On the 16th May this year, the OA Sword was presented at Ceremonial Divisions at HMS COLLINGWOOD by the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff Operations and Commitments, Rear Admiral Steve Moorhouse CBE.

The OA Sword had previously belonged to Lt Cdr David Cooper, who joined the RN in 1962 and served as a Communications Warfare Officer until leaving in 1987. The sword was originally presented to David by the Governors of the training ship HMS Arethusa on his commissioning in June 1964. Unfortunately, David wasn’t able to join us for the ceremony.

The Sword was awarded to Lieutenant Commander Jill Monnox, for her work in the Warfare Training Group. Many congratulations to Lt Cdr Monnox for this award and we wish her well in her future career. A copy of the citation can be found on Jill’s OA Sword page.

Many thanks to the HMS Collingwood public relations team and photographers for use of the photos, which are Crown Copyright.