Vice Admiral Paul Beattie CBE

Vice Admiral Paul Beattie was appointed as Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief Of Naval Staff in Sep 2025.

As Second Sea Lord, he is responsible for the delivery of the Royal Navy’s future capabilities, strategy, and long-term programme, as well as being the Principle Personnel Officer.

VAdm Beattie joined the Royal Navy in 1989 and spent his early years conducting embargo enforcement in the Persian Gulf, Northern Ireland and the Adriatic, before completing a second Northern Ireland tour as the Commanding officer of the Patrol Boat HMS Arun.
He returned to sea as the Operations Officer of HMS York and HMS Edinburgh, then as the XO of HMS Westminster and HMS Daring. This was followed by Command of HMS Manchester. Re-locating to the US, he completed the Navy Senior Command Course at Newport, Rhode Island, before serving in the Pentagon on the USN Strategy Staff.

Promoted to Captain in 2014, he returned to the UK, working on the 2015 SDSR, during which he authored the UK’s first National Strategy for Maritime Security. He served first as Chief of Staff to the UK Maritime Battle Staff, and subsequently as the Principal Staff Officer to Commander UK STRATCOM. Promoted to Cdre, his 1* assignments included Chief of Staff to Navy Command the Head of the Navy Staff during the Defence Review. Promoted to RAdm, he became the Director Naval Staff in 2021, focusing on driving the delivery of effort to improve outcomes on operations and the lived experience for RN Sailors. His last assignment prior to assuming the role as 2SL was as a Director of Defence Reform, focussing on the re-restructure of Defence and MSHQ.

A graduate of the US Naval War College and the UK Higher Command and Staff course, he holds a MSc in Leadership and Management. He lives in Hampshire with his wife and has two children.