Lunch Meeting

Biography

David Barker was born in Colne, Lancashire and moved to Alderney, aged 13, when his father became Headmaster at St Annes School.

He began his working life at 16 as a Merchant Navy cadet, and later Deck Officer, with BP Shipping.  After 6 years which took him around the world, including a period in support of the Falkland Islands task group, he moved on to seek greater challenge in the Royal Navy. 

Joining Britannia Royal Naval College in 1984, he completed flying training on the Sea King helicopter in 1987 and was appointed to 826 Naval Air Squadron.  After several deployments, including Operations Officer of a detachment aboard RFA TIDESPRING during the Gulf Tanker War, he completed instructor training and joined 706 Squadron.  During a 2-year tour, he became one of only a handful of Category A instructors, before conversion to the Lynx helicopter and service as a Flight Commander in HMS BATTLEAXE and HMS BRAVE. 

In 1996 he completed the Principal Warfare Officer’s course, finishing as top student.   His subsequent tour as Operations Officer of HMS WESTMINSTER included a return to the Falkland Islands and several NATO exercises in the North Atlantic.  In 1998 he joined HMS INVINCIBLE and saw operational service in the Arabian Gulf.  There followed a 2-year appointment as Executive Officer of HMS IRON DUKE, which included operational duty in the Kosovo campaign and Sierra Leone. 

Promoted to Commander in 2001, he was appointed as the first commanding officer of HMS ST ALBANS, the final ship of her class to be commissioned into the Royal Navy.  After a short but fascinating period as County Fire Commander for Sussex during the fireman’s strike of 2001, he took command of HMS SOMERSET and completed deployments to the Baltic and Adriatic.   An exchange tour to US Navy Warfare Development Command in Rhode Island followed, where he was awarded the USN Meritorious Service Medal for his work directing the Sea Strike division.

Upon return to the UK in 2005, Commander Barker was appointed as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre in Shrivenham.  He subsequently joined the directing staff of the Advanced Command and Staff Course and, alongside his staff duties, completed a Master’s degree in Defence Studies. 

He returned to frontline duty in 2011 as Deputy Director (Plans) of the Combined Maritime Forces in Bahrain, responsible for coordinating multi-national task forces in countering maritime piracy in the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean. 

His final tour in the Royal Navy was spent as a naval and air advisor to UK Trade and Investment, based in Whitehall.  This role involved support to UK defence sales across the globe.

David left the Royal Navy in 2013 to take up a post as Head of Defence Business Development at NATS, the UK’s primary air traffic control provider. While there he spearheaded the campaign for the Company to achieve a silver award as a supporter of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant. After 6 years he was wooed by the prospect of returning to his beloved Channel Islands as Guernsey’s Harbourmaster, taking up the post in Summer 2018.