Patrick Field was born on 16 February 1911, the son of Captain & Mrs John Lainson Field.  He is understood to have joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1924, aged 13. He served in the Cruiser HMS DELHI and in the Battleship HMS VALIANT for training, being promoted Midshipman on 14 January 1929. He then joined the battleship HMS MALAYA on 20 March 1929, subsequently moving on to the cruiser HMS HAWKINS on 4 January 1930 to complete a tour of duty in the West Indies aboard that ship. In July 1931 he was completing his Lieutenants Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, to which he had been appointed on 30 April 1931.  He was confirmed in the rank of Sub Lieutenant on 1 Nov 31.

As a volunteer for submarines, he joined HMS DOLPHIN for Submarine Training in September 1932.  Upon successful completion of the course, he went on to join the Submarine Depot Ship ‘HMS MEDWAY for Submarines’ (4th Submarine Flotilla, China Station) on 17 December 1932 and, in April 1933, he was appointed to ‘HMS L26 as Third Hand’. Promoted to Lieutenant on 1 January 1934 Patrick went on, in January 1935, to serve in HMS OSWALD as Third Hand (4th Submarine Flotilla, China Station) to which he had been appointed on 16 May 1933. Leaving OSWALD in April 1935, he was appointed to the Special Service Vessel HMS PIGMY – a Tender to HMS DOLPHIN and the Depot Ship for the ‘Reserve Group of Submarines’ at Portsmouth.  On 2 December 1935 he was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN (5th Submarine Flotilla) for HMS SNAPPER as First Lieutenant and then, on 7 April 1938, to HMS DOLPHIN for L26 as First Lieutenant.

Now with 8 years of submarine experience, he attended the Commanding Officers Qualifying Course (COQC), joining on 8 January 1940, and which he passed.  He then served in Command of HMS L26 before joining HMS SEAWOLF in Command on 18 August 1940 and served therein until 9 October 1940.

Patrick Field was just thirty years old when he died on Thursday 16 December 1941. It is understood that he was a passenger in an aircraft which was shot down enroute to Gibraltar where he had been destined to take up a Staff appointment.

Patrick Field had been married to Eileen St Jermain Steadman in Moulsfield Church in Berkshire on 15 August 1936. It is understood that she died some two weeks following childbirth – just six months after Patrick Field died.  A son, David, was born on 10 June 1942.

Patrick Field is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval War Memorial on Panel No. 45 Column No. 1.

Note: The photograph (above) was accompanied by an announcement in –

The Bystander, 9 September 1936

Field, Steadman  Lieut. Patrick Lainson Field R.N., only son of Captain and Mrs. J. L. Field of Alverstoke, Hants., and Eileen St. J. Steadman, daughter of the late L. St. J. Steadman, and Mrs. Steadman, of Oxford, were married at Moulsford Church. Berks.