Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 3, 2016
Alan McNicoll (1908–1987) was a senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and a diplomat. He graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College in 1926. Attached to the Royal Navy in the Second World War, he was decorated with the George Medal in 1941 for disarming enemy ordnance. He was posted for staff duties with the Admiralty in September 1943 and helped plan the Normandy landings, then returned to Australia in October 1944. After serving in a series of naval commands and chairing the planning committee for the British nuclear tests on the Montebello Islands, he returned to London to attend the Imperial Defence College in 1955. He occupied staff positions in London and Canberra before being posted to the Naval Board as Chief of Personnel in 1960. This was followed by a term as Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet and, in 1965, a promotion to vice admiral and Chief of Navy, overseeing an extensive modernisation of the Australian fleet. Knighted the next year, he presided over the RAN contribution to the Vietnam War before serving as the inaugural Australian Ambassador to Turkey for five years. (Full article...)