Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir David John Hallifax, (3 September 1927 – 23 August 1992) was a senior

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 who served as

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

and

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

from 1988 until 1992.

Naval career

Hallifax was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, joined

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

, Dartmouth as a cadet in 1945Obituary: Admiral Sir David Hallifax
''The Independent'', 27 August 1992 and spent his early years in

minesweepers A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

based in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. His first command was as a young lieutenant in the fast patrol boat ''MTB5008''. In 1954 Hallifax qualified as a Torpedo and Anti-Submarine Officer serving in during the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in 1956 and later in in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

.Royal Navy website
/ref> He also commanded the destroyer at home and in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

before taking command of in 1973. Following an appointment to 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 states ...

as Director of Naval Operational Requirements, he became

Flag Officer First Flotilla The First Flotilla was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy commanded by the Flag Officer, First Flotilla from 1971 to 1990. The Western Fleet and Far East Fleet were merged into the single Commander-in-Chief Fleet in 1971. Within this new ...

, a position once held by his father. It was from here that he went to the

Northwood Headquarters Northwood Headquarters is a military headquarters facility of the British Armed Forces in Eastbury, Hertfordshire, England, adjacent to the London suburb of Northwood. It is home to the following military command and control functions: #Headqua ...

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, Commander-in-Chief Fleet in 1980. As Chief of Staff he was responsible for the day-to-day control of the Headquarters 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 ...

. His next appointment was to the United States of America as the

NATO 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 ...

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic in 1982. His final appointment was Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1986. Hallifax retired from the navy in 1987. He was a keen yachtsman, competing in the 1971

Admirals Cup The Admiral's Cup was an international yachting regatta. For many years it was known as the unofficial world championship of offshore racing. The Admiral's Cup regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event (occurring in odd-numbe ...

aboard the 'Prospect of Whitby'. He was a skilled woodworker, with a particular interest in fine reproduction furniture. In 1988 Hallifax was made Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle. He died of

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

in 1992.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallifax, David 1927 births 1992 deaths Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Winchester College Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Falklands War Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom Deaths from motor neuron disease