Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral.
Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
Christopher John Parry, (born 29 November 1953) is a British retired
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 was the first chair of the British Government's
Marine Management Organisation
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is an executive non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, with responsibility for English waters. The MMO exists to make a significant cont ...
until November 2010.
Education
Parry was educated at
Portsmouth Grammar School
The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a Single-sex education, boys' school ...
,
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...
, where he read modern history, and the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
,
where his
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
degree was awarded in 2017 for a thesis titled "Do
Norman Dixon's theories about incompetence apply to senior naval commanders?"
Naval career
Parry joined the Royal Navy as a seaman officer in 1972 and then became an
observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Fiction
* ''Observer'' (novel), a 2023 science fiction novel by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress
* ''Observer'' (video game), a cyberpunk horr ...
in the
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...
in 1979. In 1982, he was
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
for his actions during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
, his part in rescuing sixteen
SAS troopers from
Fortuna Glacier in
South Georgia
South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...
and for the detection and disabling of the Argentinian submarine ''
Santa Fe''. He believes
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...
s he launched were the first "shots" fired in the recapture of the Falklands.
In 1989, he was promoted to
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
. He commanded the air defence destroyer and the Maritime Warfare Centre.
[ In June 1997, he was promoted to ]captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
and in January 2000 was posted as commanding officer of . As a commodore, he was Director Operational Capability in the Ministry of Defence (2000–2003) and then Commander Amphibious Task Group from September 2003. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours. He was promoted to rear admiral in January 2005 when he became Director General, Development, Concepts and Doctrine, a role he held until 2008.
Recent activities
Since June 2008, Parry has worked in the private sector and as a writer, broadcaster and speaker. He served as the first chair of the British Government's Marine Management Organisation
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is an executive non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, with responsibility for English waters. The MMO exists to make a significant cont ...
from April 2010 to November 2010.
On 12 June 2010, in an interview on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, he described the planning for the UK's 2006 deployment of 3,300 troops to Helmand Province
Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...
in Afghanistan as flawed, relying too much on lessons from Borneo
Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
, Malaya and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The subsequent BBC News article quotes him as saying that senior commanders had obdurately resisted "ditching the lessons from the past", preferring these to the "radical and progressive ideas" which were needed.
In 2024, Parry has co hosted a popular YouTube series entitled History Undone, providing historical observations and analysis on battles and campaigns and how history may have played out differently including the wider historical and geopolitical consequences that could have resulted.
Works
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Chris
1953 births
Living people
Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Naval War College Review people
People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School
Military personnel from Portsmouth
Royal Navy rear admirals
Royal Navy personnel of the Falklands War