Sir George Zambellas | |
---|---|
Born | Swansea, Wales | 4 April 1958
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1980–2016 |
Rank | Admiral |
Service number | C029289H |
Commands held | First Sea Lord Fleet Commander Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces HMS Chatham HMS Argyll HMS Cattistock |
Battles/wars | Operation Palliser |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Cross |
Alma mater | University of Southampton |
Other work | Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (June 2024–) Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset (Sep 2013–) |
Admiral Sir George Michael Zambellas, GCB , DSC , ADC , DL , FRAeS (born 4 April 1958) [1] is a British retired Royal Navy officer. He was the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from April 2013 [2] until he handed over duties to Admiral Sir Philip Jones in April 2016. [3]
In his early career he served as a helicopter pilot with 814 Naval Air Squadron, 829 Naval Air Squadron and then 815 Naval Air Squadron. [1] As captain of HMS Chatham he was deployed as part of Operation Palliser off Sierra Leone, for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross in 2001. [4] He went on to be Fleet Commander and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff in early 2012. [5] In June 2024, he was appointed to the honorary position of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. [6] [7]
Born in Swansea, Wales, the son of a Greek father, Michael George Zambellas and Rosemary Frederique Zambellas (née Lindsay), [8] Zambellas was educated at Shabani Primary School in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and at Stowe School. [1] He studied aeronautical and astronautical engineering at the University of Southampton and graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. [1]
Zambellas was commissioned as an acting sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy on 17 September 1980. [9] He was promoted to lieutenant on 16 May 1982 [10] and served with 814 Naval Air Squadron, 829 Naval Air Squadron and 815 Naval Air Squadron in his early career. [1]
Zambellas was trained for the naval staff at Greenwich in 1990, [1] and after spending a short time as a corporate planner for the Royal Navy's manpower and training division within the Ministry of Defence, he took command of the mine-sweeper HMS Cattistock in 1991. [1] His next appointment was ashore, as an aviation operations officer in the Fleet Headquarters at Northwood, before being promoted to commander on 30 June 1994. [11] In 1995 he was given command of the frigate HMS Argyll and was deployed on counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean. [1]
Zambellas served as a corporate planner during the 1997–98 Strategic Defence Review [1] before returning to operational command in 1999 as captain of the frigate HMS Chatham and being deployed as part of Operation Palliser off Sierra Leone for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross in 2001. [4] [12] In 2001 he took the Higher Command and Staff Course at Shrivenham before becoming Deputy Flag Officer Sea Training, responsible for training Royal Navy and foreign warships and auxiliaries. [1]
Promoted to commodore in 2002, Zambellas was appointed to be principal staff officer to the Chief of the Defence staff and served Admiral Boyce and General Walker during the invasion of Iraq and the early days of its fallout. [1] He was given command of the Royal Navy's Amphibious Task Group in January 2005. [1]
Promoted to rear admiral on 29 August 2006 [13] and appointed Chief of staff (Transformation), [1] Zambellas was in this role entrusted with "designing and delivering the Fleet's new approach to the generation of maritime capability and support to operations." [14] In 2007, he became Commander United Kingdom Maritime Force, [1] and in October 2008, he became Chief of staff (Operations) at the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood. [1]
Promoted vice admiral on 18 January 2011, [15] Zambellas was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Chief of staff to Navy Command Headquarters, and Chief Naval Warfare Officer. [16] He became Commander-in-Chief Fleet in January 2012 and was promoted admiral on 6 January 2012. [17] He was also double-hatted as Commander Allied Maritime Command in January 2012. [18] In April 2012 his role was re-designated Fleet Commander and Deputy Chief of the Naval Service. [5]
Zambellas was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2012 Birthday Honours [19] and became First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval staff on 9 April 2013. [20] [2] As of 2015, Zambellas was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the department, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. [21]
On 15 April 2014, Zambellas wrote an op-ed piece in the Daily Telegraph that laid out the case for a "No" vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. He said it would weaken the maritime defence of the UK. [22] Despite this, on 12 November 2014 he was publicly overruled by the UK Defence Secretary after suggesting to a journalist that the contract for Type 26 frigates may not be awarded to Scottish shipyards. [23] [24]
On 4 July 2014, Zambellas was among those attending the launch ceremony of the 70,600-tonne Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest warship ever built in the United Kingdom, and formally named by Queen Elizabeth II. [25]
Since 2017, Zambellas has served as President of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society. [26]
Zambellas was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 2016 New Year Honours [27] attending an investiture for this at a ceremony at Windsor Castle along with Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford on 13 April 2016. [28] He handed over duties as First Sea Lord to Admiral Sir Philip Jones in April 2016. [3]
Zambellas is a Younger Brother of Trinity House. [1] He is also an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors. [29]
Zambellas was elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS) in 2009. [1] In September 2013, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Dorset. [30] On 17 March 2023, he was appointed an Extra Equerry to King Charles III. [31] On 20 June 2024, Zambellas was appointed to the honorary position of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle, in succession to Lord Boyce. [6] [7]
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) | 31 December 2015 [32] | |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) | 16 June 2012 [19] | |
Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) | 6 April 2001 [4] | |
Operational Service Medal for Sierra Leone | ||
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | 2002 | |
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | 2012 | |
Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (two clasps) |
In 1982 Zambellas married Amanda Jane LeCudennec; they have three sons. [1]
Admiral of the Fleet Michael Cecil Boyce, Baron Boyce, was a British Royal Navy officer who also sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords until his death in November 2022.
Admiral of the Fleet Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he was present as Sir David Beatty's Flag-Captain at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915 and at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet and then Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet before serving as First Sea Lord in the mid-1930s in which role he won arguments that the Royal Navy should have 70 cruisers rather than the 50 cruisers that had been agreed at the Naval Conference of 1930, that the battleship still had an important role to play despite the development of the bomber and that the Fleet Air Arm should be part of the Royal Navy rather than the Royal Air Force. He subsequently served as Minister for Coordination of Defence in the early years of the Second World War.
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 David Benjamin Bathurst, is a former Royal Navy officer. He is the only living person, apart from King Charles III, holding the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy since the death of Lord Boyce. After training as a pilot and qualifying as a helicopter instructor, Bathurst commanded a Naval Air Squadron and then two frigates before achieving higher command in the navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 1993 to 1995: in that capacity he advised the British Government on the deployment of Naval Support including Sea Harriers during the Bosnian War.
Admiral of the Fleet John David Elliott Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded five submarines and a frigate before achieving higher command from the 1970s. Following the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentine forces in April 1982, Fieldhouse was appointed Commander of the Task Force given responsibility for "Operation Corporate", the mission to recover the Falkland Islands. The campaign ended in the surrender of Argentine forces in June 1982. He became First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in December that year and, in that role, persuaded the British Government to fund the replacement of ships lost in the Falklands War. He went on to be Chief of the Defence Staff from 1985 until his retirement in 1988.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore, was a senior Royal Navy officer. He saw active service in the Second World War and later commanded two frigates before achieving high command in the Navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the mid-1970s and in that role he advised the incoming Labour government on a major defence review and on the implications of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. He went on to be acting Chief of the Defence Staff, serving briefly in a caretaker capacity following the death of his predecessor.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Conyers Leach, was a Royal Navy officer who, as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff during the early 1980s, was instrumental in convincing the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher that retaking the Falkland Islands from Argentina was feasible. On account of the determination he showed in the matter, journalist and political commentator Andrew Marr described him as Thatcher's "knight in shining gold braid".
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 Sir Jonathon Band is a retired Royal Navy officer who was the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2006 to 2009. Before serving as First Sea Lord he was Commander-in-Chief Fleet. Since becoming First Sea Lord, Band had been a firm advocate of the creation of new ships to meet new threats and maintain the status of the Royal Navy as one of the world's leading naval forces.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Edward Madden, 1st Baronet,, was a Royal Navy officer who served during the First World War as Chief of the Staff to Sir John Jellicoe in the Grand Fleet from 1914 to 1916 and as Second-in-Command of the fleet under Sir David Beatty from 1916 to 1919. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet after the war and served as First Sea Lord in the late 1920s. In that role, in order to avoid an arms race, he accepted parity with the United States in the form of 50 cruisers defending his position on the basis that he only actually had 48 cruisers anyway.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Laurence Field, was a senior Royal Navy officer. He served in the Boxer Rebellion as commander of a raiding party and in the First World War as commanding officer of the battleship HMS King George V, flagship of Admiral Martyn Jerram at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet before serving as First Sea Lord during the early 1930s, in which role he dealt with the response to the Invergordon Mutiny in September 1931 and ensured the abandonment in 1932 of the 'ten-year rule', an attempt by the treasury to control defence expenditure by requesting the Foreign Office to declare whether there was any risk of war during the next ten years.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor, was a senior Royal Navy officer. He fought in the First World War and saw action during the Gallipoli Campaign and then the Battle of Jutland. He also served in the Second World War, taking part in the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941, carrying out the office of Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Weapons) and commanding the 1st Cruiser Squadron during operations off the Norwegian coast and convoys to North Russia. Furthermore, he served as First Sea Lord in the early 1950s and is most remembered as a leading proponent of carrier-based air power.
Admiral Sir John David Luce, was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Second World War as a submarine commander before taking part in the Dieppe Raid and becoming Chief Staff Officer to the Naval Forces for the Normandy landings. He also commanded a cruiser during the Korean War. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the mid-1960s and in that role resigned from the Royal Navy along with Navy Minister Christopher Mayhew in March 1966 in protest over the decision by the Labour Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healey, to cancel the CVA-01 aircraft carrier programme.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Edward Lambe, was a senior Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Second World War in command of a cruiser, as Director of Naval Plans and then in command of an aircraft carrier. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 1959 until 1960 when he was forced to retire early because of a heart condition. He died only a few months later.
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 of the Fleet Sir Charles Morton Forbes, was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War, seeing action in the Dardanelles campaign and at the Battle of Jutland and, as captain of a cruiser, was present at the surrender of the German fleet. During the Second World War, he served as Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet: his fleet suffered heavy losses including the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and nine destroyers during the Norwegian campaign in Spring 1940. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in May 1941 and in that capacity he organised the defence of Plymouth from air attack, prosecuted attacks on enemy shipping using the harbour at Brest as well as other ports along the French coast, and also initiated the St Nazaire Raid in March 1942 before retiring in August 1943.
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 Sir John Devereux Treacher, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1975 to 1977.
Admiral Sir Philip Andrew Jones, is a retired senior Royal Navy officer. After service in the South Atlantic in 1982 during the Falklands War, he commanded the frigates HMS Beaver and HMS Coventry. He went on to be Flag Officer, Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland, Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces and Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff before being appointed Fleet Commander and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Jones served as First Sea Lord from April 2016 to June 2019.
Admiral Sir Benjamin John Key, is a senior Royal Navy officer. He has served as First Sea Lord since November 2021. He has commanded HM Ships Sandown, Iron Duke and Lancaster, and deployed on operations to Kosovo and Iraq. He was appointed Fleet Commander in 2016, and the Chief of Joint Operations in 2019.