Chris Parry (Royal Navy officer)

Rear Admiral Christopher John Parry, CBE (born 29 November 1953[1]) is a British retired Royal Navy officer who was the first chair of the British Government's Marine Management Organisation until November 2010.

Chris Parry
Born (1953-11-29) 29 November 1953
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1972–2008
RankRear Admiral
Commands heldAmphibious Task Group
HMS Fearless
HMS Gloucester
Battles/warsFalklands War
AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire
Mentioned in Despatches

Education

Parry was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, Jesus College, Oxford, where he read modern history, and the University of Reading,[2] where his Doctor of Philosophy degree was awarded in 2017 for a thesis titled "Do Norman Dixon's theories about incompetence apply to senior naval commanders?"[3]

Parry joined the Royal Navy as a seaman officer in 1972 and then became an observer in the Fleet Air Arm in 1979. In 1982, he was mentioned in despatches for his actions during the Falklands War, his part in rescuing sixteen SAS troopers from Fortuna Glacier in South Georgia and for the detection and disabling of the Argentinian submarine Santa Fe.[4] He believes depth charges he launched were the first "shots" fired in the recapture of the Falklands.[5]

In 1989, he was promoted to commander.[6] He commanded the air defence destroyer HMS Gloucester and the Maritime Warfare Centre.[2] In June 1997, he was promoted to captain[7] and in January 2000 was posted as commanding officer of HMS Fearless.[8] As a commodore, he was Director Operational Capability in the Ministry of Defence (2000–2003) and then Commander Amphibious Task Group from September 2003.[9] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours.[10] He was promoted to rear admiral in January 2005 when he became Director General, Development, Concepts and Doctrine, a role he held until 2008.[11][12]

Recent activities

Since June 2008, Parry has worked in the private sector and as a writer, broadcaster and speaker.[13] He served as the first chair of the British Government's Marine Management Organisation from April 2010 to November 2010.[14]

On 12 June 2010, in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he described the planning for the UK's 2006 deployment of 3,300 troops to Helmand Province in Afghanistan as flawed, relying too much on lessons from Borneo, Malaya and Northern Ireland. The subsequent BBC News article quotes him as saying that senior commanders had obdurately resisted "ditching the lessons from the past", preferring these to the "radical and progressive ideas" which were needed.[15]

Works
  • Parry, Chris (2012). Down South: A Falklands War Diary. Viking. ISBN 978-0241959626.
  • Parry, Chris (2014). Super Highway: Sea Power in the 21st Century. Elliott & Thompson. ISBN 978-1908739841.

References
  1. Parry, Rear Adm. Christopher John. Who's Who 2022. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U44991. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  2. "Rear Admiral Chris Parry". Compliance leadership forum. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  3. Parry, Christopher (2017). "Do Norman Dixon's theories about incompetence apply to senior naval commanders?". E-Thesis Online Service. The British Library. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  4. "No. 48999". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1982. p. 7422.
  5. "Falklands War: Royal Navy veteran who fired first shots", BBC News, 6 April 2022
  6. The London Gazette, Issue 51805, 10 July 1989 (Supplement), p. 8083
  7. The London Gazette, 54820, 1 July 1997 (Supplement), p. 7549
  8. "Captains commanding Royal Navy Warships" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  9. "Senior Royal Navy appointments" (PDF). Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  10. The London Gazette, Issue 57315, 12 June 2004 (Supplement), p. 4
  11. "No. 57547". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 January 2005. p. 1187.
  12. "Russian sanctions: who will blink first?" (PDF). Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  13. Chris Parry (23 November 2008). "Promising new waters for al-Qa'ida?". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  14. "Marine Management Organisation Chair Chris Parry steps down". Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  15. "UK's Helmand province mission was 'flawed'". BBC. 12 June 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
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