Quick Facts
Biography
Vice Admiral Sir (Anthony) Peter Woodhead KCB (born 30 July 1939) is a former Royal Navy officer who became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.
Naval career
Educated at Leeds Grammar School, HMS Conway and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Woodhead joined the Royal Navy in 1962. He served in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in the 1960s and was given command of the frigates HMS Jupiter in 1974 and HMS Rhyl in 1975. He was appointed Director of Naval Operations in 1985, Commander of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in 1986 and Flag Officer 2nd Flotilla in 1988. He went on to be Flag Officer 1st Flotilla in 1989 and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic in 1991 before retiring in 1994.
In retirement he became Prisons Ombudsman. In 2003, Alan Travis noted in UK newspaper The Guardian, "[…] Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Woodhead, had his powers so clipped by the former Conservative home secretary, Michael Howard, that the small and little-known club that is the British and Irish Ombudsmen Association refused him membership on the grounds that he was not independent enough".
Family
In 1964 he married Carol; they have one son and one daughter. Lady Woodhead died in January 2016.