Lieutenant Commander Sarah West Royal Navy
Lieutenant Commander Sarah West was born and educated in Lincolnshire. She graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with an Honours Degree in Mathematics prior to joining Britannia Royal Naval College in September 1995 as a Warfare Officer. Initial training appointments included HMS Battleaxe, HMS Sandown and HMS Sheffield deployed in the Gulf.
Selected as a small ship navigator, she joined HMS Cottesmore in 1997. Subsequent appointments included Officer of the Watch of HMS Sheffield and Navigating Officer of HMS Somerset.
After attending Initial Staff Course and successfully completing the Principal Warfare Officers’ (PWO) Course, specialising in under water warfare, she joined HMS Cornwall as the PWO(U) in 2003. Her short time on board included a number of international exercises including a deployment to the eastern Atlantic. She then joined HMS Norfolk as the Operations Officer in 2004. Her time in Norfolk provided a full and varied programme and ended with her serving as the Executive Officer in the run up to the Ship’s decommission.Sarah was appointed to the Commander Amphibious Task Group in 2005 as the under water warfare specialist. This included the planning and execution of exercises around the world, including a NATO Reaction Force (NRF) deployment and the execution of Operation Highbrow and its Beirut evacuation operations.
She joined the staff of the Permanent Joint Head Quarters, based in Northwood, in 2007. For the first part of her appointment she was responsible for co-ordinating the UK contribution to operations in the Balkans, which included the period that saw Kosovo’s declaration of Independence. She then joined the Middle East Operations Team, where her responsibilities included co-ordinating the maritime contribution to Operation Telic in Iraq. During this time she also achieved an Honours Degree in Law.
Prior to assuming Command of HMS Pembroke in April 2010, she commanded HMS Ramsey and HMS Penzance.
