andy ingham - Royal Navy

---

ANDY INGHAM

RANK:COMMANDER JOINED:1997 SPECIALISATION:WARFARE PREVIOUS UNITS:HMS CATTISTOCK, HMS MIDDLETON Military experience Andy Ingham was educated at Monmouth Haberdashers School and went on to read Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University before joining the Royal Navy in 1997 as a Marine Engineering Young Officer. After initial training at BRNC Dartmouth, in HMS Invincible and at HMS Sultan, he transferred to the Warfare Branch and underwent further professional training at HMS Dryad before his first assignment as Navigating Officer of the Hunt Class Minesweeper HMS Chiddingfold in 2000. Further navigation assignments saw deployments to the Baltic, Mediterranean and Far East in HMS Nottingham and Cornwall. His time navigating preceded a spell ashore that included Staff and Warfare training, after which he returned to sea as a Principal Warfare and Operations Officer, deploying to the Middle East and South Atlantic with HMS Chatham. This assignment also saw a number of high profile ceremonial duties culminating in a 21 gun salute as Royal Escort to HM the Queen at the ‘Trafalgar 200’ commemorations. After qualification as an Air Warfare Officer, he spent a short period in HMS Ocean during counter drug operations in the Caribbean before continuing his assignment as the Senior Warfare Officer in HMS Edinburgh. This period saw operational deployments to the Mediterranean, Middle and Far East, and as escort with the ORION 08 multinational Task Group. His first shore assignment was as a Staff Officer on the Afghanistan Operations Team in the UK’s Joint Headquarters (JHQ) in Northwood. This rewarding job included a period based in the UK Brigade Headquarters in Lashkar Gah as the JHQ liaison Officer to Commander Task Force Helmand during HERRICK 11. From there he assumed Command of MCM2 Crew 8 conducting ‘Crew Swaps’ to maintain the presence of 4 Mine Countermeasure Vessels in the Gulf. In an 18 month period he regenerated HMS Atherstone from refit, completed an Op Kipion deployment to the Gulf in HMS Middleton, and ended his time regenerating HMS Cattistock. Promoted to Commander in 2012 he assumed Command of HMS Diamond in February 2013.

Andy is a Fellow of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners and a Member of the Royal Institute of Navigation. His hobbies include playing the tenor horn within brass band circles (when called upon), sailing and hill walking; he can occasionally be seen paddling his kayak in the Solent. Andy lives in Portsmouth with his wife Maryla, a fellow Warfare Officer.