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 regarde ...

David Animle Hansen (17 May 1923 – 28 January 2008) was a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian naval officer who served as Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Administrative Committee from 1966 to 1967. He previously served as Commander of the Ghana Navy from 1962 to 1966. He was the first Ghanaian to be appointed head of the Ghana Navy. Hansen was also the founding director of the National Vocational Training Institute from 1970 to 1980.

Early life and education

Hansen was born on 17 May 1923 in Accra to John William Kojo Hansen and Joanna Nora Hansen. He began schooling at the Accra Royal School and continued to the Osu Presbyterian Senior School. He attended

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Non-denominational Christianity, non-denominational Day School, day and Boarding School, boarding Single-sex education, boys' school. It is located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region. The school was establishe ...

and graduated in 1942. Upon completion, Hansen worked briefly for

Ghana Post Ghana Post (also known as ''Ghana Post Company Limited'') is a government-owned corporation responsible for postal service in Ghana and a member of the West African Postal Conference. The current Managing Director is Bice Osei Kuffour, popularly ...

before enlisting into the army two years after his high school graduation. Hansen trained at the Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1950. In 1951, he attended the platoon weapon training course at

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

in Kent. He underwent the platoon commander's course in 1954 at

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

and in the following year trained at the Infantry Signal School. In 1959, he enrolled at the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

Career

Following his secondary education and brief work experience, he enlisted into the Gold Coast Regiment in 1944. On the completion of his training, Hansen was commissioned into the Gold Coast Regiment of the

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

, on 20 January 1951. In 1958, he became one of the original officers of the

Ghana Regiment The Ghana Regiment is an infantry regiment that forms the main fighting element of the Ghanaian Army (GA). History The regiment was formed in 1879 as the Gold Coast Constabulary, from personnel of the Hausa Constabulary of Southern Nigeria, to per ...

, when the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

gained its independence. He was then selected to transfer from the

Ghana Army The Ghana Army (GA) is the main ground warfare organizational military branch of the Ghanaian Armed Forces (GAF). In 1959, two years after the Gold Coast obtained independence as Ghana, the Gold Coast Regiment was withdrawn from the Royal West Af ...

, to be a founding officer of the new Ghana Navy. When the

Ghana Navy The Ghana Navy (GN) is the naval warfare organizational military branch of the Ghanaian Armed Forces (GAF). The Ghanaian Navy, along with the Ghanaian Army (GA) and Ghanaian Air Force (GHF), make up the Ghanaian Armed Forces (GAF) which are con ...

was established on 29 July 1959, its first head was D. A. Foreman, a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

. He was commissioned as a Ghana Navy officer, with the rank of

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

, to give the new service a proper naval grounding. David Hansen worked alongside him, combining his own Ghanaian military experience with Foreman's Royal Navy expertise to give the new service its own distinct ethos and identity. Hansen was duly appointed as the first Ghanaian Chief of Naval Staff of the Ghana Navy and retired with the

flag rank A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

of Rear Admiral. In addition, he served as an aide-de-camp to President

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

Honours

The Ghana Navy ship GNS ''Hansen'' was named after him.

References

1923 births 2008 deaths Ghanaian soldiers Ghana Navy personnel Ga-Adangbe people Chiefs of Naval Staff (Ghana) Alumni of the Accra Academy Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom {{Africa-mil-bio-stub