Kevin Le Page

SPEAKER BIO #1 – COMMODORE R J ANSTEY. ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF (SUBMARINES) / DEPUTY FLAG OFFICER SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND Born in Plymouth in 1968, Commodore Bob joined the Royal Navy in 1986 direct from school. He initially began Fleet training on HMS ANLESEY and HMS ARK ROYAL before volunteering for service in submarines during his subsequent Officer of the Watch course. In 1989 he joined HMS DOLPHIN for basic submarine training later that year. Spending his early submarine career in Trafalgar Class fast attack submarines (HMS TORBAY, HMS TIRLESS and HMS TRAFALGAR), he was involved in a series of exciting operations, spanning: Cold War patrols in the North Atlantic; supporting wider operations in the Adriatic and Gulf; and, in 1996, a submerged trip to the North Pole followed by a 9-month circumnavigation of the globe via both the Suez and Panama Canals. Following a period ashore as a senior instructor at the Royal Navy’s Submarine School, he completed the infamous Submarine Command Course (‘Perisher’) and changed stream to the Vanguard Class ballistic missile carrying submarine force. He served as the Executive Officer, and Second in Command, of HMS VICTORIOUS and HMS VENGEANCE before joining the staff of Flag Officer Sea Training as the Submarine Command Sea Rider. Selected for Command in May 2004, he went on to complete three strategic deterrent patrols as the Commanding Officer of HMS VIGILANT. After fifteen years as a deep specialist submariner, Bob enjoyed a succession of rewarding postings as: Directing Staff at the Advanced Command and Staff Course; a maritime desk officer in the Operations Directorate of the Ministry of Defence; the UK’s Submarine Operations Officer, directing all UK submarine operations; and the Successor SSBN desk officer in the Nuclear Capability area of the Ministry of Defence. Promoted to Captain in March 2014, he took Command of FOST Submarine and Minor War Vessel training on the Clyde. He returned to operations in 2016, serving as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations), running day-to-day global UK maritime operations for Commander Operations and the Fleet Commander. Bob returned to Scotland in April 2018 to take up the new role of Assistant Chief of Staff (Submarines) and Deputy Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland, charged with delivering coherency across all areas of submarine current and future capability and delivering sustainable, long-term support for a Submarine Service based in HMNB Clyde. He is married to Caroline and they have three grown up children: Daniel (‘93), Rebecca (‘94) and William (‘96). Commodore R J Anstey SPEAKER BIO #2 – DR ANDREW CORBETT, TEACHING FELLOW AT KING COLLEGE LONDON Andrew Corbett is a teaching fellow at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London. His first career in the Royal Navy submarine service spanned the end of the Cold War and included Command of 2 Trident submarines, capability management in the MOD and development of 21st century NATO deterrence and defence strategy. He holds a PhD in Defence Studies from King’s College London and an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. His main research interests concern the use of cognitive tools, such as nuclear deterrence, as elements of foreign and security policy in the 21st century. His current research project concerns the ethics of nuclear deterrence. Dr Andrew Corbett.

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