Former Navy chief Ian MacDougall dies aged 82 in Tasmania

Australia’s most senior submariner has been remembered as ‘a true patriot’ and an ‘enormously intelligent public servant’ as colleagues give moving tributes after he died in Tasmania.

Vice Admiral (retired) Ian MacDougall lays a wreath at the Marrawah ANZAC Day service in 2016.

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FORMER chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Ian MacDougall has been remembered as “a true patriot” and a pioneer of the nation’s submarine service.

The 40-year naval veteran died in Tasmania last week at the age of 82.

Born in Sydney in 1938, Vice Admiral MacDougall was Australia’s most senior submariner dating back to the early days of the Oberon Class submarines.

Former defence minister Kim Beazley paid tribute to Vice Admiral MacDougall, saying he was “a great submariner and enormously intelligent public servant”.

“As Defence Minister and after, I enjoyed his humour and brilliance on many occasions.

“We have lost a great patriot. Deepest sympathy to his family, his former naval colleagues and his many friends.”

Liberal MP for Braddon Joan Rylah remembered Vice Admiral Ian MacDougall as a member of the northwest community.

“Vice Admiral MacDougall moved to Greens Point, Marrawah, about 15 years ago after his retirement and he was an extremely valued and popular member of the northwest Coast community.

“Among many reforms initiated during his leadership, Vice Admiral MacDougall, who was also Chief of Navy from 1991-1994, strongly advocated for women serving at sea, including in submarines, and put in place many reforms required to make this workforce change a success.”

Vice Admiral Ian McDougall.

Enlisting in the Royal Australian Navy a month before his 16th birthday, then Midshipman MacDougall completed his training in the United Kingdom before serving on the HMAS Vampire and the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.

He was among the first to volunteer for the navy’s new submarine arm in the early 1960s.

“I jumped at the chance. The opportunity to enter a new and challenging area of the Navy was very attractive,” he said later.

In an oral history interview with the National Library of Australia, he said he had enjoyed his life in the Navy, but acknowledged it wasn’t for everyone.

“Whatever you’re doing in this life you are fortunate, are you not, if you could wake up every morning and I did for 40 years saying ‘You beauty I’m going to work today’.”

He said it took a particular type of person to work in submarines.

“When you’re in an isolated community you have to create life and people with a sense of humour were very helpful in this regard obviously,” he said.

“I remember somebody in the boat I was privileged to command … one of them fashioned a wooden dog on wheels and would lead it through the boat on its daily walk and it would stop and have conversations with various people.”

He spoke of long patrols in cramped, noisy and smelly conditions where there was little chance to wash bodies or clothes.

“Husbands going home to their families were required to stand out in the garden while the wives hosed them down as they were literally covered in diesel oil and [their] skin was impregnated with it so they were hosed down.

“I’m exaggerating a little. They carried a bag of laundry which was probably radioactive but seemed to go through the washing machine in time to go back to sea again.”

A tribute on the Royal Australian Navy news website said MacDougall commanded the submarines HMS Otter and HMAS Onslow in the early 1970s, was promoted to captain in 1982 and commander of the Australian Submarine Squadron three years later.

Vice Admiral Ian McDougall.

In 1989, as Rear Admiral, he was appointed Maritime Commander Australia and Chief of Naval Staff two years later — becoming the first submarine commander to lead the RAN.

Among his honours was his appointment Companion in the Military Division of the Order of Australia in 1993.

After retiring from the Navy in 1994, Vice Admiral MacDougall served as the Commissioner of the New South Wales Fire Brigades from 1994 until 2003. He was also the Patron of the Australian Submarine Association.

Speaking to the Navy Daily, Chief of Navy Australia Vice Admiral Michael Noonan paid tribute to Vice Admiral MacDougall.

“He was a modern naval officer, with the imagination to see things afresh and the courage to make changes. Australia’s Navy and its people are better and stronger for his service,” Vice Admiral Noonan said.

Vice Admiral MacDougall was married to television presenter Sonia Humphrey, who died in 2011.

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