Frank Hopkins (Royal Navy officer)

Educated at the Nautical College at Pangbourne in Berkshire, Hopkins joined the Royal Navy in 1927.[1]

Hopkins served in the Second World War, initially on the staff of the naval observer school at Ford in Sussex.[1] In 1940 he transferred to 826 Naval Air Squadron and then to RAF Coastal Command.[1] Then in 1941 he took command of 830 Naval Air Squadron, sinking large quantities of German shipping in the Mediterranean.[1] He went on to join the British Air Commission in Washington D. C., before becoming an observer with the United States Pacific Fleet.[1]

Hopkins also served in the Korean War as Air Commander in the aircraft-carrier HMS Theseus.[1] He was appointed Deputy Director, Naval Air Organization and Training Division in 1951 and then went on to be Commander of HMS Myngs, before being made Director, Naval Air Warfare Division.[1] He went on to be Captain of HMS Ark Royal, before becoming Commandant of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1958.[1] In 1960 he became Flag Officer, Flying Training and in 1962 he was made Flag Officer, Aircraft Carriers.[1]

Hopkins was appointed Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord in 1963.[2] He was one of the admirals who threatened to resign in protest over the decision by the Labour Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healey, to cancel the CVA-01 aircraft carrier programme.[1] His last role was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1966; he retired in 1967.[1]

In 1933 Hopkins married Joan Mary Standring; they had one daughter.[1] Following a divorce, he married Lois Barbara Cook in 1939; there were no children.[1] Following the death of his second wife, he married Georgianna Priest in 1988.[1]