Biografía
He was the son of Col. C.B. Collins, Royal Engineers.
In 1960 became Advisor to the Canadian Hydrographic Service until 1963.
He then returned to England to live in retirement near Farnham in Surrey.
Servicio militar
He entered the Royal Navy through Osborne and Dartmouth Colleges.
He took up surveying as a sublieutenant in 1926, joining HMS Fitzroy working on the east coast of England. Promoted to lieutenant, he served from 1927 to 1929 in HMS Ormonde on Indian Ocean and Malacca Strait surveys. After a short spell at home in HMS Beaufort, he was abroad again from 1930 to 1932 in HMS Herald working on the Borneo coast, in the approaches to Hong Kong, and in the 'dangerous area' in the South China Sea.
In 1932, Collins came home to HMS Flinders surveying on the south and west coasts of England.
He then, in 1933, went abroad to HMS Endeavour working successively on the west coast of Africa, in the eastern Mediterranean, and on the west coasts of Siam and Malaya. After a meteorological course at the Air Ministry in 1936, he went back to HMS Herald surveying in the South China Sea and on the coasts of Borneo and Malaya.
He came ashore in 1939 to be naval assistant in Chart Branch, and when war broke out he went as meteorological officer in the seaplane carrier HMS Albatross, based at Freetown, Sierra Leone, and operating against the Graf Spee.
He was promoted commander in 1940 and went in command of HMS Scott for two years' extremely arduous surveying with the minelaying squadron in northern waters. During this time, he was involved with the raid on the Lofoten Islands, Operation Anklet, and was awarded the DSC.
From 1942 to 1944, he was on the staff of Admiral Ramsey, Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Forces, first for the North African landings and then for those on Sicily and Normandy.
He served two years as Superintendent of Charts.
He was appointed as a Captain RN 1947.
He served in HMS Seagull (In command) surveying on the west coasts of England and Scotland and in the northern approaches to the Irish Sea, where he was among the first to use radar for surveying.
In 1948, he took the newly commissioned HMS Dampier to survey in Malaya and north western Borneo.
From 1949 to 1950, he returned to the Hydrographic Department as Superintendent of Charts again. The following year, he took command of HMS Cook surveying on the west coast of Scotland, taking a university expedition to and from Spitzbergen and making oceanographic observations on passage.
In 1952, he came ashore again to the Department, and from 1953 to 1954 was Assistant Hydrographer. Collins' last sea command came in 1954, when he commissioned the newly completed HMS Vidal. After surveys off the west coast of Scotland, he took her to Washington with Hydrographic Department personnel embarked. While surveying in the West Indies later in the year, the ship took a prominent part in relief work after a hurricane devastated much of Haiti. Shortly after his appointment as Hydrographer in succession to Day in 06/1955, Collins was appointed as a Commodore RN.
He was appointed as a Rear Admiral (RN) 1956.
In 1960 he retired.
In 1960-63 he was appointed as Advisor to the Canadian Hydrographic Service.
He retired again back to Farnham Surrey UK.
