Ships
- HMS Ulster Captain from 25 October 1944 · Relieved on 12 June 1945
Ronald John Hanson was born on 27 July 1911 in the Kingston registration district, where Middlesex meets Surrey. He was promoted sub-lieutenant on 1 May 1932 and lieutenant on 1 May 1934. In the Second World War he commanded five destroyers, and he finished the war as a lieutenant commander with the Distinguished Service Order and bar, the Distinguished Service Cross, and a mention in despatches.
His first wartime command was the destroyer Keppel, which he took as a lieutenant on 1 October 1940 and left in February 1941. He then commanded the destroyer Lincoln into the later months of 1941. On 20 May 1941, off the Outer Hebrides, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the merchant ship Javanese Prince. Lincoln rescued the crew and passengers. Hanson was mentioned in despatches on 8 July 1941.
On 11 November 1941 he took command of the escort destroyer Albrighton, and he stayed in her until 20 September 1943, the longest of his wartime appointments. He was promoted lieutenant commander on 1 May 1942 while still in that ship. Albrighton spent those years in the English Channel, working against German coastal traffic.
The Channel actions brought a quick succession of awards. The Distinguished Service Cross, dated 25 August 1942, followed fighting off Cap Barfleur. The Distinguished Service Order, dated 2 October 1942, recognized his part in Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, which he went into as captain of Albrighton. In December 1942 Albrighton put to sea with five other destroyers and attacked German shipping in the Channel. A bar to the Distinguished Service Order, dated 6 July 1943, marked a further action against an enemy convoy.
On 20 September 1943 he moved from Albrighton to the destroyer Ulysses and commanded her until 24 October 1944. The next day he became commanding officer of the destroyer Ulster, and he held that command until he was relieved on 12 June 1945.
Ulster was with the British Pacific Fleet when, on 1 April 1945, a Japanese kamikaze aircraft damaged her off Okinawa. The New Zealand light cruiser Gambia took the destroyer in tow and brought her to Leyte. Hanson remained in command through the tow and the weeks afterward, and he left the ship on 12 June 1945.
He stayed a lieutenant commander after the war and retired from the Navy on 27 July 1956, his forty-fifth birthday. He settled in Jersey and lived on the island for the rest of his life.