My father, Derek Reffell, who has died aged 96, was a naval officer for more than 50 years, serving during the Falklands war and becoming controller of the navy in 1984. He was then appointed governor of Gibraltar.

In his career as an admiral, a highlight was relieving Admiral Sandy Woodward as commander of the taskforce in the South Atlantic immediately after the Argentinian surrender, in 1982.

Derek began his career early, joining Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC Dartmouth), which had then been evacuated to Eaton Hall, Chester, aged 13, in 1942.

Early service as a midshipman included the Palestine patrol, where in 1947 his ship HMS Ajax arrested SS Exodus 1947, the former steamship President Warfield that was illegally carrying Jewish emigrants from Marseille to Palestine in the wake of the Holocaust.

Later, in 1966 as commanding officer of HMS Sirius, he and his ship’s company represented Queen Elizabeth II at the coronation of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV of Tonga, where Derek was invited to eat suckling pig with the king.

As the commander of BRNC Dartmouth from 1968 to 1970 he had a reputation for kindness and good humour while his authority and memory for names of miscreants was never in doubt.

In 1974 he returned to sea as captain of HMS Hermes, on board which was the helicopter pilot Flt Lt the Prince of Wales. While the ship was in Canada the following year, when Prince Charles was fortunately attending the Order of the Garter service in Windsor, the Canadian government attempted to impound the ship after two of its sailors had committed an offence, but my father gave orders to set sail, believing the order to be illegal.

Born in Wanstead, Essex (now in the London borough of Redbridge), to Roy Reffell, a banker, and his wife, Murielle (nee Bland), Derek went to Culford school, Bury St Edmunds, before joining BRNC Dartmouth. He met my mother, Janne Gronow Davis, when she was a serving WRNS officer, and they married in 1956.

On retirement from the navy, he relished his role as governor and commander-in-chief of Gibraltar (1989-93), and was described by Fabian Picardo, the present chief minister, as “a steadfast friend of Gibraltar” with “a legacy of integrity and service”.

My parents then settled in Hindhead, Surrey, where they were involved in charities and their local church, including my father annually conducting the Christmas Eve carols in nearby Grayshott village square for Action Medical Research.

Janne died in 2013. He is survived by his children, Jane and me, and two grandchildren, Laura and Tom.