Distinguished Service Cross awarded to Vice-Admiral Robert Don Oliver, CB, CBE, DSC, DL (1895-1980). Oliver was present at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 and served with distinction at Gallipoli in 1915. For the rest of the war he served in HMS ‘Murray’ and HMS ‘Telemachus’, taking part in mine-laying operations off the German and Belgian coast. For his services in World War I he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In 1939 he took command of HMS ‘Iron Duke’ and in 1940 HMS ‘Devonshire’. Oliver took command of the gunnery school HMS ‘Excellent’ and in 1944 commissioned HMS ‘Swiftsure’ and was in the Far East at the end of the war. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1945 and to Vice-Admiral on the retired list in 1948.

The medal is in the form of a plain silver cross pattee, convexed. In the centre of the obverse face is the crowned cypher of George V. On the reverse is the inscription: ‘LIEUT. ROBERT DON OLIVER R.N. 10TH APRIL 1918’. The Cross is suspended from a blue ribbon with a central white stripe and is mounted on a bar with nine others: 1914-15 Star (MED2044), British War Medal (MED2045), Victory Medal (MED2046), 1939-45 Star (MED2047), Atlantic Star (MED2048), Pacific Star (MED2049), War Medal with oak leaf (MED2050), George VI Coronation (MED2051) and Swedish Medal (MED2052).