Vice Admiral Sir Adrian James Johns, (born 1 September 1951) is a former senior officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

, serving as

Second Sea Lord The Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (formerly Second Sea Lord) is deputy to the First Sea Lord and the second highest-ranking officer to currently serve in the Royal Navy and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establish ...

between 2005 and 2008. He was the

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as th ...

between 2009 and 2013.

Early life and education

Johns was born on 1 September 1951. He was educated at

Newquay Grammar School Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

in Cornwall and then

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a ...

, where he studied physics.

Naval career

Johns joined the

in 1973. On 1 September 1975, he was promoted to lieutenant, with

seniority Seniority is the state of being older or placed in a higher position of status relative to another individual, group, or organization. For example, one employee may be senior to another either by role or rank (such as a CEO vice a manager), or by ...

from 1 January 1975. After his initial postings, Johns trained as a helicopter pilot and then served as a

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome eng ...

pilot with 824 Naval Air Squadron aboard HMS ''Ark Royal''. He became a flying instructor in 1979. In 1981, he was given his first command on board in Hong Kong and was promoted to

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

on 16 October 1982. After holding other naval posts, he was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

on 30 June 1988 and then commanded the frigates HMS ''Juno'' and HMS ''Ariadne'' between 1988 and 1990. Johns attained the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 31 December 1994. Between various appointments at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

, he held the command of the frigate HMS ''Campbeltown'' from 1995 to 1996. Johns was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2001

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark th ...

. Later that year, he took command of the

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, ...

HMS ''Ocean''. It was deployed to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in spring 2003. Following this tour, Johns received a Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service,

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...

on 31 October 2003. He relinquished command of the ''Ocean'' on his promotion to

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in May 2003. Johns became

Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (A.C.N.S.) is a senior appointment in the Royal Navy usually a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7. History The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff was originally directly responsible to the Fir ...

in May 2003. In October 2005, he was promoted to vice admiral and appointed

and Commander in Chief of Naval Home Command. The

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

saw him appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

(KCB). He was succeeded as Second Sea Lord by Vice-Admiral

Alan Massey Vice Admiral Sir Alan Michael Massey, KCB, CBE (born 9 March 1953) is a former senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as the Second Sea Lord. Early life and education Massey was educated at the University of Liverpool and Britannia Roya ...

in July 2008. On 9 June 2009, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that Johns would succeed Sir Robert Fulton as

later that year. Johns arrived at Gibraltar on board HMS ''Lancaster'' and was sworn into the office of

on Monday 26 October 2009."Vice-admiral Sir Adrian Johns KCB, CBE—New governor arrives Monday"
, ''

Gibraltar Chronicle The ''Gibraltar Chronicle'' is a national newspaper published in Gibraltar since 1801. It became a daily in 1821. It is Gibraltar's oldest established daily newspaper and the world's second oldest English language newspaper to have been in pr ...

'', 23 October 2009. He is a patron of the armed forces career management charity Soldier On! On 2 February 2011, Johns was appointed a Knight of the Order of St. John, an honour in the personal gift of Her Majesty The Queen."The London Gazette, Order of St John notices"
''The

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

'', 9 February 2011.

References

External links

* fro

2007-05-07. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Adrian 1951 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Greater London Fleet Air Arm aviators Governors of Gibraltar Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Lords of the Admiralty People from Redruth Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service Royal Navy vice admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Iraq War