In a landmark moment for the Royal Navy, Captain Claire Thompson OBE RN has assumed command of HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Captain Thompson’s appointment marks the first time a woman has taken command of a British aircraft carrier, succeeding Captain Will King OBE RN after his 18-month tenure.
The Royal Navy celebrated this significant transition in a statement shared via HMS Queen Elizabeth’s social media account, stating:
“A day of new beginnings and fond farewells. We welcome Capt Claire Thompson OBE RN as she assumes command of HMS Queen Elizabeth. That means we also say goodbye to Capt Will King OBE RN as he leaves after 18 months in command. Semper Eadem.”
Captain Thompson brings with her a wealth of experience. During her time as Captain of HMS Montrose, she and her team achieved extraordinary success, including leading the ship in four major drug interdictions and intercepting two illegal arms caches.
These operations earned HMS Montrose recognition as one of the Royal Navy’s most effective warships in 2022.
Thompson, who joined the Royal Navy in 2005, has served in various global deployments, including missions in the South Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, and Caribbean. Her distinguished career has been marked by significant contributions to the Royal Navy’s global operations, which earned her an OBE.
Her appointment was anticipated in mid-2024, with reports highlighting her groundbreaking role in the Royal Navy.
As Captain Will King steps down, he leaves behind a strong legacy on HMS Queen Elizabeth.
This historic transition not only signifies progress in breaking barriers within the Royal Navy but also underscores the institution’s commitment to fostering diverse leadership while maintaining its high standards of operational excellence.
What exactly is diverse leadership and what are the benefits?
Or are just trotting out PC or woke rubbish?
It’s nonsense,if she is qualified and experienced enough to command one of His Majesty’s warships who cares what it is!
I’m guessing we should go back to the days where we only hired straight white men to command in your book?
Diverse just means anyone who’s not a white straight man. All public services strive to hire as many people who meet that criteria as possible. Obviously, your race, sex or sexual orientation have nothing to do with how competant you are, but wokeness has fully infiltrated basically every part of western society and is here to stay. The activists won.
You mean progress won. Its not the 1970s anymore.
100% Correct. And as we just saw, identity politics and anti-white reverse racism was thoroughly rejected by America in their recent election. Although UK probably has another 4-8 years of this rammed down your throat. It is poison, it pits one race or gender against another in the name “inclusion.” Nonsense but thankfully it’s now getting a lot of ridicule which is the best antidote for stupidity.
Question: are you saying that all other races should be excluded to the benefit of just one race and if that is so wouldn’t that by definition make that one race the so called master race???
You should probably get some professional help mate. Like most Conservatives I work by Martin Luther King’s principles that everyone is born equal and should be treated equally BUT based on their own merits. MERITS. Not external appearance or gender or who they sleep with.
No, it simply means that people aren’t recruited and promoted simply because they are (outwardly) straight white men. It’s not that long ago when it was not possible to be female or homosexual in the armed forces, now that it is it is only reasonable that some of these should turn out to be better than the straight white man and achieve high positions. Even while black men could join the armed forces how many do you remember being generals or admirals back in the 70s or 80s ? Or the 90s for that matter ? There was a time… Read more »
True that historically straight white men had on average better education and oportunities followed.
Not so sure that is so much the case now. Yes. education and health are basic human needs to be universally provided as much as possible.
BUT that does not mean we are all fit for the same jobs/tasks. No doubt this Lady must have proved her worth for the role. That does not mean women/men are fit /should be expected to be fit for all purposes equally.
Definetely no need to superimpose quotae or ratios on top of merit.
Good question -take a look to our navy here in NZ . A DEI appointed skipper recently ran our one and only survey vessel onto a reef and sank it. The irony of this being a survey vessel. Apparently the auto pilot was engaged and no one was aware at the time.
And a very straight white male Captain of an Astute nuclear powered submarine grounded it? What’s your point again?
simple- she was incompetent, promoted beyond her capabilities, promoted based on a DEI requirement .There is plenty of coverage here in NZ on the topic. I can’t comment on your Astute grounding incident , but l can tell you the grounding of survey ship on a chartered reef is gross miss management. Remind me who was in charge again?
race, sex or sexual orientation have nothing to do with how competent you are.
18 months is not long as a captain I presume.
Hardly time to get going.
Does seem a very short time to master carrier operations which are not at all easy….
It’s the standard draft length for a Captain. And they are already very qualified for the role. They don’t need time to master carrier operations. They are qualified for a senior command position.
It sounds about right if these dates are correct. It is odd to have it for a short period. Queen Elizabeth’s Captains.
Captain Simon Petitt (2012 – May 16)
Captain Jerry Kyd (May 16 – Oct 18)
Captain Nick Cooke-Priest (Oct 18 – May 19)
Steve Moorhouse (May 19 – Jan 20)
Captain Angus Essenhigh (Jan 2020 – 2021)
Captain Ian Feasey (Sept 2021 – July 2023)
Captain Will King (July 2023 – Dec
Too many Captains have to give everyone ago. Why do all senior officers have sooo many medals.
Because they give them a medal everytime they get out of bed. It’s cheaper than a payrise I guess.
It’s because in the long run, officers serve longer than ORs / rates. If you look at her medal rack, she has 1 x national award (OBE) 3 x operational service medals and 3 occasion medals (like jubilees, coronation type stuff). The last one I guess is a long service medal?
Let me give you an example. I did 12 years as a regular and then 5 as a reservist. I have Iraq, OSM (Afghanistan), Diamond Jubilee, Platinum Jubilee and Coronation. So for 17 years of service, 5 medals. But arguably I only ‘earned’ two of those.
Lets take a look at princess Ann.
Admiral of the fleet uniform with a chest full of medals. Not bad for someone who has never done a days active service in her life!
Because they are very experienced.
If she is good enough to do the job, and I imagine she is otherwise she wouldn’t have been given the command, then all due respect to her.
Looking at the rack of tinware that she’s sporting, its an indication that she isn’t fresh out of Dartmouth.
It’s about time that women who achieve the higher echelons of their chosen profession are given the respect that they’re due, without the hullabaloo of the doubters being given press space.
Former Royal Marine
I suppose its the nature of a reduced fleet; active seagoing commands are few and far between now, the navy has to turn officers over relatively quickly if it wants to maintain an even spread of experience.
Can anyone tell me what that ‘gold’ insignia on the left shoulder is? It’s appeared on pics of three (former or new) carrier captains in the past day or two. First glance, they look like submariner’s dolphins, a close-up shot is still unclear.
It’s her ‘dolphins’ I think she must be a submariner as well.
It’s not ‘dolphins’ like Jacko says. It means she is qualified as a Principle Warfare Officer.
I stand corrected 👍
Thanks, John.
What could possibly go wrong?
Why? Because a she now commands a QEC? Or is that a “woman driver” joke?
Fair play to her.
Please don’t leave on autopilot …
Her in NZ, a DEI appointed skipper recently ran our one and only survey vessel onto a reef and sank it. The irony of this being a survey vessel. Apparently the auto pilot was engaged and no one was aware at the time.
Yes but diversity is our strength. Right?
Sarcasm??
Not going to lie, but would feel happier with a double barrelled inbred at the wheel/joystick.
Boomers be like.
Here’s a new ribbon for’er 🏳️🌈. 😎♾️❤️☮️
No need to even comment but so many innacuaracies here. As a recent ex RN Commanding Officer i can confidently tell you command of an Aircraft Carrier comes on merit alone. The medals, unlike many other Navies are earnt, read the article to see what Capt Thompson has achieved, and finally the ‘insignia’… if silver it reprents that she is a qualified Principal Warfare Officer, but as she has qualiified for Command it is gold.
You cannot be serious
For those upon whom it is missed, the irony is that Captain Claire Thompson OBE RN is taking command of a ship named after Elizabeth Tudor – Queen Elizabeth I or variously ‘The Great’. Who was, by the way, a woman! And she knew it, and made strength of it when she roused her men-at-arms in her renowned speech at Tilbury on 9 August 1588: ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma… Read more »
Thanks to those who pointed out the “badge”, was for being a PWO.
I also thought it looked liked “dolphins”, so was going to ask if this was the first time a submariner has commanded an Aircraft Carrier. A reminder that it is often useful to read the comments before posting.
There have been numerous submariners in command of aircraft carriers in the past. As submarine captains are commanders in rank, the only front line roles for captains in rank are in capital surface ships (until recently, 2 aircraft carriers and 2 LPDs) – competition for these roles is fierce and the RN would not appoint anyone who had not fully proved themselves as the right person for the job.
With so few surface commands left, one must hope she is the best.
It should always be the BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB regardless as was what it used to be once. Now its getting like the US to be shared out by in proportion of what is what so you end up with a real mixed bag rather than the best. The mix in the services has changed and so all should have an equal chance. But what you do in private should simply stay there and NOT included in work but unfortunately it is. Lets see how some perform when the shit really hits the fan. Best of luck to her… Read more »
Funny coincidence that eh🤣🤣👏
I seem to recall a DEI hire in New Zealand…rather similar in many ways to this one…that went well.
If only she was black and gay , could have ticked all boxes.