Copy/paste from the other place.
What did Prince Philip do in the War?
Philip joined the Navy as a cadet after leaving Gordonstoun School in 1939 and went on to train as an officer at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon.
He was given his first posting in January 1940 as a midshipman on battleship HMS Ramillies, and tasked with protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean.
Prince Philip then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in October 1940 following the invasion of Greece.
He served onboard the HMS Valiant and was involved in the battle of Crete – which saw dozens of Royal Navy ships sunk or damaged.
During this time he was mentioned in dispatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan, in which he controlled the battleship’s searchlights.
Then in July 1943, at the age of just 22, he was credited with saving the HMS Wallace which came under heavy bombardment during the invasion of Sicily.
To confuse the German bombers which were attacking the ship at night, he devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted them.
Speaking to The Observer in 2003, Harry Hargreaves, one of the Wallace‘s crew, said: “Prince Philip saved our lives that night.
“I suppose there might have been a few survivors, but certainly the ship would have been sunk. He was always very courageous and resourceful and thought very quickly.”
After victory in Europe in 1944, Philip moved to the British fleet in the Pacific and he was present during the signing of the Japanese surrender the following year.
Post-war naval service
After the war, Philip worked as an instructor at the Navy’s leadership training establishment -HMS Royal Arthur in Wiltshire.
He married the Queen in 1947 and, after his honeymoon, returned to the Navy in a desk job at the Admiralty, and then at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich.
Philip was again posted to the Mediterranean in 1949, this time to Malta as the first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers.
Promotions followed in the next couple of years, and by the time he left the Navy in 1952 he had achieved the rank of commander.
He later gained a slew of honorary military titles, including becoming a five-star Admiral of the Fleet in the Navy on Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne in 1953, the highest available position in the military branch.
What did Prince Philip do in the war? Duke of Edinburgh's WWII service and military career explained (inews.co.uk)
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