Julian Oswald

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald (11 August 1933 – 19 July 2011) was a senior Royal Navy officer. After training as a gunnery specialist, Oswald commanded a frigate and then a destroyer before achieving higher command in the navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in the early 1990s. In that capacity he advised the British Government on the reduction in the size of the fleet under the Options for Change restructuring programme and on the deployment of Naval Support for the Gulf War in 1991: he also made the decision that members of the Women's Royal Naval Service should be allowed to serve in Royal Navy ships.

Naval career

Oswald was born to Captain George Hamilton Oswald, RN and his wife Margaret Elliott Oswald (née Robertson). The Oswalds were a landed gentry family of Cavens, Dumfries and Auchincruive (now named "Oswald Hall"), South Ayrshire, Scotland, descending from merchant George Oswald, Rector of the University of Glasgow from 1797 to 1799, Oswald was educated at Beaudesert Park School and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet on 1 May 1947. During his early career he served in the cruiser HMS Devonshire and was commissioned as a midshipman on 1 January 1952. he was posted to the aircraft carrier in February 1955. he subsequently served in the cruiser HMS Newfoundland and then the minesweeper . After attending the Royal Navy Staff College in 1964, he was posted to the shore establishment HMS Excellent at Portsmouth as Air Weapons Officer in 1965. HMS Excellent maintains the gun carriage used for state funerals, and Oswald was the Funeral Gun Carriage Officer for the Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill on 30 January 1965. He was posted to the frigate HMS Naiad in September 1966 and promoted to commander on 31 December 1968 on his appointment to the Directorate of Naval Plans at the Ministry of Defence. he attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1976 before being given command of the destroyer HMS Newcastle in January 1977 and joining the Royal Navy Presentation Team in 1979. and was promoted to rear admiral on 2 September 1982 on his appointment as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes). He was promoted to full admiral on 29 May 1987, on appointment as Commander-in-Chief Fleet and NATO Commander-in-Chief, Channel and Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic. Oswald became First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in May 1989.

Later career In retirement Oswald became Chairman of Aerosystems International He was also President of the Sea Cadet Association, vice-president of the Royal United Services Institute and a Trustee of the National Maritime Museum.

Family In 1958 he married Veronica Thompson; they had two sons and three daughters.