Steven P. Cass is a retired warrant officer 1 of 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 ...

. From 2013 to 2017, he was the

Warrant Officer of the Naval Service The Warrant Officer to the Royal Navy (WORN), previously known as the Warrant Officer of the Naval Service (WONS), is the most senior warrant officer and rating of the Royal Navy. The person holding this appointment's main responsibility is to ...

(now Warrant Officer of the Royal Navy) and, therefore, the most senior

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

of the Royal Navy. He is the first person from 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 ...

and the second person overall to hold the appointment.

Early life

Cass is from

Porthleven Porthleven (; ) is a town, civil parish and fishing port in Cornwall, England. The most southerly port in Great Britain, it was a harbour of refuge when this part of the Cornish coastline was infamous for wrecks in the days of sail. The South W ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. He was educated at Helston Community College, a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

, Cornwall. He left school at 17 to join the

Military career

In 1986, Cass joined the

of the Royal Navy as an air engineering mechanic second class. He spent his early years with

820 Naval Air Squadron 820 Naval Air Squadron (802 NAS), also referred to as 820 Squadron, is a carrier-based Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It currently operates the Merlin HM2 in two capacities, either for anti-su ...

based at

RNAS Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy Military airbase, airbase located beside the town of Helston, situated on the L ...

. In 1988, he undertook a six-month tour of the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

on board . He completed the artificer course in 1991. In 1994, he was serving with

771 Naval Air Squadron 771 Naval Air Squadron (771 NAS) of the Fleet Air Arm was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It was formed on 24 May 1939 at , Lee-on-Solent as a Fleet Requirements Unit with 14 Fairey Swordfish ...

. In 2005, Cass was promoted to warrant officer 2 and appointed senior maintenance rating of 700M Naval Air Squadron. In 2008, he was promoted to the rank of warrant officer 1. From 2009 to 2011, he was attached to

AgustaWestland AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...

as the "structural integrity engineering authority responsible for the safety and airworthiness of all Merlin’s across the

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US * ...

and around the world". From 2011 to 2013, he served as base warrant officer of RNAS Culdrose. During this time, he was also President of the station's warrant officers' and senior rates' mess. In July 2013, Cass was awarded the

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: Singapore *Pingat Jasa Gemilang, or Meritorious Services Me ...

, receiving it from Vice Admiral

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood (born 31 March 1938) is a retired Scottish politician. Elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency), Roxb ...

in a ceremony in September. In December 2013, he was appointed

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cass, Steve Living people Royal Navy sailors Sailors from Cornwall People from Porthleven Warrant Officers to the Royal Navy Year of birth missing (living people)