David Carey was born in Sialkot, Punjab, India on 24 January 1923, the son of Colonel Peter Dudley Carey and Dorothy Madeline Carey, later of Lymington, Hants. He was educated at the Elizabeth College, Guernsey from 1934 to 1936.

He joined the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet on 1 May 1940, was promoted to Midshipman on 1 September 1940 and was appointed to the cruiser HMS DORSETSHIRE on the same date. Promotion to Sub Lieutenant followed on 1 September 1942 and, in October 1942 he was reported to be completing his Lieutenant’s Courses at Portsmouth. An appointment to the ‘Black Swan’ Class Frigate HMS WOODPECKER followed on 16 November 1942 ‘and on commissioning in December 1942’.

David Carey volunteered for service in submarines and ‘for Special Service’ and was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS CYCLOPS on 20 September 1943. In late 1944 he was serving at the Vickers Shipyard in Barrow standing by the building of HMS XE3 which was unofficially named SIGYN. He was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS BONAVENTURE (14th Submarine Flotilla) on 7 November 1944.  XE3 left Barrow on 24 November 1944 to join HMS BONAVENTURE and her Flotilla.

After trials and exercises BONAVENTURE was sent to the Far East leaving Scotland for Pearl Harbour on 21 February 1945, arriving on 7 April 1945 but was then diverted to Brisbane Australia, arriving on 27 April 1945.

David Carey died on 21 June 1945 – diving experiments were being carried out near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to determine the best way of the XE Craft grappling for submerged telephone cables. In these experiments David Carey, the First Lieutenant of XE3, took the part of the XE-Craft diver.

He went through the wet-and-dry compartment and activated the grapnel. Meanwhile the CO, Ian Fraser, watched Carey through the periscope. He saw David go down to see what had happened to the grapnel. He returned to the XE-craft and gave Fraser the thumbs-up as the manila rope tightened. Fraser then watched Carey go to the stowage compartment and then descend to the cable with the hydraulic cutters which were linked to the submarine by a long hose.

Fraser noted that Carey had used the cutters 3 or 4 times to cut the cable by noting the pressure in the hose. Carey then returned to the XE-craft and again gave Fraser the thumbs-up. Carey then went back down to retrieve the grapnel. Carey stowed the grapnel in the submarine and entered the wet-and-dry compartment and pulled the lid shut. Fraser then heard the valves opening. All of a sudden the lid of the wet-and-dry compartment flew open and Carey re-emerged from the compartment and gave Fraser the thumbs-up again. Not knowing what had happened, Fraser gave the order to surface. As they surfaced Fraser saw Carey jump over the side and disappear. That was the last time that 22 year old David Carey was seen. His body was never recovered.

The dives were taking place at a depth of 40 to 45 feet. It is believed that Carey may have been overcome by the effects of oxygen poisoning.

David Carey is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Panel 88, Column 3 and on the 12^th Submarine Flotilla memorials at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and at Kylesku.