Anthony Synnot
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Sir Anthony Monckton Synnot KBE, AO (1924-2001) was an Admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and between 1977 and 1982 was Chief of the Defence Force in Australia.
Synnot was born in 1922 at Corowa, New South Wales, a descendant of Monckton Synnot and brother of Captain Timothy Monckton Synnot RAN, and a distant relative of the American Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Synnot was educated at Geelong Grammar School. He joined the Royal Australian Navy as a cadet midshipman in March 1939 and trained in Britain with Prince Philip of Greece (as he then was). His first ship was the cruiser HMAS Canberra.
During World War II, Synnot served aboard the destroyer HMAS Stuart in the battle of Matapan during which he was mentioned in dispatches and during the evacuation of Greece and Crete. With the Royal Navy, he saw service on the battleship HMS Barham and was on board the destroyer HMS Punjabi when she sank off Iceland in 1942 after being accidentally rammed by the battleship HMS King George V.
Subsequently Synnot served for two years on the Australian destroyer HMAS Quiberon on North Sea convoy duty and during the North Africa landings, eventually becoming the ship's executive officer. In 1945, Synnot qualified as a gunnery officer and subsequently served on the staff of gunnery schools in Australia. Promoted commander in 1954, he took charge of the HMAS Warramunga in 1956. He became captain of the Daring-class destroyer HMAS Vampire in 1960.
In 1950, Synnot had taken part in the Bridgeford Mission to Malaya, which advised the Australian government on the Malayan emergency. His report on the options for providing naval support for the British laid the foundations for Australian naval involvement in the region and led to Synnot's secondment to command the Royal Malaysian Navy from 1962 to 1965.
On his return to Australia, Synnot attended administrative staff college before returning to sea in 1966 as commander of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, then in 1967, the carrier HMAS Melbourne.
After a year at the Imperial Defence College in London, he returned to Australia as director general of fighting equipment. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1970, he became chief of naval personnel and subsequently deputy chief of naval staff. He became commander of the Australian fleet in 1973. In 1974 he was appointed director joint staff in the Australian Defence Department and played a leading role in the relief effort following the devastation of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy.
Promoted vice-admiral in 1976, Synnot was appointed chief of naval staff the same year. He initiated a review of the Navy Office and of the Navy's structure of command and control. He drew up a blueprint for the maintenance of naval capability into the future and oversaw the Navy's guided-missile frigate project.
Extremely able and practical, Synnot came to be regarded as one of the country's most outstanding defence force chiefs. A strong believer in deterrence and an advocate of close co-operation with America and countries in the Pacific region, Synnot emphasised the need for a strong military capability for national defence and for joint operations with Australia's allies overseas.
He was said to have done more to equip Australia's armed forces with up-to-date military technology than any of his predecessors. In particular, he was instrumental in persuading the Australian government of the need to upgrade the country's air force with the acquisition of the F/A 18.
He was also behind the controversial decision to acquire the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible as a replacement for the ageing HMAS Melbourne, arguing before a parliamentary committee that the Falklands War had demonstrated the need for an aircraft carrier strike force. Opponents (such as Air Vice Marshall Hugh Evans) argued that the unique and particular circumstances of the Falklands War made that conflict inappropriate as a benchmark for the role of smaller aircraft carriers in the defence of Australia. The decision to buy HMS Invincible was overturned after Synnot’s retirement and the government opted instead to invest in an advanced long-range conventional submarine force.
Synnot was appointed CBE in 1972 and KBE in 1979. He was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 1976. He married, in 1959, Virginia Davenport. She died in 1965 and he married secondly, in 1968, Anne Colvin.
