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 Vice ...

Robert George Cooling (born 11 July 1957) is a former

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 who served as Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff.

Early life and education

Cooling was born on 11 July 1957. He was educated at

Christ Church Cathedral School Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in Oxford, England. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of Worcester College ...

, Oxford and

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

, both

private schools A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...

. He studied

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1978.

Naval career

Cooling joined the Royal Navy in 1978.Sustaining Programs for Defense Cooperation: Doing More with Less
/ref> He went on to command the patrol craft and then the frigate . He became Commanding Officer of the frigate as well as Captain of the 6th Frigate Squadron in 1998 and Director of Naval Staff Duties at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in 2002.Senior Royal Navy appointments
He went on to be Commanding Officer of the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

in 2004, Deputy Commander of Strike Force (South) in 2006 and Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in February 2008. Promoted to

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 Vice ...

, he became the chief of staff to NATO's Supreme

Allied Command Transformation Allied Command Transformation (ACT; French language, French: ''Commandement allié Transformation'') is a military command (military formation), command of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 2003 after restructuring. ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

in July 2009 before retiring in November 2011.ACT bids farewell to Vice Admiral Cooling at Chief of Staff change over
NATO, 1 November 2011

Later life

Cooling was appointed a Board Member of the Strategy and Integration Advisory Board of Quindell Portfolio plc in March 2012.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooling, Robert 1957 births Living people Royal Navy vice admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath Alumni of Keele University People educated at Christ Church Cathedral School People educated at The King's School, Canterbury