Although there is no evidence to support the story that the Gimlet cocktail was devised by a naval officer, there was a Surgeon Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Desmond Gimlette (1857–1943) in the Royal Navy, when cocktails started to become popular. Of course there's nothing to say he definitely did not invent the gimlet, and a naval medical officer would, of course have access to gin and lime juice.... Neither his obituary notice in The Times, 6 October 1943 nor his entry in Who Was Who 1941–1950 mention any handiness with a cocktail shaker.