As the tenure of Admiral Sir Philip Jones comes to an end, Vice-Admiral Tony Radakin CB will take up the centuries old role of First Sea Lord (and Chief of the Naval Staff) in the next few weeks. Radakin, who recently relinquished his role as Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff in preparation for his new role, will be promoted to Admiral when he becomes the professional head of the Royal Navy. But who is the man that will soon lead the Senior Service?
Anthony Radakin was born in 1965 (making him currently 53 years old) and went on to study law at the University of Southampton, and later qualified as a Barrister. He also Completed a Master of Arts degree at Kings College London, studying international relations and defence studies. He gained his Royal Navy commission in 1990, and after commanding the P2000 patrol vessel HMS Blazer, served as Operations Officer in HMS Beaver (as Type 22 Frigate), in which he served as part of security operations in the Falklands and NATO embargo operations in the Adriatic. He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Type 23 Frigate HMS Norfolk (now 'Almirante Cochrane' in the Chilean Navy) in 2003. In 2006 he became CO of the US/UK Iraqi Naval Transition Team, and in 2010 became CO of the US/UK Combined Taskforce Iraqi Maritime.
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HMS Norfolk, which Radakin previously commanded
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In 2011, after promotion to the rank of Commodore, he became CO of HMNB Portsmouth. In 2012 he became Director of Force Development at the MOD, and in 2014 after being promoted to Rear-Admiral he became Commander UK Maritime Forces, and was appointed Chief of Staff of UK Joint Forces Command in 2016. And in March last year he was made Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, with the rank of Vice Admiral, a post he held until very recently. These plethora of leadership roles he's had, both in the Royal Navy and Tri-Service, set him up perfectly to lead the Naval Service over the coming years.
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| Radakin becoming Second Sea Lord in 2018 |
In the 2018 Birthday honours list he was appointed a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, the most senior non-knight British Honour. It is likely that in the near future this will be promoted to a Knight Commander of the same order, making him a 'Sir' as First Sea Lords normally are. He was also given the Bronze Star Medal for his work in Iraq by the US President in 2010.
He is married with four children, and enjoyed sailing, skiing, mountain biking and squash, serving as President of the Royal Navy Squash Association.
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Radakin meeting with the Secretary-General of the Omani MOD
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Taking office around the time of our new Prime Minister, his early months in service could see a massive increase, or potentially a decrease, in the budget he has to manage. And with the first operations of the QE class carriers, the final introductions of the Astute class submarines and the selection and construction of the Type 31s (among many other things), he will serve as 1SL through a very interesting time for the Navy, and just like his predecessors will have to passionately campaign for funding and procurement.
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