Sir David Steel | |
---|---|
Governor of Gibraltar | |
In office 11 June 2020 –23 May 2024 | |
Monarchs | Elizabeth II Charles III |
Chief Minister | Fabian Picardo |
Preceded by | Edward Davis |
Succeeded by | Sir Ben Bathurst |
Personal details | |
Born | 6 April 1961 |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch/service | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1979–2015 |
Rank | Vice Admiral |
Commands | Second Sea Lord Naval Secretary HM Naval Base Portsmouth |
Battles/wars | Kosovo War |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service Knight of Justice of the Order of St John |
Vice Admiral Sir David George Steel, KBE , KStJ , DL (born 6 April 1961) is a retired senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord between 2012 and 2015. He served as Governor of Gibraltar from 2020 to 2024.
Steel was born on 6 April 1961. He was educated at Rossall School in Lancashire and attended Durham University where he read law,graduating in 1983. [1] He was called to the bar in 1988. [2]
Steel joined the Royal Navy in 1979. [2] His early career was spent in a variety of sea and shore appointments,including as the Fleet Legal Adviser. In December 1999,while serving in the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible,he was awarded a Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in support of operations in Kosovo and Macedonia earlier that year. [3] In November 2005 he assumed command of HM Naval Base Portsmouth and in that capacity was honoured for his "inspirational leadership" during the Government's savings review of Naval Bases in 2007. [4] He was also appointed Chief Naval Logistics Officer and Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen. [5]
In November 2008 Steel was appointed Director of Service Personnel Policy (Pay and Allowances) at the Ministry of Defence and, [6] in April 2010,he was promoted to rear admiral and appointed Naval Secretary. [7] He was promoted to vice admiral and appointed Second Sea Lord in October 2012. [8]
Already a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE),Steel was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours. [9] [10] He was appointed a Knight of the Order of St John (KStJ) on 11 November 2020. [11]
Viceregal styles of Sir David Steel (2020–2024) | |
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Reference style | His Excellency |
Spoken style | Your Excellency |
In 2011 Steel was appointed as a Director of Portsmouth Cultural Trust,a role he held until 2016. [12] In 2015 he became Chief Executive of the Leeds Castle Foundation and Enterprises Limited. [13] He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire, [14] a Freeman of the City of London, [15] and a Bencher of the Middle Temple. [16]
Among his other commitments Steel is a trustee of the Nuffield Trust for the Forces of the Crown, [17] and President and Chairman of Trustees of the Union Jack Club. [18] [19] He is President of the Church of England Soldiers',Sailors' and Airmen's Clubs and Housing Association, [20] Patron of the Boleh Sailing Trust, [21] [22] a vice-president of the Marine Society &Sea Cadets, [23] [24] and an ambassador for the Woodland Trust. [25] [26]
Steel served as the Governor of Gibraltar from 11 June 2020 to 23 May 2024. [27]
The Sea Cadet Corps is a national youth charity. It is present in England,Scotland,Wales,Northern Ireland,Malta and Bermuda. Cadets follow an ethos,training plan and rank structure similar to that of the Royal Navy,and are recognised by the UK Ministry of Defence.
Trafalgar Day is the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy,commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson,over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
The Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET) was the admiral responsible for the operations of the ships,submarines and aircraft of the British Royal Navy from 1971 until April 2012. The post was subordinate to the First Sea Lord,the professional head of the Naval Service. In its last years,as the Navy shrank,more administrative responsibilities were added.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald was a senior Royal Navy officer. After training as a gunnery specialist,Oswald commanded a frigate and then a destroyer before achieving higher command in the navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in the early 1990s. In that capacity he advised the British Government on the reduction in the size of the fleet under the Options for Change restructuring programme and on the deployment of Naval Support for the Gulf War in 1991:he also made the decision that members of the Women's Royal Naval Service should be allowed to serve in Royal Navy ships.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Cargill Begg,was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Second World War as gunnery officer in a cruiser taking part in the North Atlantic convoys,the Norwegian campaign and the occupation of Iceland and then as gunnery officer in a battleship operating in the Mediterranean Fleet during the Battle of Cape Matapan. After that he commanded a destroyer during the Korean War and was Commander-in-Chief of Far East Command during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. He was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the late 1960s. In that role he vehemently opposed plans to introduce large new aircraft carriers and instead managed to persuade the British Government to develop the design for three small "through-deck cruisers".
Vice Admiral Sir Adrian James Johns,is a former senior officer in the Royal Navy,serving as Second Sea Lord between 2005 and 2008. He was the Governor of Gibraltar between 2009 and 2013.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur John Power,was a Royal Navy officer. He took part in the First World War as a gunnery officer and saw action in the Dardanelles campaign. During the inter-war years he commanded the gunnery school at HMS Excellent and then the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. During the Second World War he played a leading role in the planning for the Allied invasion of Sicily and for the Allied invasion of Italy and then commanded the naval forces for the actual landing of V Corps at Taranto in Italy in September 1943. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Fleet in the closing stages of the war and conducted naval strikes on the Imperial Japanese Army in Borneo and Malaya. After the War he became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel,Commander-in-Chief,Mediterranean Fleet and then Commander-in-Chief,Portsmouth.
Admiral Sir George Greville Wellesley was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he took part in the capture of Acre during the Oriental Crisis in 1840 and,as Captain of HMS Cornwallis in the Baltic Fleet,he took part in the Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855 during the Crimean War. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron but was relieved of the latter post by a court-martial after an incident in which an armoured frigate,which had been under his command at the time,ran aground at Pearl Rock off Gibraltar in July 1871. He was appointed First Naval Lord in November 1877 and in that capacity he secured a considerable increase in naval construction,for example on the Colossus-class battleships,although some of these ships were of doubtful quality.
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope,is a retired Royal Navy officer. After serving as a submarine commander,he commanded a frigate and then commanded an aircraft carrier on operational patrol off Sierra Leone. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and then Commander-in-Chief Fleet. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval staff,the professional head of the Royal Navy,from July 2009 to April 2013. In this role he advised the British Government on the deployment of naval forces during operations around Libya. He was succeeded by Admiral Sir George Zambellas in April 2013.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Donald Kelly was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Dublin which came close to intercepting the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. After the War he took charge of a naval force dispatched to strengthen the Mediterranean Fleet during the Chanak Crisis. After serving as Fourth Sea Lord and then commander of the 1st Battle Squadron,Kelly,known for his skill in personnel matters,was asked to take command of the Atlantic Fleet in the aftermath of the Invergordon Mutiny. He rapidly restored discipline and issued a report which was quite critical of the Admiralty Board's handling of the pay cuts issue in the first place. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief,Portsmouth.
Admiral Sir Peter Charles Abbott was a Royal Navy officer and Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom.
Admiral Sir Brian Thomas Brown,was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1988 to 1991.
Admiral Sir Arthur William Moore,was a Royal Navy officer who became both Commander-in-Chief,China and Commander-in-Chief,Portsmouth.
Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel John Jarvis,CBE,KStJ,QHS,FRCR,DL is a British consultant radiologist. He was previously the Surgeon General of the Royal Navy and the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff for Health. He served as the Royal Navy's Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director General (Naval) until April 2012. He was appointed as an Honorary Surgeon to the Queen (QHS) in 2006. He was both the Prior of England and the Islands of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and the Chair of St John Ambulance from 2016 to 2021.
Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji was an Admiral in the Indian Navy. He served as the 5th Chief of the Naval Staff,from 4 March 1966,until 28 February 1970. He was the first Indian officer of the navy to hold the rank of full Admiral. He is credited with the transformation of the Indian Navy. He made sweeping changes and restructured the navy,creating the Western and Eastern Naval Commands and the Western Fleet. Under him,the Indian Navy also entered the submarine age,with the commissioning of INS Kalvari (S23) in 1967.
Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Donald Gosling,was an honorary British vice admiral,Chairman of National Car Parks,and benefactor to naval charities.
Vice Admiral Sir Simon Jonathan Woodcock,is a retired Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord from 2015 to 2018.
Vice Admiral Sree Harilal Sarma,PVSM was an Indian Navy admiral who served as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He later served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command from 1 March 1977 to 2 February 1978.
Vice Admiral Philip John Hally,is a senior Royal Navy officer who currently serves as Chief of Defence People.
Vice Admiral Vasudeva Anant Kamath,PVSM (1921–2017) was a former Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He was the founding Director General of the Indian Coast Guard,which he led from 1978 to 1980. He also served as the 4th Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) from 1973 to 1977,the longest tenure in the Indian Navy's history. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971,he led the Southern Naval Area,for which he was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
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