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.
Vice Admiral Sir Timothy James Hamilton Laurence is a retired Royal Navy officer and husband of Anne,Princess Royal,the only sister of King Charles III. Laurence was equerry to Queen Elizabeth II from 1986 to 1989. He married her daughter,Princess Anne,in 1992.
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 Sir John Cunningham Kirkwood Slater,,known as Jock Slater,is a retired Royal Navy officer. He commanded a minesweeper,a frigate and then a destroyer before taking over the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and then achieving higher command in the Navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 1995 to 1998:in that capacity he played a key role in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review carried out by the Labour Government that had come to power a year earlier.
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 Michael Patrick Pollock,was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who rose to become First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the early 1970s. In the Second World War,he was an officer on ships tasked with protecting convoys in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean,and was gunnery officer on the cruiser HMS Norfolk when she fought the German battleship Scharnhorst during the Battle of North Cape. He later commanded the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal,and hosted Ian Smith on HMS Tiger. In retirement,he held the position of King of Arms of the Order of the Bath and Gloucester King of Arms,with responsibility for heraldry in Wales.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham was a Royal Navy officer. A qualified senior navigator,he became Director of Plans at the Admiralty in 1930. He saw action as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the Second World War with responsibility for the allied landings at Anzio and in the south of France. He served as First Sea Lord in the late 1940s:his focus was on implementing the Government's policy of scrapping many serviceable ships.
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 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".
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 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 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.
Vice-admiral Sir Roy Thomas Newman,is a former Royal Navy officer who became Flag Officer,Plymouth.
Vice Admiral Sir Clive Charles Carruthers Johnstone,was a British Royal Navy officer who served as Commander,Allied Maritime Command from 2015 to 2019. During his tenure as commanding officer of HMS Bulwark,he participated in Operation Highbrow,the largest British evacuation since the evacuation of Dunkirk. From May 2023 until Johnstone's death in May 2024,he was the National President of the Royal British Legion.
Admiral Sir Antony David Radakin,is a senior Royal Navy officer. He was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff,the professional head of the British Armed Forces,in November 2021. Radakin was previously the First Sea Lord,the professional head of the Naval Service from June 2019 to November 2021. He was Chief of Staff,Joint Forces Command,from 2016 to 2018,and the Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff from 2018 to 2019. He was appointed Lord High Constable of England in 2023,and in that role took part in the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.
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.
Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Martell,was a Royal Navy officer who served as Admiral Commanding,Reserves. He is best known for his part as commander of Task Force 308 in Operation Mosaic,the series of British nuclear tests in the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia in 1956.
Vice Admiral Michael Keith Utley,is a senior Royal Navy officer who currently serves as Commander Allied Maritime Command,NATO,since January 2023.
Rear Admiral Stephen Mark Richard Moorhouse,is a Royal Navy officer who currently serves as Director of Force Generation at Navy Command.
