Frank Hopkins (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Frank Henry Edward Hopkins KCB, DSO, DSC, (23 June 1910 – 14 April 1990), was a naval officer with the Royal Navy.

Naval career

Educated at the Nautical College at Pangbourne in Berkshire, Hopkins joined the Royal Navy in 1927.^[1]

He served in World War II, initially on the staff of the naval observer school at Ford in Sussex.^[1] In 1940 he transferred to 826 Naval Air Squadron and then to RAF Coastal Command.^[1] Then in 1941 he took command of 830 Naval Air Squadron sinking large quantities of German shipping in the Mediterranean.^[1] He went on to join the British Air Commission in Washington D. C. before becoming an observer with the US Pacific Fleet.^[1]

He also served in the Korean War as Air Commander in the aircraft-carrier HMS Theseus.^[1] He was appointed Deputy Director, Naval Air Organization and Training in 1951 and then went on to be Commander of HMS Myngs before being made Director, Naval Air Warfare.^[1] He went on to be Captain of HMS Ark Royal, before becoming Commandant of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1958.^[1] In 1960 he became Flag Officer, Flying Training and in 1962 he was made Flag Officer, Aircraft-carriers.^[1]

He was appointed Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord in 1963.^[2] He was one of the admirals who threatened to resign in protest over the decision by the Labour Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healey, to cancel the CVA-01 aircraft carrier programme.^[1] His last role was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1966; he retired in 1967.^[1]

Family

In 1933 he married Joan Mary Standring; they went on to have one daughter.^[1] Following a divorce, he married Lois Barbara Cook in 1939; there were no children.^[1] Following the death of his second wife, he married Georgianna Priest in 1988.^[1]

References