Captain Frederic John Walker,CB,DSO and three Bars, RN.Born 3rd June 1896 Died 9th July 1944,was the most successful anti-submarine warfare commander during the Battle of the Atlantic and was known more popularly as Johnnie Walker,after the whisky. When the Second World War began,in 1939,Walkers career seemed at an end.Still a Commander,he had been ignored for promotion to captain and indeed had been scheduled for early retirement.He gained a reprieve, however,due to the commencement of war and in 1940 was appointed as Operations Staff Officer to Vice-Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.Even so,Walker still had not been given a command,despite expertise in anti-submarine warfare that would no doubt be indispensable in the Battle of the Atlantic.During Walkers time in that role the legendary Dunkirk evacuations took place,in which the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was evacuated from France.The evacuation was an immense success,with over 330,000 British and French troops being taken to the United Kingdom.Walker was Mentioned in Despatches for his work during the evacuation. Walker finally received a command in October 1941,taking control of the 36th Escort Group,commanding from the Bittern-class sloop Stork.The escort group comprised two sloops (including Stork) and six corvettes and was based in Liverpool,home of Western Approaches Command. Initially his Group was primarily used to escort convoys to and from Gibraltar. Walker sank more U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic than any other British or Allied commander and was instrumental in the Allied victory of the Battle of the Atlantic,one of the most important campaigns of the war.In 1998 a statue by Liverpool sculptor Tom Murphy of Captain Johnnie Walker in a typical pose was unveiled at the Pier Head in Liverpool by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.