23 May 1942. He still had her for the Madagascar landings at Majunga and Tamatave in September 1942 and for Indian Ocean escort duty into 1943, including Operation PAMPHLET. Geoffrey Mason records that the ship paid off on 16 June 1943 for the Liverpool refit. Uboat.net keeps Mansergh in command for another week, until Commander Leslie Edward Moncaster relieved him on 23 June.
Uboat.net promotes him commodore first class on 25 March 1945, rear-admiral on 5 July 1946, vice-admiral on 30 September 1949, and admiral on 18 March 1953, and dates his retirement to 30 March 1954. It dates a Knight Commander of the Bath to 1 January 1952. The page says it has no career information beyond those ranks, decorations, and the one command.