Former CRGS Students Serve Together in the Navy

Posted On: 08/11/16

Old Colcestrians Commander Rich Hutchings and Lieutenant Commander Adam Ballard, both of Dugard's, have recently returned from a nine-month deployment to the Gulf. They are Commanding Officer and Excecutive Officer of the Type 23 Frigate HMS ST ALBANS - the first former CRGS students to have served together as Captain and Number One in the same warship. HMS ST ALBANS was a part of the French FS CHARLES DE GAULLE aircraft carrier strike group in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris last November. Thus two former students of CRGS played an active role supporting airstrikes against the Islamic State in response to the attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris during which former CRGS student Nick Alexander was killed by the terrorist group. Both Rich and Adam overlapped with Nick during their time at the school.