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Bo r l a s i a n 2 0 1 3
Old Borlasians
Meeting Major General Gerry Berragean, Adjutant General of the Army. The publication of my
MBE was part of the Operation HERRICK, operational honours and awards announcement, at
the Army Museum in Chelsea.
Royal Navy Officer Awarded
MBE For 14 Month Gulf
Deployment
28/09/2012
A Marlow-born Royal Navy officer who deployed on two
back-to-back operations, spending a lengthy 14 months
commanding warships in the Gulf, has been made a
Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Lieutenant Commander
Phil
Dennis,
40,
commanded
HMS
Middleton for seven
months
in
Bahrain
before returning to the
UK and deploying back
out to the Gulf three
months later as the
captain of HMS Quorn.
He had also previously
spent time at the UK’s
Maritime
Component
Commander’s staff in
Bahrain – bringing his
total time in the Gulf
region to 20 out of 36
months.
Lt Cdr Dennis, who was
deployed to Middleton
just two months after
marrying wife Holly, a
fellow RN officer, said
that when he was told of
his MBE nomination he
was both delighted and
surprised.
“I was totally made up,”
he said.
“I told Holly as well and she was very very proud – it was
something I had not been expecting but it was a real honour
that someone thought to nominate me.
After I had returned fromMiddleton and the call came about
returning to the Gulf with Quorn it was something I had not
been expecting, but that is the nature of Service life.
I would say that I am just extremely lucky that I have a very
understanding wife who knows how the military operates.”
Lt Cdr Dennis, who now lives in Southsea, Hampshire,
sailed HMS Quorn from her home port of Portsmouth
through narrow chokepoints such as the Suez Canal to
eventually arrive in Bahrain.
Three Royal Navy minehunters stay in the Gulf for around
three years each before rotating with their sister ships
back home.
Crews join the ships for an average of six to seven months,
usually flying out to meet the minehunters on station.
“When we took Quorn through the Mediterranean it was
at the tail end of the Libya campaign where our sister ship
HMS Brocklesby had real success with clearing mines laid
