Duty to the country, and the Queen: How war hero Prince Philip was honoured for saving battleship from Nazi bombers during action-packed military career... that he gave up when he married Monarch The Duke of Edinburgh joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and had risen to rank of First Lieutenant by 1942 He saw action in the Battle of Crete and the conflict at Cape Matapan off the coast of Greece Prince Philip was also there at Tokyo Bay in September 1945 when Japanese forces surrendered to the Allies Philip also trained to be a pilot with the RAF and completed 5,986 hours by the time he stopped flying in 1997