Sir Arthur Reid Pedder joined the navy in 1917 and passed out from Dartmouth in 1921. In 1930 he volunteered to become observer in the Fleet Air Arm. Pedder was appointed to the aircraft carrier Courageous, in 1931. He married Dolly in 1934 and they had two sons. He was promoted to commander in 1937. He was then posted to the cruiser Mauritius, in 1940, as second-in-command. Mauritius operated in the East Indies and the Pacific. Mauritius later escorted convoys against German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. At the end of the war Pedder was promoted to captain and given command of the escort carrier Khedive. Pedder took part in the operations designed to prevent Marshal Tito, the Yugoslav leader, from absorbing Trieste. His post-war career continued in the Admiralty and the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board. Pedder was appointed as Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, 1953-1954, and Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers, 1954-1956. Pedder's final tour of duty, as vice-admiral, was as the naval commander for Nato naval forces in the northern region. He retired in 1959.