Sam Salt

Salt was in command of the destroyer HMS Sheffield on 4 May 1982, when she was attacked and destroyed by Argentinian naval aircraft whilst on patrol in the South Atlantic Ocean during the war over the contested sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.[3] Sheffield was one of three vessels guarding the western flank of the British naval force when they were attacked. Two Argentinian Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard strike aircraft attacked the vessels using Exocet missiles. One struck the ship, causing a fire. Salt and the crew attempted to save the ship, but they were forced to abandon ship. Sheffield was taken in tow, but sank several days later, becoming the first Royal Navy warship to be sunk since the end of the Second World War.[1][2]

After the Falklands War he commanded the destroyer HMS Southampton. In the mid-1980s his sea-going career came to an end and he became a Naval Staff Officer, holding the post of Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations) at Northwood.[1] While at Northwood, he planned naval operations worldwide including Persian Gulf and the Falkland Islands operations, the evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon and the 1985 removal of naval mines from the Red Sea.[2] He then became Director of Defence Intelligence (1986–1987), at which time he was elevated to rear admiral's rank, and was subsequently the senior Naval representative at the Royal College of Defence Studies. While he was Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff he was responsible for the Royal Navy's planning for the execution of the Gulf War.[1]