David Eagles

David Eagles was born in Guildford, Surrey in 1962 and educated at the Town’s Royal Grammar School before joining BP Shipping in 1979. Initial training was conducted on BP’s fleet comprising 300,000 DWT tankers, large LNG carriers and smaller oil product carriers.

Seeking more excitement and variety, Eagles joined the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1988 and has since served in a variety of seagoing and staff appointments. These have included sea service in Op Granby in 1991, Op Sharp Guard 1994 and Op Telic 2003. Staff appointments included SWO(RFA) to COMUKTG (Op Bolton aboard INVINCIBLE and ILLUSTRIOUS) 1997-98 and SWO(RFA) to COMATG (FEARLESS) 1998-2000. Eagles was appointed to NCHQ as the RFA SO1 Commitments 2009-11 and subsequently to the Naval Staff in MOD as the RFA Staff Officer (2012-14) being part of the International Engagement team with responsibility for the African continent and wider UK Maritime Sector.

Prior to promotion to Captain (2013) and between staff appointments, Eagles enjoyed challenging periods as XO of RFAs BRAMBLELEAF, FORT GEORGE, WAVE RULER, DILIGENCE and WAVE KNIGHT. Time as XO was a mixture of operational deployments, refits and UK tasking that included the International Fleet Review 2005, deployments to the Gulf and Far East, APT(N) and (S) and CTF 150/152 Tasking.

Following periods in command of RFA ARGUS (deployed to Sierra Leone on Op GRITROCK as the lead element of the UK response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa Nov 2014) and RFA FORT ROSALIE, Eagles was appointed to Navy Command HQ in Jun 2016 to assume the duty of Head of RFA Personnel. Prior to taking up his promotion and appointment as COMRFA, his last sea going Command was RFA FORT VICTORIA.

Commodore Eagles lives in West Devon with his wife Jacqueline and three Basset Hounds and walks on Dartmoor and the Cornish coastal footpath at every available opportunity.