Queens Harbour Master Portsmouth

Nigel Hare has been Queen’s Harbour Master in Portsmouth since January 2011.

He was born in Lewes, East Sussex in 1960 and entered the Royal Navy in 1980 as a Marine Engineering Artificer Apprentice before being selected as an Upper Yardman and joining Britannia Royal Naval College as a Seaman Officer. After serving in HMS Wooton and HMS Brilliant he returned to BRNC to complete his training.

He spent eight very enjoyable months with the Spanish Navy serving onboard the sail training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano. A watchkeeping appointment in HMS Broadsword followed and he then joined HMS Brazen as the Navigating Officer, deploying twice to the Gulf during the Iraq/Iran war for which he received the General Service Medal.

After leaving Brazen he attended the Initial Staff Course at the Naval College Greenwich before joining BRNC again, this time as head of the Navigation Professional Section. After this he was sent to Hong Kong to become the Executive Officer of HMS Plover, returning to the UK to join the Principal Warfare Officer’s Course. On completion of the Course he served in HMS Lancaster as the Under Water Warfare Officer and Operations Officer and was selected for early promotion to Lieutenant Commander.

Qualifying as a Specialist Navigator in 1994, he then completed three navigation appointments: On the staff of Captain First Frigate Squadron, then as Staff Warfare Officer Navigation to Flag Officer Sea Training in Faslane and finally, on the staff of Flag Officer Surface Flotilla, he was responsible for maintaining navigation standards across the Surface Fleet. He then commanded HMS Cromer for two-and-a-half-years, being selected for promotion to Commander in 2001.

In 2008, he became the Fleet Navigation and Seamanship Officer where he was responsible for policy and standards of Navigation and Seamanship across the Fleet.