Early Life
Vian was the son of Alsager and Ada Vian, of Gibridge, Cowden Pound, Kent. He joined the Navy as an officer cadet in May 1907 and was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. On passing out from Dartmouth in 1911, Vian and his term sailed for the West Indies on the training cruiser Cornwall but the cruise was ended by grounding on an uncharted reef off Nova Scotia. In 1912 as a midshipman, Vian next joined the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Lord Nelson, which was serving with the Home Fleet. He became an Acting Sub-Lieutenant in May 1914.
Read more about this topic: Philip Vian
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