Richard Fitch

Admiral Sir Richard George Alison Fitch, KCB (2 June 1929 – 15 February 1994) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1986 to 1988.

Sir Richard Fitch
Nickname(s)Dick
Born(1929-06-02)2 June 1929
Blackheath, London
Died15 February 1994(1994-02-15) (aged 64)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1942–1988
RankAdmiral
Commands heldFlag Officer Third Flotilla
HMS Hermes
HMS Apollo
HMS Berwick
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Educated at Royal Naval College Dartmouth, Fitch joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1942.[1]

Fitch was made Commanding Officer of the frigate HMS Berwick in 1966 and then joined the staff of the Flag Officer Second-in-Command for the Far East Fleet in 1967.[1] He was made commander of the frigate HMS Apollo in 1973 and then became Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord in 1974.[1]

Fitch was made captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes in 1976 and Director of Naval Warfare at the Ministry of Defence in 1978.[2] He went on to be Naval Secretary in 1980 and Flag Officer Third Flotilla in 1983.[2] He was made Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel as well as President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1986, and retired in 1988.[2]

In retirement Fitch became a Lloyd's name.[1] Facing large underwriting losses, he committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his car.[3]

Family

In 1969 Fitch married Kathleen Marie-Louise Igert; they went on to have one son.[2]

gollark: The existence of worse things actually directly implies that your problems are not real.
gollark: I have something like 13 A-level exams in total.
gollark: So none are safe.
gollark: Mirrors aren't perfectly reflective.
gollark: Specifically, Nvidia and more than ~6GB of VRAM.

References
  1. Obituary: Admiral Sir Richard Fitch The Independent, 22 February 1994
  2. Debrett's People of Today 1994
  3. "Ex-Sea Lord facing ruin at Lloyd's killed himself: Son blames market for death of 'name' who became depressed by large losses". The Independent. 22 March 1994. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
Military offices
Preceded by
Paul Greening		 Naval Secretary
1980–1983		 Succeeded by
Richard Thomas
Preceded by
Sir Simon Cassels		 Second Sea Lord
1986–1988		 Succeeded by
Sir Brian Brown
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