Vice Admiral Sir Simon Jonathan Woodcock, KCB, OBE (born 5 July 1962) is a retired Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord from 2015 to 2018.

Sir Jonathan Woodcock
Vice Admiral Woodcock in 2015
Born (1962-07-05) 5 July 1962 (age 62)
Sandown, Isle of Wight
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1984–2018
RankVice Admiral
CommandsSecond Sea Lord
Naval Secretary
HMS Raleigh
Royal Naval School of Marine Engineering
Battles / warsIraq War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
edit

Educated at Ryde School and Britannia Royal Naval College, Woodcock joined the Royal Navy in 1984.[1] He served as Commander (Engineering) in HMS Ark Royal and saw action during Operation Telic as Staff Marine Engineer to the Amphibious Task Group.[1] He went on to be Chief of Staff to the Capability Manager Precision Attack at the Ministry of Defence in December 2003, commanding officer of the Royal Naval School of Marine Engineering in March 2005 and commanding officer of the basic training unit HMS Raleigh in January 2008.[2] After that he became Head of Pay and Manning in the Ministry of Defence in April 2010, Director Naval Personnel at Fleet Headquarters in January 2012 and Naval Secretary in September 2012.[1]

He became Second Sea Lord in March 2015,[3] retiring from the position in March 2018.[4] He retired from the Royal Navy on 30 June 2018.[5]

Woodcock was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours[6] and knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2018 New Year Honours.[7]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c The Naval Engineer
  2. ^ Island Life
  3. ^ "Second Sea Lord supersession". Ministry of Defence. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  4. ^ George, David (26 March 2018). "Naval chief says final farewell to Portsmouth". The News. Portsmouth. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. ^ "No. 62382". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 August 2018. p. 14481.
  6. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2008. p. 4.
  7. ^ "No. 62150". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2017. p. N3.
Military offices
Preceded by Naval Secretary
2012–2015
Succeeded by
Preceded by Second Sea Lord
2015–2018
Succeeded by