Duncan Potts

Potts was born on 10 March 1961 in Malta. He was educated at Wellington School in Somerset.^[3]

Potts joined the Royal Navy in 1979.^[4] He became commanding officer of the frigate HMS Brilliant in 1996, commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Southampton in 1997 and a member of the policy and programmes cell at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in 1998 before becoming Commander Sea Training to the Flag Officer Sea Training in 1999.^[4] He was appointed commanding officer of the frigate HMS Marlborough as well as captain of the 4th Frigate Squadron in 2000 and deployed to the Middle East.^[4]

Potts went on to be Captain Navy Plans and then military assistant to the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff at the Ministry of Defence.^[4] He was appointed commander of the Commander United Kingdom Task Group in 2007 (in which role he was deployed to the Gulf) and Assistant Chief of Staff (Crisis and Deliberate Planning) at Permanent Joint Headquarters in 2009.^[4] He became Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces in January 2011^[4] (deployed as commander of EU maritime operations off Somalia from August 2011)^[5] and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Capability) and Controller of the Navy in April 2013.^[6] Potts was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2014 Birthday Honours,^[7][8] and made director general of Joint Force Development and director general of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, with the rank of vice admiral, on 19 September that year.^[2]