{{Short description|Former Royal Navy admiral}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Rear Admiral |name = John Clink |honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} |image= 21 Gun Salute in Gibraltar marking the birth of Prince George of Cambridge 04 (Clink cropped).jpg |image_size= |alt= |caption= John Clink in 2013 |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date and age|1964|02|18|df=yes}} |birth_place= |death_date= |death_place= |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= Royal Navy |service_years= |rank= Rear Admiral |unit= |commands= Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland<br />British Forces Gibraltar<br />{{HMS|Ark Royal|R07|6}}<br />{{HMS|Kent|F78|6}}<br />{{HMS|Archer|P264|6}}<br />Aberdeen Universities' Royal Naval Unit |battles= Iraq War<br />War in Afghanistan |awards= Commander of the Order of the British Empire<br />Bronze Star Medal (United States) |relations= |other_work= }} Rear Admiral '''John Robert Hamilton Clink''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (born 18 February 1964) is a former Royal Navy officer who retired from the Royal Navy in 2018.
==Early life and education== Clink was born on 18 February 1964. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School, then an all-boys state grammar school. He studied international security and strategy at King's College London, graduating with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 2012.<ref>'Clink, Rear Admiral John Robert Hamilton', Who's Who 2015, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2015</ref>
==Naval career== He became commanding officer of the Aberdeen University Royal Naval Unit and its patrol boat {{HMS|Archer|P264|6}} in 1991, commanding officer of the frigate {{HMS|Kent|F78|6}} in 1998<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aswi.co.uk/2016%20guestspeaker.htm|title=Rear Admiral John Clink OBE|publisher=Anti-Submarine Warfare Instructors' Association|accessdate=25 June 2016}}</ref> and commanding officer of {{HMS|Ark Royal|R07|6}} in July 2008 before becoming Deputy Commander UK Maritime Forces in June 2011.<ref name=gib>{{cite web|url=http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=26363|title=Commodore John Clink is new CPF|publisher=Gibraltar Chronicle|date=17 October 2012|accessdate=16 August 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084229/http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=26363|archivedate=19 August 2014}}</ref> In the latter role he commanded Combined Task Force 150, a multinational naval task force working under a 25 nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces based in Bahrain.<ref name=gib/> He went on to be Commander British Forces Gibraltar in November 2012, Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England, Northern Ireland in the rank of rear admiral in August 2014<ref name=appoints>[http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf Listing compiled by historian Colin Mackie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315105247/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf |date=2012-03-15 }}</ref> and Flag Officer Sea Training in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2015/july/23/150723-senior-naval-officer-scotland-visit-hmnb-clyde|title=Naval Base Clyde welcomes new senior naval officer|date=23 July 2015|publisher=Navy News|accessdate=24 October 2015}}</ref>
Clink was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=56734|supp=y|page=4|date=29 October 2002}}</ref> and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61962|date=17 June 2017|page=B5|sup=yes}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box | title=Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland | before=Christopher Hockley | after=John Weale|years=2014–2015}} |- {{s-bef|before=Ben Key}} {{s-ttl|title=Flag Officer Sea Training|years=2015–2018}} {{s-aft|after=William Warrender}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clink, John Robert Hamilton}} Category:1964 births Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Living people Category:Royal Navy rear admirals Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Iraq War Category:Royal Navy personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)