Vice Admiral Peter Hudson CB CBE (Chair)
Chairman of the Royal Navy Club.
A native of Manchester, Peter Hudson joined the Royal Navy straight from school as a warfare officer in 1980. After numerous watchkeeping and training appointments he specialised as a Navigator and served in the aircraft carrier HMS INVINCIBLE and on the staff of Flag Officer Sea Training.
Sea Command followed in HMS COTTESMORE and the frigate HMS NORFOLK and, in 2002 as a Captain, he was appointed as the first Commanding Officer of the assault ship HMS ALBION. He also has served as the Commodore of the UK’s Amphibious Task Forces, he commanded the EU’s Counter Piracy Mission off Somalia and from early 2013, he served as NATO’s sole Maritime Commander and senior global maritime advisor to the military head of NATO.
Ashore, he served as Director of the Naval Plans and Financial Resources team in the MoD and the Future Capability Division in Navy Command.
Vice Admiral Hudson retired from the Royal Navy in 2016. Thereafter he served as Maritime Advisor to BAE Systems and is presently the Vice Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He is a Freeman of the City of London, a Younger Brother of Trinity House and President of CCF.
Vice Admiral Robert Pedre (Vice-Chair)
Deputy Chairman of the Royal Navy Club.
Currently the NATO Maritime Commander. He commanded HMS Cottesmore early in his career and was selected for promotion to Commander in 2009 after which he joined HMS Cumberland as the Executive Officer and Second in Command. He assumed Command of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Flagship HMS Ocean in 2016. A high tempo operational period ensued with an Arabian Gulf deployment including CTF50 Flagship duties, followed by an Eastern Mediterranean deployment as the Flagship for Standing NATO Maritime Group 2.
He completed the Higher Command and Staff Course before assuming Command of the UK’s amphibious forces as Commander Littoral Strike Group in May 2020, then in 2022, assumed duties as Deputy Commander UK Strike Force in 2022.
Captain John Cromie
Representative
Bio to be added
Commodore Rob Vitali
Commodores’ and Captains’ Representative
Rob joined the Royal Navy in 1984 and retired from the Service in 2022. A Fighter Controller, Principal Warfare Officer and Anti-Air Warfare Officer, he commanded HM Ships SHETLAND and SOUTHAMPTON and the training establishment HMS Collingwood and the Maritime Warfare School. He survived numerous tours in the Ministry of Defence and the Permanent Joint Headquarters and is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies.
After leaving the Service, Rob requalified as an Advanced Boatbuilder and is now firmly at R9+
This is Rob’s second stint on the Royal Navy Club Committee, having represented the Maritime Warfare School in a previous iteration.
Commander Simon Bodman
Representative
Bio to be added
Commander Craig Clark
Commander’s Representative
Craig joined the Royal Navy in 2008 and spent his early career serving in Type 42 destroyers and Type 23 frigates. He subsequently served as Executive Officer of HMS TYNE and HMS CLYDE before taking command of the Hunt-class minehunters HMS HURWORTH, HMS CHIDDINGFOLD and HMS LEDBURY. He is currently Commanding Officer of HMS MEDWAY, a forward-deployed River-class offshore patrol vessel operating in the South Atlantic.
Craig lives in Winchester with his wife, a Royal Navy Medical Officer, and their two children.
Bio to be added
COMMANDER BRIAN P BOXALL-HUNT O.B.E. (Secretary)
Brian P Boxall-Hunt O.B.E. is the Secretary for the club.
Brian moved to the retired list in October 2005 after 35 years service as a Seaman, and Warfare, Officer and has been secretary of this ancient and auspicious club since 2015 whilst sharing his time working as CEO to the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society. His RN Club office is in the dining room of his family home in Crediton, Devon, and he is usually contactable there on Thursdays and Fridays, although monitoring emails and mobile phone all week. He considers it an absolute privilege to be secretary of a club which uniquely connects those who are qualified for, in command or have commanded at sea in the RN, and as a Club member himself is very much committed to sustaining it for the benefit of the membership.
Commander Jim Masters
Commander’s Representative
Jim Masters is a retired Commander and served from 1983 to 2015.
As a Gunnery Officer he served in a ship with no main gun (Type 22) but consoles himself in the enjoyment of several Type 42s as Fighter Controller and AAWO. He commanded HM Ships LEEDS CASTLE and MIDDLETON. His last job was in Operational Policy at Northwood/Main Building.
Since leaving he has been director in a Middle East defence start up and more recently doing business in a number of sectors in Eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East.
Commander Joel Roberts M.B.E
Commander’s Representative.
Joel joined the Navy in 2007 and has spent his entire career in navigation and warfare assignments in Mine Countermeasures Vessels, T23 Frigates, T45 Destroyers, Offshore Patrol Vessels, the UK Carrier Strike Group, and Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) staff. He has previously commanded the Sandown Class minehunters HMS RAMSEY, HMS GRIMSBY and HMS BANGOR, the T23 frigate HMS IRON DUKE, and is presently in Command of HMS SOMERSET.