REAR Admiral Martin Connell has been appointed the Royal Navy’s new Second Sea Lord, its ultimate ‘people person’.
Joining the Navy as a Fleet Air Arm Observer and then going on to serve as commanding officer on Illustrious, he brings a wealth of both personnel and operational experience to the role.
During his time as a Flight Commander, he served in HMS Coventry and HMS Manchester before commanding his first vessel, patrol ship HMS Severn, before moving on to take charge of frigate HMS Chatham and aircraft carrier Illustrious.
His career also saw him promoted to Commodore in 2015 when he then served as commander of the Royal Navy’s Amphibious Task Group before working as the naval attaché in Washington. As a Rear Admiral he worked as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Aviation, Amphibious Capability and Carriers) and more recently as Director of Force Generation.
He takes over from Vice Admiral Nick Hine.
Rear Admiral Connell said: “I am honoured to have been selected to be the next Second Sea Lord and take on the baton from Vice Admiral Nick Hine.
“Admiral Hine has led our transformation programme as we adapt to be a global, modern, ready Royal Navy, and has done an outstanding job driving improvement as we continue to adapt to meet the requirements of being a cutting edge, technologically advanced service.
“During his tenure I worked closely with him as we re-orientated the Royal Navy to be more operationally focussed, more deployed and better sustained.
“We have seen re-deployment of personnel to better support the front line, innovative crewing models, and more certainty for our sailors, marines and civil servants. He will be a hard act to follow but I am excited and enthused by the challenge he has set.”
Speaking of the announcement, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key said “I am delighted to welcome Rear Admiral Martin Connell as the next Second Sea Lord. He brings a wealth of understanding, empathy and experience to this new role and will continue the outstanding work implemented by Vice Admiral Nick Hine.”
The current Second Sea Lord, Vice Admiral Nick Hine, added: “I congratulate Admiral Martin Connell on his selection as the next Second Sea Lord. With his background he is the ideal person to continue driving forward the transformation required within the Royal Navy as we adapt to face the challenges of the future.”
