Julian Oswald

Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald GCB (born August 11, 1933 in New More, Invergordon , Ross-shire , Scotland ; † July 19, 2011 ) was a British naval admiral in the Royal Navy , who served as First Sea Lord during the Second Gulf War and for the controversial decision was responsible that members of the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) should serve on operational ships.

Life

Military training and promotion to admiral

The son of Captain George Hamilton Oswald came after the visit of Beaudesert Park School in Minchinhampton in May 1947 as a midshipman in the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and served after training on the cruiser HMS Devonshire on the HMS Vanguard , the last battleship of the Royal Navy. This was followed by applications on the ASW - frigate HMS Verulam (R28), the aircraft carrier HMS Theseus (R64), the light cruiser HMS Newfoundland (59) and the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Jewel before he received a qualification as a gun specialist 1959th

In 1962 he was in command of the anti-mine vehicle HMS Yarnton and then graduated from the Royal Naval Staff College in Greenwich in 1964 . After serving as first officer on the frigate HMS Naiad (F39) between 1966 and 1968 , he moved to the Ministry of Defense, where he demonstrated his ability as a staff officer in the directorate for naval planning . Afterwards he was in command of the frigate HMS Bacchante (F69) from 1971 to 1972 before he returned to the Ministry of Defense and was promoted to sea captain in December 1972 .

After graduating from the Royal College of Defense Studies (RCDS), he was in command of the destroyer HMS Newcastle (D87) between 1977 and 1979 . In 1979 he was head of the Royal Naval Presentation Team, which presented the Navy on a lecture tour through Great Britain and then from 1980 to 1982 commanding officer of the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

After his promotion to Rear Admiral , he was first assistant to the defense staff for programs and then assistant to the chief of the defense staff for politics and nuclear in December 1982. In the latter use he helped billion pounds sterling to save in the defense budget, in which he demonstrated that the flexibility of the submarine -based Trident - intercontinental ballistic missile system meant that it could take over the British sub-strategic nuclear option. This also meant that costly Royal Air Force airborne ICBMs could be dismantled.

After Oswald was from 1985 to 1987 flag officer of the third  flotilla and commander of the anti-submarine warfare fleet before 1987 both Supreme Commander of the fleet as well as Supreme Commander of the Allied Command Eastern Atlantic (EASTLANT) of NATO , which is also for the English Channel is responsible . At the same time he was raised to the nobility in 1987, so that from then on he carried the suffix "Sir".

First sea lord and retired offices

Oswald was ultimately First Sea Lord from May 1989 to March 1993 and was ennobled to "Sir" as the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath . At that time, efforts to end the Cold War were increasing , leading to a major reassessment of the Conservative government's defense policy . These change options brought about a resizing and realignment of the armed forces of the United Kingdom , particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

At the beginning of his activity as First Sea Lord he was against the service of Wrens, i.e. members of the female naval service on ships in action at sea. A study by Sea Captain Alan West , who himself was First Sea Lord and later Minister of Security between 2002 and 2006, came to the conclusion that this step should be attempted cautiously and initially on smaller ships, while the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher accelerated its implementation demanded. Oswald finally accepted the arguments of this demand, which included cuts in the drafting of men and the fundamental desire of the majority of women to serve on seagoing vessels, and gained increasing support for his presentation.

In addition, he laid the foundations for today's use of amphibious assault ships by convincing conservative ministers to purchase amphibious assault ships such as the HMS Ocean (L12) , and was also the armed forces’s leading theorist on nuclear weapons .

His calm manner and his instinct for political directions not only earned him the respect of politicians and civilian employees in the Ministry of Defense , but also led to the assumption that he would be appointed Chief of Defense Staff, although this position was replaced by Field Marshal Peter General in March 1994 Inge was taken over.

After retiring from active military service, he switched to the private sector and, in particular, took on numerous functions as chairman or director in the armaments industry . He was the first Admiral to become CEO of a company listed on the FTSE 100 Index when he assumed the leadership position of Sema Group. He was also a trustee of the National Maritime Museum , where he was the chairman of the National Committee for Historic Ships and was responsible for the establishment of a national register of historic ships. In 1994 he also became President of the Association of Sea Cadets and Honorary President of the Royal United Services Institute .

Publications

• The Royal Navy - Today and Tomorrow (1994)

Web links

• THE TELEGRAPH: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald (July 20, 2011)
• THE GUARDIAN: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald obituary. Royal Navy chief, he widened the role of women in the service (August 30, 2011)