Edward Ashmore

Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore , GCB , DSC (born December 11, 1919 in Queenstown , County Cork , Ireland ; † April 28, 2016 in Brendoncare, Froxfield, Marlborough , Wiltshire ) was a British naval officer in the Royal Navy who served as admiral between 1974 and 1977 first Sea Lord (first Sea Lord) and chief of Staff of the Navy (chief of naval Staff) was. Subsequently, he served from February to August 1977 as Chief of Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces ( Chief of the Defense Staff ) .

Life

Training as a naval officer and World War II

Edward Beckwith Ashmore was the elder of two sons of Vice Admiral Leslie Haliburton Ashmore and his wife Tamara Vasilevna Schutt and the older brother of the later Vice Admiral Peter William Beckwith Ashmore . He himself completed his schooling at Yardley Court and then began on May 1, 1933 training as a naval officer at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth . In May 1937 he was transferred to the training ship HMS Frobisher and promoted to midshipman there on September 1, 1937 . On January 1, 1938 he was transferred to the light cruiser HMS Birmingham to the naval units in China ( China Station ) . Then he was at the beginning of the Second World War from August 28, 1939 to December 1939 on board the HMS Victory in Portsmouth and from January 3, 1940 to June 1941 on board the destroyer HMS Jupiter . There, his promotion takes place on 25 April 1940. Lieutenant ( sub-lieutenant ) , which was backdated to 1 August 1939 and on 1 January 1941 was promoted to lieutenant commander (Lieutenant) .

In August 1941 Ashmore was first transferred to the destroyer HMS Tetcott , but shortly thereafter took over from September 2, 1941 to January 12, 1943 the post of first lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Middleton . In this use he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) on September 22, 1942 for participating in Operation Harpoon , a convoy between Gibraltar and Malta from June 11 to 15, 1942 . He was then between February and June 1943 section officer on the HMS King Alfred , which served in Sussex as a training facility for officers of the RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) . After attending a communications course from June to December 1943 he was on 9 January 1944 to June 1944 radio Assistant to the Commander in Chief of the Home Fleet ( Home Fleet ) , Admiral Bruce Fraser , on board the flagship HMS Duke of York . Most recently he was flag lieutenant on the light cruiser HMS Swiftsure , the flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron, from December 1944 to October 1945 during the war . He was subsequently mentioned in the war report on June 11, 1946 ( Mentioned in dispatches ) for his services in the Far East .

Post-war period and uses as an officer and staff officer

In October 1958, Captain Edward Ashmore commander of the frigate HMS Blackpool

After the end of the war, Edward Ashmore completed a translation course for the Russian language in 1946 and was then assistant to the naval attaché at the embassy in the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1947 . Then he visited on 30 June 1947 to July 1948 the Navy Signal School (Royal Navy signal school "HMS Mercury") in Petersfield and was on 1 January 1948 to Lieutenant Commander ( Lieutenant Commander ) transported. For other uses, he was on 15 October 1949 to May 1950 communications officer of the 3rd Squadron aircraft carrier (3rd Aircraft Carrier Squadron) and was on 31 December 1950 for the Commander (Commander) transported. After further uses he was between 23 June 1953, and in July 1954 Commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the frigate HMS Alert and deputy after the 19th October 1954 to April 1955 Commander ( Executive Officer ) of the Navy Signal School (Royal Navy signal school "HMS Mercury ") .

On June 30, 1955, he was promoted to captain at sea (Captain) and on March 9, 1956, he became the chief communications officer of the allied forces of NATO in Northern Europe, AFNORTH ( Allied Forces Northern Europe ) stationed in Oslo . On October 4, 1958, he succeeded Captain Peter Howes as commander of the 6th Frigate Squadron (6th Frigate Squadron) and kept this function until his replacement by Captain Terence Lewin in January 1960. At the same time he was from October 1958 to January 1960 in command of the frigate HMS Blackpool . On November 10, 1960 captain was at sea Ashmore successor to Captain John Fitzroy Duyland Bush as director of the planning department of the Admiralty (Director of Plans, Admiralty) and retained this position until December 1961 after which Captain Andrew Mackenzie Lewis took over his successor . He then acted on 25 January 1962 to 1 July 1963 as Director of Planning Department of the Chief of the Defense Staff (Chief of the Defense Staff) , Fleet Admiral (Admiral of the Fleet) Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma .

Uses as a flag officer

On July 1, 1963, Commodore ( Commodore ) Edward Ashmore, succeeding Commodore John Edward Ludgate Martin Chief Naval Officer of the West Indies (Senior Naval Officer West Indies) and remained in this position until his replacement by Commodore Hubert H. Dannreuther in December 1964 Between July 1963 and December 1964 he was also Commander of the British Armed Forces in the Caribbean and Commander of NATO for the Bermuda Islands . He also served between 7 July 1964, 7 January 1965 as aide-de-camp of Queen Elizabeth II. For the Navy. After his promotion to Rear Admiral (Rear Admiral) on January 7, 1965 Edward Ashmore of assistive boss was the Defense Staff for telecommunications matters (Assistant Chief of Defense Staff (signal)) and held this position until March 1 in 1967. During this time he became Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on June 11, 1966 . He then broke in April 1967 Vice Admiral Charles Piercy Mills as flag officer and deputy commander of the Far East Fleet ( Far East Fleet ) , and held this post until his replacement by Vice Admiral Anthony Templer Frederick Griffith Griffin in August 1968. At the same time he was in personal union between April 1967 and August 1968 commander of the 5th Light Cruiser / Cruiser Squadron .

On July 24, 1968 Edward Ashmore was also promoted to Vice Admiral (Vice Admiral) . He then replaced Vice-Admiral Peter Hill-Norton as Vice-Chief of Naval Staff in December 1968 and held this post until January 1971, when Vice Admiral Terence Lewin was his successor. He was promoted to Admiral on November 4, 1970 in this use . On January 1, 1971, he was beaten Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), so that from then on he carried the suffix "Sir". On September 16, 1971, Admiral William O'Brien succeeded Admiral as Commander-in-Chief, Western Fleet, and remained in this position until this fleet was dissolved in October 1971. He then took over the new created office as commander -in- chief of the CINCFLEET (Commander-in-Chief, The Fleet) and held this position until he was replaced by Admiral Terence Lewin in December 1973. At the same time he was in personal union between September 1971 and December 1973 Allied Supreme Commander of NATO in the English Channel ACCHAN (Allied Command Channel) and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the East Atlantic CINCEASTLANT (Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area) .

First Sea Lord and Chief of Defense Staff

On January 1, 1974, Edward Beckwith Ashmore was also elevated to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). On March 1, 1974, he replaced Admiral Michael Patrick Pollock as First Sea Lord (First Sea Lord) and Chief of Staff of the Navy (Chief of Naval Staff) , and had these offices in 1977 held on February 9, after which re-Admiral Terence Lewin be successor there. At the same time, from March 1, 1974 to February 9, 1977, he held the position of first and leading naval adjutant to Queen Elisabeth.

Last Ashmore was on February 9, 1977. Fleet Admiral (Admiral of the Fleet) promoted and took over as the successor died on January 24, 1977 Marshal of the Royal Air Force Andrew Humphrey the post of Chief of Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces ( Chief of the Defense Staff ) . On August 30, 1977 he retired from active military service, whereupon Marshal of the Royal Air Force Neil Cameron was his successor. He formally retired on November 2, 1977 (half-pay list) . He was also involved as governor of Suttons Hospital at the London Charterhouse between 1996 and 1997 .

On December 11, 1942, he married Elizabeth Mary Doveton Sturdee, daughter of Rear Admiral Sir Lionel Arthur Doveton Sturdee, 2nd Baronet, and Dorothy Mary Mowbray Sayer. From this marriage the daughters Susan Alexandra Ashmore, wife of the solicitor Sir Francis John Badcock Sykes, 10th Baronet, and Elizabeth Tamara Ashmore, who died in the Hither Green railway accident on November 5, 1967, and the son Thomas Sturdee Ashmore .

publication

• The Battle and the Breeze. The naval reminiscences of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Ashmore , autobiography, 1997

Web links

• ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS
• MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AND TRI-SERVICE SENIOR APPOINTMENTS
• Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945
• Admiral Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore, on thepeerage.com , accessed March 27, 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 185
2. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 22
3. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 132
4. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 166
5. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 10
6. ↑ ^{a b} KNIGHTS AND DAMES A - BEC. In: leighrayment.com. November 27, 2018, accessed March 27, 2019 . 
7. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 95
8. ↑ ROYAL NAVY SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 2
9. ↑ MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AND TRI-SERVICE SENIOR APPOINTMENTS, p. 5

predecessor	Office	successor
Sir Michael Pollock	First sea lord 1974–1977	Sir Terence Lewin
Sir Andrew Humphrey	Chief of the Defense Staff 1977	Sir Neil Cameron