Vice-Admiral Sir Iwan Raikes - Telegraph After landing the agents on the night of July 2, Saracen resumed its patrol and on the morning of July 6 sighted a vessel heading for Bastia escorted by two ships and with an aircraft overhead. Undeterred by the strength of the escort, Saracen fired three torpedoes at 750 yards, sinking the 1,166-ton Italian cargo ship Tripoli. Four days later Saracen sighted a destroyer coming straight towards her. Although it immediately dived deep, the destroyer dropped 27 depth charges, causing considerable damage: one periscope was flooded and the other damaged; a hatch was loosened; and a high-pressure air bottle discharged itself. Saracen dived involuntarily to 430ft, well below its test depth, and Raikes had difficulty keeping the boat's trim. Fortunately, however, the enemy lost contact. Repairs were so successful that the next day, when Saracen met a merchant ship escorted by a small warship, it was able to fire three torpedoes at 1,600 yards, sinking the 1,350-ton German merchant ship Tell. Saracen dived to 220ft, but when after an hour she came to periscope depth, she found the enemy waiting 600 yards away. Eight more depth charges were dropped, and much of Raikes's repair work was undone. Over the next four hours another 24 charges were dropped, until Saracen finally succeeded in shaking off the enemy. The submarine returned to base in Algiers on July 16, and Raikes was awarded a DSC. Iwan Geoffrey Raikes was born on May 21 1921 at Weymouth, the son of Admiral Sir Robert Raikes, KCB, CVO, DSO & Bar. The family had a long tradition of service in the Army, Navy and the Church, and his cousin, Dick Raikes, would command the submarine Tuna in 1942 when it launched the "Cockleshell Heroes" in their canoes against German shipping in the Gironde; Iwan's elder brother, Martin, would win a DSC in the Pacific war. At the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, Iwan became a cadet captain. On the outbreak of war he was still under training as a midshipman in the heavy cruiser Sussex, engaged in the search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. In December 1939 Sussex intercepted the German liner Watusis off Durban, forcing her to scuttle, and later joined the Home Fleet until she was bombed while in dry-dock in Glasgow. Raikes was sent to the battlecruiser Repulse to continue his training, but left her for his sub-lieutenants" course before joining, in early 1941, the destroyer Beagle in the 4th Escort Group on anti-submarine patrols in the North-West Approaches. Raikes volunteered for "the trade" in October 1941 when the submariners" school was based at HMS Elfin at Blyth, in Northumberland. After accelerated training he joined the submarine Sealion in the Atlantic and North Sea in 1942, and the next year took over from Lt "Teddy" Young as first-lieutenant of Saracen. He passed his "perisher" in the summer of 1943, later recalling having to navigate the Kyle of Lochalsh submerged (a terrifying test with the submarine on electric motors which were barely able to cope with a seven-knot tide), and took command of the elderly submarine H43 used to train surface ships in anti-submarine warfare. Next he took command of the new submarine Varne on war patrols in the North Sea. In October 1944 he carried out anti-U-boat patrols in the Norwegian Sea, and in April 1945 he hunted the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen . After the war, Raikes commanded the submarines Virtue, Talent and Aeneas and the frigate Loch Insh. He served as Deputy Director of Undersurface Warfare (1962-63) and as Director of Plans and Operations on the staff of C-in-C Far East (1965-67), after which he was appointed CBE. In 1968-69 he commanded the guided missile destroyer Kent. Promoted to rear-admiral, Raikes was Naval Secretary from 1970 to 1972, when he was responsible for planning the Prince of Wales's naval career. He was Flag Officer 1st Flotilla (1973-74) and Flag Officer Submarines from 1974 to 1977 - Raikes's father had held the latter appointment from 1936 to 1938, and they are the only father and son to have commanded the submarine service. Iwan Raikes was knighted in 1976. He retired to Aberyscir Court, Brecon, where he owned fishing rights on the Usk . A member of the governing body of the Church in Wales from 1979 to 1993, he played a leading role on its finance and resources committee. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Powys. He married, in 1944, Primrose Hunt, who survives him with their son and daughter. Vice-Admiral Sir Iwan Raikes, born April 21 1921, died December 27 2011