Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton

The Lord Hill-Norton
Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton Crown Copyright
Born	8 February 1915(1915-02-08) Surrey, England
Died	16 May 2004(2004-05-16) (aged 89)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1929 - 1973
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	HMS Decoy HMS Ark Royal
Battles/wars	World War II Suez Crisis Cold War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral of the Fleet Peter John Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton GCB (8 February 1915 – 16 May 2004) was Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

Naval career

Born the son of a Royal Flying Corps pilot and coming from a naval family on his mother's side, Hill-Norton became a cadet at Dartmouth in 1929.

He served during the Second World War as a gunnery officer in the Arctic convoys, on the North West approaches and on the naval staff at the Admiralty.

He rose swiftly through the ranks, becoming a captain in 1952 and then serving as naval attaché in Argentina, Uruguay and Portugal between 1953 and 1955 before commanding HMS Decoy during the Suez Crisis in 1956. He was given the prestigious command of HMS Ark Royal in 1959, before becoming a rear admiral and being appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff in 1962. He was made Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet in 1964 and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel and Logistics) in 1966 and then went on to be Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel in 1967. He believed in modernization and it was in this capacity that he took the brave decision to abolish the Royal Navy's traditional daily rum ration.

He went on to be Vice Chief of the Naval Staff later the same year and Commander-in-Chief Far East Command in 1969.

In 1970 and 1971 he was swiftly propelled into the posts of First Sea Lord and then Chief of the Defence Staff respectively by the unexpected early retirement of Sir Michael LeFanu. In 1974 he became head of NATO's military committee, a post he held until his retirement in 1977.

Later career

He was made a life peer as Baron Hill-Norton, of South Nutfield in the County of Surrey in 1979, and took an active role at the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

In 1981 Hill-Norton narrated a series on sea power for BBC Television, and subsequently authored a book under the same title. Between 1978 and 1980 he was Chairman of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 & 1785 (United 1889).

In later years he took an interest in UFOs, which included writing about them and asking questions in Parliament.

Further reading

• The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995, Heathcote T. A., Pen & Sword Ltd, 2002, ISBN 0 85052 835 6

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Desmond Dreyer	Second Sea Lord 1967	Succeeded by Sir Frank Twiss
Preceded by Sir John Bush	Vice Chief of the Naval Staff 1967–1969	Succeeded by Sir Edward Ashmore
Preceded by Sir Michael Carver	Commander-in-Chief Far East Command 1969 – 1970	Succeeded by Sir Brian Burnett
Preceded by Sir Michael LeFanu	First Sea Lord 1970–1971	Succeeded by Sir Michael Pollock
Preceded by Sir Charles Elworthy	Chief of the Defence Staff 1971–1973	Succeeded by Sir Michael Carver
Preceded by Johannes Steinhoff	Chairman of the NATO Military Committee 1974–1977	Succeeded by Herman Zeiner Gunderson