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 ...

David Animle Hansen (17 May 1923 – 28 January 2008) was a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian naval officer who served as Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Administrative Committee from 1966 to 1967 in the

National Liberation Council The National Liberation Council (NLC) led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. The body emerged from a ''coup d'état'' against the Nkrumah government carried out jointly by the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Arme ...

regime and as Commander of the Ghana Navy from 1962 to 1967. He was the first Ghanaian to be appointed head of the Ghana Navy. Hansen was also the founding director of the National Vocational Training Institute, and held this office from 1970 to 1980.

Early life and education

David Hansen was born on May 17, 1923, in Jamestown, Accra, to John William Kojo Hansen and Joanna Nora Hansen. He began schooling at Accra Royal School and continued to the Osu Presbyterian Senior School. He had his high school education at

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Single-sex education, boys' high school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. Founded as a private school in 1931, it gained the status of a Government ...

where he graduated in 1942. Hansen worked briefly at

Ghana Post Ghana Post (also known as ''Ghana Post Company Limited'') is a government-owned corporation responsible for postal service in Ghana and a member of the West African Postal Conference. The current Managing Director is Bice Osei Kuffour, popularly ...

before enlisting into the army two years after his high school graduation. Hansen trained at the Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1950. In 1951, he attended the platoon weapon training course at

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada England *The ...

in Kent. Hansen underwent the platoon commander's course at

Warminster Warminster () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021. The name ''Warminster'' occurs first i ...

in 1954 and the following year trained at the Infantry Signal School. In 1959, Hansen was enrolled and trained at

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which ...

Military career

Following his secondary education and brief work experience, he enlisted in the Gold Coast Regiment in 1944. On January 20, 1951, Hansen was commissioned a lieutenant in the

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the British West Africa, West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast, Sierra Leone ...

after a training course. In 1958, he became one of the first officers of the

Ghana Regiment The Ghana Regiment is an infantry regiment that forms the main fighting element of the Ghanaian Army (GA). History The regiment was formed in 1879 as the Gold Coast Constabulary, from personnel of the Hausa Constabulary of Southern Nigeria, to p ...

, when the Gold Coast gained independence. In 1960, he was made a grade II staff officer in the Office of the Chief of General Staff at the army headquarters. He was made responsible for organizing the expansion of the Ghana Army in 1960. Hansen was also appointed Secretary to the Chiefs of Staff Committee before being later appointed military assistant to the president. He consequently moved to the Flagstaff House to work as military assistant to

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

. In July 1960, Hansen was appointed Lieutenant Colonel and posted to the Third Battalion in Congo which he commanded until January 1961. During his command of the Third Battalion in Congo, he was recalled to accompany President

to the United Nations in New York. He was then selected to transfer from the

Ghana Army The Ghana Army is the principal land warfare force of Ghana. In 1959, two years after the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast became independent from the British Empire, the Ghana Regiment, Gold Coast Regiment was withdrawn from the Royal West ...

, to be an officer of the new Ghana Navy under A. G. Forman. In September 1961, Hansen was appointed as the first Ghanaian Commander of the Ghana Navy with the rank of Commodore. In 1966, after Nkrumah's overthrow, the

appointed Hansen as Chairman of its Greater Accra Regional Administrative Committee. In 1967, Hansen was re-assigned as Military Attache to Ghana's High Commission in Britain. In March 1970, he retired from the Ghana Navy with the

flag rank A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

of Rear Admiral.

Honours

The Ghana Navy ship GNS ''Hansen'' was named after him.

References

1923 births 2008 deaths Ghanaian soldiers Ga-Adangbe people Chiefs of Naval Staff (Ghana) Alumni of the Accra Academy Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom {{ghana-mil-bio-stub