Great teacher and historian of Navy
Source:Island
Instructor Lieutenant Commander Somasiri Devendra
Instructor Lieutenant Commander Somasiri Devendra, who passed away last week, was born on 17 April, 1933, in Colombo, and commissioned to the Royal Ceylon Navy in February 1960 in the rank of Instructor Lieutenant. He graduated from the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya) in 1955 after reading English, History and Economics.
In his own words, instructor officers, who were recruited into the Royal Ceylon Navy to teach subjects like English, History, Geography and Mathematics, who had bachelor’s degrees, were known as ” Schooleys” by other Navy officers.
Lt Cdr Devendra’s main task was to train officers at the Naval and Maritime Academy. He has trained officers in the English language and English history. By the time he retired from the Navy, after 16 years of service, in 1976, he had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was the Commandant of the Naval and Maritime Academy (NMA).
In 1975, as Commandant of NMA, he trained the 4th Intake of Officer Cadets, which included two cadets from the Maldives.
This batch, led by Admiral Tisara Samarasinghe, former Navy Commander and former Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia, hosted Lt Commander Devendra, and his wife Dayadari, in Trincomalee, a few months ago, celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the 4th Intake of Naval officer cadets who were recruited to the Sri Lanka Navy in 1975. Dayadari and Lt. Commander Devendra shared six decades of marriage and were blessed with two children, Nalaka and Mihiri.
The present Commandant, Rear Admiral Rohan Joseph (40th Commandment of NMA) hosted Devendra and his wife a few days prior to above-mentioned celebrations by felicitating Lt Cdr Devendra, who was the 6th Commandant of NMA.
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Instructor Lt Commander Devendra joined the late Instructor Commander MSG Perera on 15 January, 1967, to establish a new Naval and Maritime Academy in the Naval Base, in Trincomalee, and it was commissioned on 15th July of the same year. These forefathers of NMA laid the foundations of training officers and sailors in Sri Lanka.
Lt Commander Devendra retired in 1976 and joined the corporate sector and held key positions as Director of various companies, founding Director of Colombo Stock Exchange, Chairman Colombo Brokers Association and panelist in Chamber of Commerce Panel of Arbitrators.
He was Director General (CEO) of the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall and Centre for International Studies, in the period 1998-1990, and served overseas as Registrar of Institute of Technological Studies in Sharjah, UAE.
Whether he worked in Sri Lanka or abroad, his passion was for Naval History and Maritime Archeology.
I can vividly remember that as a junior officer, Lt Commander Devendra was mobilised to the Sri Lanka Navy Volunteer Reserve to work as Deputy Director Administration and Welfare to Naval Headquarters, in 1986, to re-write Sri Lanka Navy Orders (SLNOs) which are the guidelines for the smooth running of the Navy. He took another task willingly on the request of the Navy Commander, the late Admiral Asoka de Silva, to write our Navy’s History, from 1937 to 1950. His work, in his small room in the Naval Headquarters, cramped with old documents and photographs, continued with next Navy commander, Admiral Ananda Silva, until 1988, and proceeded abroad to Sydney, Australia, leaving all drafts with the new Navy Commander Admiral Clancy Fernando, who was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber while he was coming to office in the morning of that fatal day, 16 November 1992.
But his efforts were not in vain. When he returned to Sri Lanka, the then Navy Commander, Admiral Mohan Samarasekara, wanted him to complete his work. On 01 March 1995, he produced a beautiful blue book on our Navy’s inception, after World War II, and forming up the Navy into a Regular Force as the first line of Defence of the country. Lt Commander Devendra never took credit for his untiring work. In his Foreward of his book, he paid tribute to a few Navy officers who served in the Royal Navy, Royal Ceylon Volunteer Reserve, Royal Ceylon Navy and Sri Lanka Navy, who made efforts to write down our Navy’s history.
Some of the notable mentions were Admiral Royce De Mel, Admiral Rajan Kadiragamar, Commander (C) EP Wickramasinghe (WW II veteran award with Burma Star – Commander Northern Area in 1965/66 – Chief Staff officer Operations NHQ – father of our former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa), Captain VTD Amaratunga (father of our former Foreign Secretary Mrs Chiranganee Wagishwara), Rear Admiral J Jayasooriya (the Father of Hydrography Unit in Sri Lanka). What a wonderful person who did not want to receive credit for his tireless work, but humble enough to give due credit to others.
Another passion of Lt Cdr Devendra was Maritime Archaeology, his projects in Galle Harbour from 1993, and contributions to establishing a Maritime Museum in Galle, which is a “must-visit” location to all who visit Galle Fort. His work in the ancient Dutch Shipwreck AVONDSTER was an excellent example of this work and ensured SLN Diving officers and sailors were interested in Maritime Heritage and trained them.
Lt Cdr Devendra was an internationally-acclaimed maritime archaeologist who received several awards, including “Uruma Prasad Pranamaya” (Guardian of the Heritage Award). Among the number of books published by him Record of watercraft in Southern and West of Sri Lanka was a well-researched masterpiece. Please Google to see books / publications/ research papers written by him.
My close interaction with him started from when I was the Commander Southern Naval Area in 2006 and thereafter when I was appointed as Commander of the Navy on 11 July 2015. One of the first persons I met was Instructor Lieutenant Commander Somasiri Devendra. He was delighted and wanted to publish a book on Sri Lanka Navy, “We must have a Navy” – these were the words of Sir Ukwatte Jayasundera, the leader of the Senate to Parliament, on 3rd December 1950, when the Navy Act was presented to Parliament. He said, “As we have an Army and an Air Force, we must have a Navy”. The Navy Act was passed in the Parliament on 9th December 1950!
Instructor Lieutenant Commander Devendra (Retired) being felicitated by Commander of the then Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera,and Rear Admiral Rohan Joseph, the present (40th) Commandant of NMA, in 2024.
The task of coordinating work was entrusted to my able Naval Assistant (NA) then Captain Rohan Joseph. They worked together, and he was greatly appreciated by Rohan for the instructions/advice he received from the legendary Naval officer and historian. Lt Cdr Devendra ‘s book was ready in two months and printed in the Naval Printing Unit and launched on Navy Day of 2015 (9th December 2015), incidentally, the 65th Anniversary of SLN.
We will remember Instructor Lieutenant Commander Somasiri Devendra every time we read this book. As he has said in this book – this memoir is dedicated with respect and gratitude to THE NAVY and to all the men and women who served – past, present and yet come!
May Instructor Lieutenant Commander Somasiri Devendra, the greatest Naval Historian country has ever produced Attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana!
The writer is Former Navy Commander and Former Chief of Defence Staff, Former Chairman, Trincomalee Petroleum Terminals Ltd., Former Managing Director, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and Former High Commissioner to Pakistan. He can be contacted at wijegunaratne@gmail.com)
By Admiral Ravindra
C Wijegunaratne
WV, RWP and Bar, RSP, VSV, USP, NI (M) (Pakistan), ndc, psn, Bsc (Hons) (War Studies) (Karachi) MPhil (Madras)
