Captain Andrew (Andy) Bray, The Commander of Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth is about to leave the College to take up a new role leading HMNB Clyde in Faslane where the countries’ nuclear submarines are based.

Captain Bray has served in Dartmouth for the past two and a half years, arriving in December 2023.

His responsibility is the safe delivery of all the training that takes place across the College and the maintenance of the College’s standards.

Captain Bray’s early career was in Logistics serving on board HMS Scott, HMS Dragon and most recently the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.

Ashore he was Logistics Officer of 847 Naval Squadron and spent tours of duty on OP TELIC in Iraq and OP HERRICK in Afghanistan, high-threat operations in Yemen and crisis response as a member of the Joint Force Headquarters.

In staff appointments he has worked across Defence and other Government departments including the Ministry of Defence, the Marine Warfare Centre and Cabinet Office.

Captain Bray’s roles have included providing policy advice to the UK’s National Security Advisor and as the Military Assistant to the 3* Deputy Chief of Staff (Military Capability)

April’s was his last Passing Out Parade as Commanding Officer of BRNC and he was honoured by the visit of HRH The Princess Royal.

Captain Bray said he had greatly enjoyed his time in Dartmouth: “I suppose the main highlight has been the true honour is to oversee this place and all the young people we've put through it,

“That’s 450 a year over two and a half years the low thousands of young officers have come through in my time, done their training and gone out into the Navy, and I'm very proud of that.”

Captain Bray has presided over a number of parades in his time but one stands out especially: “I was fortunate to welcome one other Royal, and that was back in December.

“That was His Majesty the King when he came to the College to do a parade for us.

“So to have His Majesty the King and now the Princess Royal visiting one after the other is a real, real privilege.”

Captain Bray has spent plenty of time with the Royals and found then down-to-earth: “I think they're just normal people.

“They really enjoy the moment, they seem to get a lot of joy from the enjoyment on other people's faces when they turn up to do these things and actually what I've noticed is they are so engaging with the cadets and the families, it's a really, really lovely thing to see.”

Captain Bray leaves in July and after some leave will re-locate to Faslane to take over the reigns at HMNB Clyde: “6,000 people work in Faslane, so the chance to go and contribute to their outcomes and keep our country safe by looking after our deterrent is something I take very seriously and deeply look forward to.”

The new Commanding officer at BRNC will be Captain Simon Cox.