CORBRIDGE-BASED Royal Navy officer, Ian White, is retiring from the senior service after a career spanning five decades in which he has served with the Cadet Forces and the Royal Navy as a regular and reservist officer.

Commander White (57) was born and educated in the North-East and started his connection with the Royal Navy as a member of the Cadet Forces.

He then joined HMS Calliope, the Royal Naval reserve training unit based on the Gateshead Quayside, as a naval reservist.

He said: “My initial experience in the Cadet Forces and the Royal Naval Reserves gave me an excellent grounding for my subsequent career – apart from my naval training, I gained some extremely valuable life skills, such as team working and stepping up as a leader, which has served me well in my military and civilian life.”

Commander White was accepted into the Royal Navy in 1979 as a university cadet – which gave him the best of both worlds. He was a member of the Royal Navy but also a university student, which meant that he was paid by the Royal Navy to complete his formal education at Newcastle University.

“As a modern, forward-thinking organisation, the Royal Navy recognises the importance of a solid, rounded education,” he added. “However, shortly after I graduated from university, the Royal Navy promptly got a return on their investment by sending me down to the Falklands in 1982, just after the conflict had ended, in one of their destroyers.

“This was my very first experience of real world military operations and as a young officer, it helped bring home the importance and relevance of my naval training.”

After completing his professional Royal Navy training, he specialised as a submariner and gained the coveted “Dolphins” – the badge of honour that is only awarded to Royal Navy submariners. He served in a range of nuclear submarines and his longest patrol involved him and his team staying underwater for almost three months.

Following a successful Royal Navy career, he returned to the reserves giving him the best of both worlds. In his “civilian” life, Commander White worked in the commercial sector, initially starting with a large company but then branching out to develop his own company which provides employment for over 250 people.

As a reserve officer, he has continued his naval career, supporting the Royal Navy and its reserves in the North-East and nationally across the UK.

His navy career culminated in his appointment as the Commanding Officer (CO) of HMS Calliope – the top naval reserve job in our region. As HMS Calliope’s CO he played a key role in “Project Tyneside”, which saw the Royal Navy invest in improving the facilities of the unit to better support all members of staff and cadets.