Christopher Louis Wreford-Brown DSO RN (born August 1945) is a retired British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer.

Falklands War

He was captain of HM Submarine ''Conqueror'' during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, during which ''Conqueror'' attacked and destroyed the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

's cruiser the ARA ''General Belgrano''. For the Falklands patrol he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He is currently the only naval officer to have commanded a

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

which has sunk a warship in war operations. When asked about the incident later, Wreford-Brown responded, "The Royal Navy spent thirteen years preparing me for such an occasion. It would have been regarded as extremely dreary if I had fouled it up."

Operation Barmaid

In July 1982 Wreford-Brown captained HMS ''Conqueror'' in an operation during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

, where it carried out a successful clandestine sub-surface raid to capture Soviet Navy hydrophonic

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

equipment from

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

vessels upon the high sea for technical analysis by the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Later naval career

He became commanding officer of the frigate HMS ''Cornwall'' as well as Captain of 8th Frigate Squadron in 1988. His other commands include the diesel submarine HMS ''Opossum'' and the nuclear submarine HMS ''Valiant''.

Post-military career

Wreford-Brown retired from the Royal Navy in 1995 with 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 ...

, and was employed as a Director of

Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo is a zoo in Paignton, Devon, England. The zoo is part of South West Environmental Parks Ltd which is owned by the charity Wild Planet Trust, formerly known as the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust. The charity also runs Newquay ...

until his retirement in 2010.

References

1945 births Living people Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Navy personnel of the Falklands War Royal Navy submarine commanders Date of birth missing (living people) {{UK-navy-bio-stub