Vice Admiral Sir Hugh David Stevenson (24 August 1918 – 26 October 1998) was a senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy, serving as Chief of Naval Staff from 1973 to 1976. Early life Stevenson was born in The Valley, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland to the Reverend William Henry Webster Stevenson and Katherine Stevenson, the third of four children. His father was the Rector of Holy Trinity Church and later became Anglican Bishop of Grafton, New South Wales. His paternal grandfather was master of a sailing vessel plying to Pacific Ocean ports; his maternal grandfather was William Saumarez Smith, the first Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, New South Wales. Stevenson was educated at The Southport School and was active in most sports, athletics, football, cricket and represented his school in rowing. Naval career He chose a naval career for himself, and joined the Royal Australian Naval College on 13 September 1932, aged 14, to complete his schooling. He was the smallest and shortest of his entry, measuring . He graduated Dux in 1935 and received sporting colours in swimming, tennis, cricket and Rugby. After initial training in HMAS Canberra, he was posted to , flagship of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, which was observing the Spanish Civil War. Second World War After courses in Britain from May 1938 to January 1939, he returned to Australia and was promoted to lieutenant in 1940 while in HMAS Hobart. The ship saw war service in the Red Sea. He joined HMAS Napier in late 1941 in time for the Tobruk Ferry Service and the convoys to Malta, staying on for its service with the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean, and its support the Allied invasion of Madagascar during which he landed with the British Commandos. In March 1943 he joined HMAS Nepal as First Lieutenant, still with the rank of lieutenant, which he held until after the end of the war. With Nepal he served again in the Indian Ocean. In early 1944 he returned to Australia en route to the United Kingdom for his Long Navigation Course. He returned to HMAS Napier as Flotilla Navigating Officer, and remained in her until the end of the war, including a period of temporary command when Captain H.J. Buchanan, in charge of the first British landing force in Japan, went ashore at Yokosuka and Lieutenant Stevenson took the ship into Tokyo Bay. Stevenson was