Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes, who has died aged 93, took part in the Fleet Review for King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935, and six years later launched the "Cockleshell heroes" on their raid in canoes against German shipping in the Gironde estuary. His calm, cool personality, physical stamina and seeming ability to command his boat without speaking made a clear impression on the raid's leader, Major "Blondie" Hasler, when Raikes took his submarine Tuna to a remote part of the Argyll coast where Hasler and his fellow canoeists practised to reduce their launch time by half to just over 20 minutes.
Early in December 1942, Raikes threaded his way underwater through a fishing fleet and a minefield laid by the RAF before deciding to run a serious risk by moving the launch point two miles south into the mouth of the Gironde, from which his "magnificent black-faced villains" were to set off. When Tuna broke surface in the "beastly calm" water, Raikes was first on the bridge to check that he had a better view than the enemy. One canoe was damaged, and he regretfully ordered its two-man crew not to go on the raid, even though "the two brave marines were almost in tears".
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