Gibraltar

Tercentenary Celebrations - 300 Years of British Rule !

Admiral Sir Alan West GCB DSC ADC
First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff

Born 1948, Admiral Sir Alan West joined the Navy in 1965. He has spent the majority of his career at sea serving in fourteen different ships and commanding three of them. He qualified as a Principal Warfare Officer in 1975 and Advanced Warfare Officer (Above Water Weapons) in 1978 and is also a Fighter Controller. He is a graduate of the Royal Naval Staff Course, the Higher Command and Staff Course and the Royal College of Defence Studies.

In 1980 promoted to Commander, he took command of the frigate HMS Ardent taking the ship south to the Falkland Islands in 1982 where she was sunk in the successful retaking of the Islands. He was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the action and led the Victory Parade through the City of London.

He has held several appointments in the Ministry of Defence and played a prominent role in the re-organisation of the MOD, the initiation of a new budgetary system (NMS) within the Services and he headed the study into women’s integration and their service at sea. Promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1994 he was responsible for naval manning, numbers and structures as well as career management and deployment. He moved the department from London to Portsmouth, set up the new organisation and prepared it for agency status. In February 1996 he became Commander United Kingdom Task Group and was almost permanently deployed in one of the CVSs leading the two largest and longest UK deployments since the Gulf and Falkland wars. The only European seaborne principal subordinate commander in NATO he was also a UK designated Joint Force Commander. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in October 1997 and appointed as Chief of Defence Intelligence.

He was created KCB in the Millennium New Years Honours List and promoted to Admiral in November 2000 when he took up his position as Commander-in-Chief Fleet, NATO Commander-in-Chief East Atlantic and NATO Commander Allied Naval Forces North. During this period as CinC he reorganised the Fleet Headquarters and moved the bulk of it to Portsmouth. He was also responsible for organising the Fleet response to “September 11th” which involved major maritime deployments in the northern Indian Ocean and the Royal Marines into Afghanistan.

He was appointed as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in September 2002 and this carries membership of the Defence Council and Admiralty Board. He is also the First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen. He was made a GCB in the New Year’s Honours List in 2004.

Just hours before accepting the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar on behalf of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West said that Gibraltar was a ‘secure port’ from international terrorists, which was important for the Royal Navy. He added that Gibraltar and the Royal Navy are ‘intimately connected’ by three hundred years of history. “It’s a great honour and I’m delighted that it’s happening during my time as First Sea Lord. The Royal Navy and Gibraltar have been intimately connected for 300 years. When the Rock was taken the Royal Navy effectively ran that operation and we’ve been absolutely involved since then, through good times and bad times.”

“I always think of Gibraltar as being a thousand miles up-threat. It’s a thousand miles closer than anywhere else I’ve had to fight, and that is extremely useful. When we sail task forces or ships from the UK we start immediately checking through weapons systems, inventory of stores, ammunition- and by the time we get here two days later we say ‘we need a bit of this or that, this bit is not working properly’. We have repair facilities here, as well as ammunition and that is very valuable and important. Not only that, but we have very good fun here because the people here are good fun and we have a good run ashore. When we go to the far East we always come here first and last.”

According to the First Sea Lord Gibraltar is relatively secure from international terrorism, but is as likely a target as any other place in the world. “I think we must all be aware that terrorists will look anywhere they think there might be a vulnerability. This is the second biggest port in the Mediterranean and there is no doubt that some terrorists such as Al Qaeda don’t like the success of world trade which has allowed parts of the world to be wealthy and have better lives. This was why the World Trade Centre in New York was attacked. So there are risks all the time.”

“We saw hard intelligence and the intention of Al Qaeda intentions to attack ships in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Moroccans arrested those people. We all have to be vigilant. The Gibraltar Squadron is a very good squadron to assist in this, and Gibraltar is a very secure port thanks to the Royal Gibraltar Police, the Regiment and our own waterborne forces. I’m very happy sending ships here.”

Sir Alan says that, to his knowledge, there are no cuts envisaged in Gibraltar as part of the worldwide Ministry of Defense consolidation announced in the House of Commons.
“I’m not aware of any cuts in Gibraltar. A few years ago we had a very big dockyard here so there have been changes, but I’m not aware of anything on the table at the moment or any other measures. We’ve reduced our standing force here to a small squadron which is here primarily for counter-terrorism and to look after the close proximity of the Rock. I visited them yesterday, they’re working very efficiently. We have our training facilities here: we bring all our warfare officers here for their training. It’s all very valuable and we hope to be able to continue with all these facilities.”

The Sea Lord added that he was not phased by the non-appearance of U.S. ships in Gibraltar to celebrate its tercentenary. “That’s really a matter for the Americans. I’m just delighted to be here with the Royal Navy. The links are between Gibraltar and the Royal Navy, and it’s the Royal Navy being granted the Freedom of the City. I’m very pleased about that and very pleased to have the HMS Grafton here.”