John Gilchrist Inglis

Vice-Admiral Sir John Gilchrist Thesiger Inglis, (8 June 1906 – 29 October 1972), sometimes known as Tommy Inglis, was a Royal Navy officer who served as Director of Naval Intelligence from 1954 to 1960. In this capacity, he attempted to cover-up the "Buster Crabb affair" in 1956.

Family Inglis was born in Frittenden, near Cranbrook, Kent, the second child and only son of Rev. Rupert Inglis (1863–1916) and Helen Mary Gilchrist. His father was a former England international rugby player who became a chaplain to the British Army and was killed during the Battle of the Somme.

In 1945, Inglis married Maude Dorrien "Frankie" Frankland; they had one daughter, Sarah (born 1948), who married twice, first to Hugh Poole-Warren and then to Brig. Hedley Duncan,

His cousin, Frank Inglis was head of RAF Intelligence during the Second World War.

Naval career Inglis was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. He graduated as a midshipman in May 1924 and first saw service on the light cruiser with the Atlantic Fleet between September 1924 and January 1925. From June 1952 to May 1953, he was in command of the and flag captain to the Flag Officer (Heavy Squadron) of the Home Fleet. This explanation was clearly not in accordance with the known facts and the British prime minister Anthony Eden was challenged on the matter in Parliament on 14 May; Eden released a statement that It would not be in the public interest to disclose the circumstances in which Commander Crabb is presumed to have met his death. I think it necessary, in the special circumstances of this case, to make it clear that what was done was done without the authority or the knowledge of Her Majesty's Ministers. Appropriate disciplinary steps are being taken. in a "bona fide" operation, there would have been "immediate and extensive rescue operations" but these were not possible because "a search could not be carried out beside the Russian warships". Inglis pointed out that, instead, "the moment it became clear that a mishap had occurred (name blanked out) was ordered to return to his ship and take no further part in the affair". The memo mentions "discussions in Admiralty in search of a convincing cover story", and expresses concern that, if the unidentified serviceman had to testify in any legal proceedings, it would involve "further risk of compromise of the true nature of the operation".

Some of the Government papers relating to this incident were released in October 2006, fifty years later. These reveal that blame for the embarrassing intelligence failure fell on Inglis, as the director of naval intelligence. Inglis was censured, but he kept his job, and the two permanent secretaries were told they were guilty of an error of judgment in not informing ministers.

Honours Inglis was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1943 New Year Honours, and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in January 1957. Shortly before his retirement, he became a knight on promotion to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1959 Queen's Birthday Honours.