Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

Sir Peter William Beckwith Ashmore (4 February 1921 – 31 July 2002) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer. After retirement from the navy he became Master of the Household to the

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

Early life

Ashmore was the son of Vice-Admiral Leslie Ashmore: he was educated at Yardley Court and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; he joined the

in 1938.

Naval career

On graduation from Dartmouth, Ashmore served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in the destroyer HMS ''Kipling'' in which he commanded the ship's guns during an operation to rescue survivors from two other British ships off

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

in May 1941. After the War he became Deputy Director of the Royal Navy Staff College at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

in 1957, Captain (Frigates) of the Dartmouth Training Squadron in 1960 and a member of the Plans Division at the Admiralty in 1963. He was promoted to rear admiral on 7 July 1966, and went on to be Flag Officer,

Admiralty Interview Board The Admiralty Interview Board (AIB) is a key element of the officer selection process for the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It is an equivalent of the Army Officer Selecti ...

in 1966, Chief of Staff of the Western Fleet and to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic in 1967 and Chief of the Allied Staff at Headquarters Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe in 1970 before he retired in 1972. In retirement Ashmore was Master of the Household to the

. His elder brother was Admiral Sir Edward Ashmore who became

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

and Chief of the Defence Staff.The Times - obituary 18 May 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashmore, Peter Royal Navy vice admirals 1921 births 2002 deaths Masters of the Household Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)