Nigel Essenhigh

Sir Nigel Essenhigh
Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh Crown Copyright
Born	1944 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1963-2002
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Nottingham HMS Exeter Fleet
Battles/wars	Cold War Falklands War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Nigel Richard Essenhigh, GCB, ADC (born 1944) is a British admiral who served as First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy from 2001 to 2002.

Naval career

Essenhigh was born in Newcastle and attended St. Cuthbert's School. He joined the Royal Navy in 1963 and qualified as a Principal Warfare Officer in 1972, specialising in navigation.^[1]

After his promotion to commander in 1980 he joined the Ministry of Defence for duty with Naval Manpower Training and took command of the Type 42 destroyer HMS Nottingham in 1982. His next post was on board HMS Ark Royal during its construction in 1984 and he was promoted to captain in 1985. ^[1]

After graduating from the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1987 he returned to the Ministry of Defence and the Naval Plans Department, and he took command of another destroyer, HMS Exeter, from 1989 to 1992.^[1]

Promotion to rear admiral came in 1994 when he took up the position of Hydrographer of the Navy and he became Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Programmes) in 1996. Two years later he was promoted to full admiral and was appointed to the job of Commander-in-Chief Fleet. In 2001 he became First Sea Lord.^[1]

Later career

In retirement he has taken up an appointment as a Non-Executive Director of Babcock International.^[2] He is a Patron of Journey South 2007, an expedition to the South Pole.

On 18 January 2010 Northrop Grumman announced the appointment of Essenhigh as chief executive of its Information Systems Europe business. In this new position, he will focus on the strategic direction of Northrop Grumman's activities in the defence and civil IT, C4ISTAR and counter-IED markets in the UK, mainland Europe and its export markets. He will continue in his role as Non-Executive Chairman for Northrop Grumman in the UK, and has been the Non-Executive Director for Northrop Grumman UK since 2008.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Navy News Biography
2. ^ Babcock Internation Main Board Directors
3. ^ Northrop Grumman Appoints Sir Nigel Essenhigh as Chief Executive for Defence and Civil IT, and C4ISTAR Business in Europe

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Michael Boyce	Commander-in-Chief Fleet 1998 – 2000	Succeeded by Sir Alan West
Preceded by Sir Michael Boyce	First Sea Lord 2001 – 2002	Succeeded by Sir Alan West

Persondata
Name	Essenhigh, Nigel Richard
Alternative names
Short description	Royal Navy admiral
Date of birth	1944
Place of birth	Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
Date of death
Place of death