Portal:Royal Navy/Selected biography/10
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Admiral Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead, GCB, DSC (born 21 April 1948) is a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office, with responsibility for Security, a Security Advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Prior to his junior ministerial appointment, he was First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy, from 2002 to 2006. He is well remembered as the commanding officer of HMS Ardent, which was sunk on 21 May 1982 during the Falklands War. West was the last to leave the sinking ship and was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for his leadership. He is the current Chancellor of Southampton Solent University. On 29 June 2007 he was appointed to his current position at the Home Office in the Government of Gordon Brown, and that same day Brown announced that West was to be created a life peer. On 9 July 2007 he was created Baron West of Spithead, of Seaview in the County of Isle of Wight, and took his seat in the House of Lords.
