Caspar John
| Sir Caspar John | |
|---|---|
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John
|
|
| Born |
22 March 1903 London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 11 July 1984 (aged 81) Hayle, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1917–1963 |
| Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
| Commands held |
First Sea Lord (1960–63) Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (1957-60) HMS Daedalus (1955–57) Third Aircraft Carrier Squadron and Heavy Squadron, Home Fleet (1951–52) HMS Fulmar (1948) HMS Ocean (1945–47) HMS Pretoria Castle (1944–45) |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |
| Other work |
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Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John GCB (22 March 1903 – 11 July 1984) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963. He was a pioneer in the Fleet Air Arm and fought in the Second World War in a cruiser taking part in the Atlantic convoys, participating in the Norwegian campaign and transporting arms around the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt for use in the western desert campaign. His war service continued as Director-General of Naval Aircraft Production, as naval air attaché at the British embassy in Washington D.C. and then as Commanding Officer of two aircraft carriers. He went on to serve as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the early 1960s. In that capacity he was primarily concerned with plans for the building of the new CVA-01 aircraft-carriers.
Born the second of the five sons of the artist Augustus John (1878–1961) and his first wife, Ida John (née Nettleship), John was raised with his siblings in an undisciplined manner, frequently dressing as ragamuffins, to such an extent that his maternal grandmother attempted to secure and raise them herself. At the age of nine, he went with his brothers to Dane Court preparatory school in Parkstone, Dorset. There he won the prize for the best gentleman in the school and a copy of Jane's Fighting Ships, and it was this, together with a wish to seek a more orderly existence, that inspired him to join the Royal Navy. His father strenuously objected, but his stepmother help persuade him to support his son. In 1916 he entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, at the age of thirteen. He transferred to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1917 and passed out eighty-third of a hundred in 1920. John is remembered at Dartmouth by the naming of the college's theatre and lecture hall, the Caspar John Hall.
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