Anthony Synnot

Infobox Military Person
name= Sir Anthony Synnot
lived= Birth date|df=yes|1922|1|5 - Death date and age|df=yes|2001|7|4|1922|1|5
placeofbirth= Corowa, New South Wales
placeofdeath= Canberra, Australian Capital Territory


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= flagicon|Australia Commonwealth of Australia
serviceyears= 1939-1982
rank= Admiral
branch=
commands= Chief of Defence Force Staff
Chief of Naval Staff
HMAS Melbourne (R21)
HMAS Sydney (1944)
HMAS Vampire (D11)
HMAS Warramunga (I44)
unit=
battles= World War II
*Battle of Matapan
Malayan Emergency
awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Officer of the Order of Australia
Mention in Despatches
laterwork=
Admiral Sir Anthony Monckton Synnot KBE, AO (5 January 1922 - 4 July 2001) was an Admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and between 1979 and 1982 was Chief of the Defence Force Staff in Australia.

Early life

Synnot was born in 1922 at Corowa, New South Wales, a descendant of Monckton Synnot and brother of Captain Timothy Monckton Synnot RAN, and a distant relative of the American Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Synnot was educated at Geelong Grammar School. He joined the Royal Australian Navy as a cadet midshipman in March 1939 and trained in Britain with Prince Philip of Greece (as he then was). His first ship was the cruiser HMAS "Canberra".

Naval career

During World War II, Synnot served aboard the destroyer HMAS "Stuart" in the Battle of Matapan during which he was mentioned in dispatches and during the evacuation of Greece and Crete. With the Royal Navy, he saw service on the battleship HMS "Barham" and was on board the destroyer HMS "Punjabi" when she sank off Iceland in 1942 after being accidentally rammed by the battleship HMS "King George V".

Subsequently Synnot served for two years on the Australian destroyer HMAS "Quiberon" on North Sea convoy duty and during the North Africa landings, eventually becoming the ship's executive officer. In 1945, Synnot qualified as a gunnery officer and subsequently served on the staff of gunnery schools in Australia. Promoted commander in 1954, he took charge of the HMAS "Warramunga" in 1956. He became captain of the Daring-class destroyer HMAS "Vampire" in 1960.

In 1950, Synnot had taken part in the Bridgeford Mission to Malaya, which advised the Australian government on the Malayan emergency. His report on the options for providing naval support for the British laid the foundations for Australian naval involvement in the region and led to Synnot's secondment to command the Royal Malaysian Navy from 1962 to 1965.

On his return to Australia, Synnot attended administrative staff college before returning to sea in 1966 as commander of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS "Sydney", then in 1967, the carrier HMAS "Melbourne".

After a year at the Imperial Defence College in London, he returned to Australia as director general of fighting equipment. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1970, he became chief of naval personnel and subsequently deputy chief of naval staff. He became commander of the Australian fleet in 1973. In 1974 he was appointed director joint staff in the Australian Defence Department and played a leading role in the relief effort following the devastation of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy.

Promoted Vice Admiral in 1976, Synnot was appointed Chief of Naval Staff the same year. He initiated a review of the Navy Office and of the Navy's structure of command and control. He drew up a blueprint for the maintenance of naval capability into the future and oversaw the Navy's guided-missile frigate project.

Extremely able and practical, Synnot came to be regarded as one of the country's most outstanding defence force chiefs. A strong believer in deterrence and an advocate of close co-operation with America and countries in the Pacific region, Synnot emphasised the need for a strong military capability for national defence and for joint operations with Australia's allies overseas.

He was said to have done more to equip Australia's armed forces with up-to-date military technology than any of his predecessors. In particular, he was instrumental in persuading the Australian government of the need to upgrade the country's air force with the acquisition of the F/A 18.

He was also behind the controversial decision to acquire the British aircraft carrier HMS "Invincible" as a replacement for the ageing HMAS "Melbourne", arguing before a parliamentary committee that the Falklands War had demonstrated the need for an aircraft carrier strike force. Opponents (such as Air Vice Marshal Hugh Evans) argued that the unique and particular circumstances of the Falklands War made that conflict inappropriate as a benchmark for the role of smaller aircraft carriers in the defence of Australia. The decision to buy HMS "Invincible" was overturned after Synnot's retirement and the government opted instead to invest in an advanced long-range conventional submarine force.

Personal

Synnot was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 [LondonGazette|issue=45555|date=31 December 1971|startpage=34|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=24 July|accessyear=2008] and knighted via Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978. [LondonGazette|issue=47724|date=29 December 1978|startpage=36|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=24 July|accessyear=2008] He was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 1976. [ [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=878582&search_type=simple&showInd=true It's an Honour] - Entry] He married in 1959 to Virginia Davenport, who died in 1965, and secondly, in 1968, Anne Colvin.

Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot died on the 4 July 2001 at the age of 79, after suffering from a long illness. In his last years he suffered total blindness. [ [http://www.ada.asn.au/defender/Spr01all.pdf Defender] - The National Journal of the Australia Defence Association]

References

External links

* [http://www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Papers_in_Australian_Maritime_Affairs_No._17 Australian Naval Personalities:] Synnot, Anthony Monckton (1922-2001)
* [http://www.defence.gov.au/cdf/past_chiefs.htm Defence Force] - Previous Chiefs
* [http://fesrassociation.com/archive/040.pdf Media release] - Death of Admiral Sir Anthony Synnot