James Goldrick
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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 ...
James Vincent Purcell Goldrick, (8 August 1958 – 17 March 2023) was an Australian naval historian, analyst of contemporary naval and maritime affairs, and a senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Following his retirement from the RAN, Goldrick was a fellow at the Sea Power Centre – Australia and an adjunct professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He was also a member of the Naval Studies Group at the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society, an adjunct professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University and a professorial fellow of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong. He was a visiting fellow at All Souls College,
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
in the first half of 2015, and a non-resident Fellow of the Lowy Institute from 2013 to 2018.


Early life and education

James Goldrick was born in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, New South Wales on 8 August 1958. He joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1974 as a fifteen-year-old Cadet midshipman. A graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College, he held a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Letters from the University of New England. He attended the six-week Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School (AMP 168), and was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of New South Wales.


Naval career

A principal warfare officer and anti-submarine warfare specialist, Goldrick saw sea service around the world with the RAN and on exchange with the British
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 ...
, including the patrol vessel , the frigates , and , and the destroyer . He served as executive officer of and . He was commanding officer of and twice commanded the frigate before serving as the inaugural commander of Australian Surface Task Group. During this posting, he commanded the Australian task group deployed to the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
in early 2002 and also served as commander of the multinational naval forces conducting maritime interception operations to enforce UN sanctions on
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, including units from the RAN, the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
, the
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 ...
and the
Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (, ; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called in Poland (, roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated ''WP''), are the national Military, armed forces of the Poland, ...
. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for this service.It's an Honour
– Member of the Order of Australia – 26 January 2004
Citation: ''For exceptional command and leadership as the Commander of the Multi-national Maritime Interception Force enforcing United Nations Sanctions against Iraq as part of Operation SLIPPER.''
Goldrick's shore postings included serving as aide de camp to the Governor-General of Australia, as an instructor on the RAN's Principal Warfare Officer course, as officer-in-charge of the RAN's tactical development, tactical training and warfare officer training faculty, as research officer and later as chief staff officer to the Chief of Navy, as director of the RAN Sea Power Centre and as director-general of military strategy in the Australian Department of Defence. For his service, particularly at the Sea Power Centre, he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross.It's an Honour
– Conspicuous Service Cross – 11 June 2001
Goldrick took command of the Australian Defence Force Academy in September 2003. He was promoted to rear admiral and assumed duties as Commander Border Protection in May 2006. In May 2008, he was appointed commander of joint education, training and warfare (a position retitled in 2009 as Commander Australian Defence College). After completing his posting in August 2011, he served as acting commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy until March 2012. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2013.


Naval scholarship and later life

Goldrick lectured in naval history and contemporary naval affairs at many institutions. He spent 1992 as a research scholar at the US
Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...
. He was a long-term and active member of the Australian Naval Institute, including a significant period on the institute's governing council, where he was president between 2005 and 2008. He was an overseas corresponding member of the Society for Nautical Research and served several terms as a councillor of the Navy Records Society. In 2017, his book, ''Before Jutland'', was awarded the Anderson Medal of the Society for Nautical Research for the best book of naval or maritime history published in 2015, and he was appointed a Fellow of the Society in 2018. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2020. In March 2022, Goldrick was awarded the Hattendorf Prize by the United States Naval War College for distinguished academic achievement in publishing original research that contributes to a deeper historical understanding of the broad context and interrelationships involved in the roles, contributions, limitations, and uses of the sea services in history. Goldrick was married to Ruth, with whom he had two sons. Goldrick died in
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
on 17 March 2023, following treatment for lymphoma and leukemia.


Published works

* ''The King's Ships Were at Sea: The War in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
August 1914 – February 1915'' (1984) * ''Reflections on the Royal Australian Navy'', edited by T.R. Frame, J.V.P. Goldrick, and P.D. Jones. (1991) * '' Mahan is Not Enough: the Proceedings of a Conference on the works of Sir Julian Corbett and Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond'', edited by James Goldrick and John B. Hattendorf (1995) * ''No Easy Answers: The Development of the Navies of
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
,
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
and
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
'' (1997) * ''Struggling for a solution – the RAN and the acquisition of a surface to air missile capability'' by P. D. Jones and James Goldrick. * ''Navies of South-East Asia: A Comparative Study'', by James Goldrick and Jack McCaffrie. * ''Before Jutland: The Naval War in Northern European Waters August 1914 – February 1915'' (2015) * ''After Jutland: The Naval War in Northern European Waters June 1916 - November 1918'' (2018) In addition, he had contributed to many other works, and to professional journals, including The
United States Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...
'' Proceedings''. As a junior officer he twice won the Guinness Prize of the British ''Naval Review''. In 2018, he won the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Naval History Essay contest with 'Anti-access for Sea Control: The British Mining Campaign in World War I'. Among his important articles and chapter-length contributions were: * ''With the Battle Cruisers'', by Filson Young with an introduction by James Goldrick (1986, 2002) * 'The Battleship Fleet: the Test of War, 1895–1919' in J. R. Hill, ed., ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy'' (1995). * ''Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss'' in Malcolm H. Murfett, ed., ''The First Sea Lords: From Fisher to Mountbatten'' (1995) * ' Julian Corbett' and Rosslyn Wemyss' in ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004)


References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldrick, James 1958 births 2023 deaths Deaths from cancer in the Australian Capital Territory Deaths from leukemia in Australia Deaths from lymphoma in Australia Military personnel from New South Wales Australian military personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Australian naval historians Graduates of the Royal Australian Naval College Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney) Recipients of the Conspicuous Service Cross (Australia) Royal Australian Navy admirals University of New England (Australia) alumni University of New South Wales alumni Academic staff of the University of New South Wales