Duncan Redford

Dr Duncan Redford is a naval history and maritime strategy specialist. He has previously been the Head of Research at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and the Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Modern Naval History at the University of Portsmouth. Between 2008 and 2011 he was the Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter, where his research looked at the relationship between the Royal Navy and British National Identity, 1870-1980. His doctoral research was awarded the Laughton Naval history Scholarship by King's College London (2002-6) and investigated 'The cultural impact of submarines on Britain 1900-1977' which formed the basis of his first book Submarine: A Cultural History from the Great War to Nuclear Combat, published by I. B. Tauris in 2010. He is currently the general editor of a 14 volume series examining the history of the Royal Navy which will be launched at Easter 2014, to which he is contributing volumes on the Royal Navy in the Twentieth Century (2014), The Royal Navy in the Second World War (2014), and the Submarine Service (2017).

A former Royal Navy officer, Duncan joined the Navy in 1991 as a Warfare Officer, carrying out his initial training at Britannia Royal Naval College, HMS Broadsword and HMS Boxer, before being selected to do a BA (Hons) in Maritime Defence, Management and Technology at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Manadon. A volunteer for service in submarines, Duncan served on T class hunter-killer submarines at the Second Submarine Squadron, Devonport, and was the Navigating Officer of HMS Tireless and then HMS Turbulent. He left the Royal Navy in 2001.