The First Royal Marine to Become First Sea Lord
War on the Rocks
War on the Rocks
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gen. Sir Gwyn Jenkins visited Washington a few weeks ago and was kind enough to invite Ryan to the British Embassy for a nice chat about the U.S.-U.K. alliance, the threat landscape, his vision for delivering seapower, learning from Ukraine, acquisition reform, the future of the Royal Navy — which currently faces serious challenges but also key opportunities, and so much more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on Strategy, Defense, and Foreign Affairs. |
| 0:13.5 | My name is Ryan Evans. I'm the founder of War on the Rocks. And in this episode, I sat down |
| 0:17.1 | with General Sir Gwynne Jenkins, Britain's first seedlord, which I still maintain, |
| 0:21.3 | is the coolest title that you can have in national security. |
| 0:23.9 | He's also the first Royal Marine to hold this role. |
| 0:27.2 | We talked about how he got where he was today. |
| 0:29.9 | I also asked some hard questions about the future of Britain's Navy. |
| 0:33.5 | Enjoy the show. |
| 0:35.4 | So how does a Royal Marine become the first sea lord? |
| 0:38.2 | I don't think that's ever happened before. |
| 0:40.2 | So 361 years for the Royal Marines since we were first created. |
| 0:46.4 | And yeah, this is the first time we've had a Royal Marine in charge of the Navy. |
| 0:50.0 | I guess in truth, I still don't really know quite how this has happened and I pinched myself |
| 0:55.5 | on a regular basis to find myself in this incredible position. |
| 1:00.1 | I think there are a few reasons I got selected. |
| 1:02.2 | It's all to do with the times that we're in at the moment and the particular relationship |
| 1:06.4 | I had with our Defence Secretary. |
| 1:08.3 | I delivered a few things for him that I think gave him some confidence |
| 1:11.6 | in my abilities and then I think I'm also well known as a change agent and I'm known for my |
| 1:18.5 | operational background and for the Royal Navy at this particular point in history and time I think |
| 1:24.7 | the Navy recognizes it needs to change and I also think that we need to get |
| 1:30.2 | serious about our preparation for war fighting. And I like to think both those qualities I bring into |
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