Brian Brown (Royal Navy officer)

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Sir

Brian Brown
Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel
from 1988 to 1991.

Naval career

Born in

Supply and Secretariat branch. During 28 months of general naval training he served at sea in the training cruiser HMS Devonshire, in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and the maintenance carrier HMS Unicorn (including service during the Korean War)[2] and ashore in HMS Peregrine, Royal Naval Air Station Ford, Sussex. He was promoted after one year as a cadet (S), to midshipman (S) on 1 May 1953.[3]

On promotion to

HMS Kenya as supply officer (cash), later being appointed, in addition, sub-lieutenant of the Gunroom; he was promoted to lieutenant on 1 May 1956.[2]

Naval aviator

A shortage of naval aviators led to a few

supply officers being selected for flying training, something that was highly unlikely before the General List of Royal Navy officers was established on 1 April 1956, whereby distinction between branches of naval officers reduced markedly. Brown joined RAF Syerston on 2 June 1957 for basic flying training (BFT) on Provosts before moving on to RAF Linton-on-Ouse to continue BFT and then undergo advanced flying training (AFT) on Vampires, being awarded his Fleet Air Arm pilot's wings on 11 July 1958. His operational flying training (OFT) began when he joined the Naval Air Fighter School, HMS Fulmar, flying Sea Hawks. He spent the next three years in flying appointments, before reverting to traditional appointments as a supply officer.[3]

Brown's first flying appointment, on 10 December 1958, as a qualified naval aviator, was to 898 Naval Air Squadron,[1] a front line Sea Hawk ground attack squadron, based at HMS Goldcrest, RNAS Brawdy, Pembrokeshire. With the squadron, he embarked in the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle on 14 January 1959,[2] seeing service in the Mediterranean; the ship paid off in June 1959, for major modernization, and 898 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded.[4]

In order to extend his time with the Fleet Air Arm, Brown volunteered for helicopter flying training and joined HMS Seahawk, in Cornwall, on 8 June 1959 for the helicopter conversion course with 705 Naval Air Squadron, flying Hiller HT Mk 1 and Whirlwind helicopters. Three months later he was in HMS Osprey, Portland, for the anti-submarine operational flying course in Whirlwind Mk 7s with 737 Naval Air Squadron. Training completed, in the first week of 1960 he joined 848 Naval Air Squadron,[1][2] a front-line Whirlwind Mk 7 commando helicopter squadron based at HMS Ariel, RNAS Worthy Down. With the squadron he embarked in HMS Bulwark, newly commissioned as the Royal Navy's first commando carrier, for work up with 42 Commando Royal Marines in Malta and Libya before sailing for operations in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Far East; operational commitments included the Kuwait Crisis in July 1961 and flying in support of Army units fighting communist insurgents close to the Malaysia/Thailand border.[5][2]

On 13 October 1961, Brown reverted to general service supply duties when he joined the

secretary to the captain of the fleet, still on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, in November 1962.[3]

Brown was promoted to

First Sea Lord (A/Sec/1SL) where he served two successive heads of the Royal Navy; the former, Admiral Sir David Luce, resigned after the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier programme was cancelled by the government in 1966. Success, after two years in that demanding office, led to his next, prestigious, appointment as deputy supply officer and assistant secretary to the Flag Officer Royal Yachts in HM Yacht Britannia on 25 August 1966, a job he was to hold for the next twenty-seven months.[1][2] On 1 November 1968 he joined HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, as deputy supply officer.[3]

Selected in June 1969 for early promotion to commander at the end of that year,[6] Brown was promoted to acting commander on 15 December 1969 when he took over as Secretary to Flag Officer, Carriers and Amphibious Ships (FOCAS), in offices ashore at Fort Southwick, overlooking Portsmouth Harbour. Eighteen months later he was back in Whitehall, appointed as a member of Naval Secretary's Officers Planning Group; he was also responsible for developing policy for the training of officers of the Supply & Secretariat specialisation.[3]

Brown joined the helicopter cruiser

helicopters from HMS Tiger's 826 Naval Air Squadron to help with aircrew manning problems.[2]

Brown's next appointment, on 15 August 1975, as secretary to the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff,[1] brought with it promotion to acting captain. He served three years in this post in the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, during which time he was selected for promotion to captain (seniority 30 June 1977).[7] He returned to HMS Heron, Yeovilton, on 11 September 1978, for his next appointment as Chief Staff Officer (Personnel & Administration) to Flag Officer Naval Air Command.[3]

After just over a year in the Fleet Air Arm's headquarters, Brown returned to Whitehall on 9 November 1979 as secretary to the First Sea Lord (1SL).

Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1983 New Year Honours and,[8] three days later, on 4 January 1983, began the one-year course in London as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.[1]

Brown was appointed commanding officer of the new-entry training establishment HMS Raleigh, in Cornwall, on 4 January 1984.[1]

Flag officer

Brown was promoted to

Retired List of the Royal Navy on 26 June 1991.[13]

Later life

After retiring from the Royal Navy, Brown became Chairman of the

Family

In 1959 Brown married Veronica (Ronnie) Mary Elizabeth Bird (Lady Brown).[1] They had two sons, Mark and Matthew, and three grandsons, they lived in Petersfield.[1] His leisure activities included beagling, fly fishing, gardening and protecting the Hampshire countryside. Brown died, aged 85, on 27 April 2020.[15]

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Admiral Sir Brian Brown obituary". The Times. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f May, Lester (2013). Biography: Admiral Sir Brian Brown.
  4. ^ "898 Naval Air Squadron". Wings Aviation. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. ^ White, Christopher J; Robinson, Peter (2008–2010). "Gulf War Part 1: Operation Vantage". Historical RFA. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  6. ^ "No. 44997". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1969. p. 13003.
  7. ^ "No. 47264". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 1977. p. 8742.
  8. ^ "No. 49212". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1982. p. 5.
  9. ^ "No. 50440". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 February 1986. p. 2705.
  10. ^ "No. 51480". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 September 1988. p. 10777.
  11. ^ Shortage of men allowed women to join warships The Times, 25 July 2005
  12. ^ "No. 51772". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 1989. p. 2.
  13. ^ "No. 52591". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 July 1991. p. 10086.
  14. ^ Steep man is chairman Petersfield Post, 5 June 2008
  15. ^ "Obituaries". The Telegraph. 30 April 2020. p. 30. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
Military offices
Preceded by
Second Sea Lord

1988–1991
Succeeded by