Admiral Sir Brian Thomas Brown, KCB, CBE (31 August 1934 – 27 April 2020) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel from 1988 to 1991.

Three months later he was in HMS Osprey, Portland, for the anti-submarine operational flying course in Whirlwind Mk 7s with 737 Naval Air Squadron.

With the squadron he embarked in HMS Bulwark, newly commissioned as the Royal Navy's first commando carrier, for work up with 42 Commando Royal Marines in Malta and Libya before sailing for operations in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Far East; operational commitments included the Kuwait Crisis in July 1961 and flying in support of Army units fighting communist insurgents close to the Malaysia/Thailand border.

He stayed in Malta, taking over as first lieutenant and supply officer of the Msida Minesweeper Base, a tender to the heavy repair ship (a converted Cunard liner) HMS Ausonia on 2 June 1962.

[3] Brown was promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 May 1964 and joined the Royal Naval Supply School (RNSS), HMS Pembroke, Chatham, for No.

[1][2] The ship, flying the flag of Flag Officer Second Flotilla, led the first RN Group Deployment to the Far East, returning to the United Kingdom via the Cape; he was Group Logistics Officer and also flew on occasions as second pilot in Sea King helicopters from HMS Tiger's 826 Naval Air Squadron to help with aircrew manning problems.

[2] Brown's next appointment, on 15 August 1975, as secretary to the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff,[1] brought with it promotion to acting captain.

He served three years in this post in the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, during which time he was selected for promotion to captain (seniority 30 June 1977).

[3] After just over a year in the Fleet Air Arm's headquarters, Brown returned to Whitehall on 9 November 1979 as secretary to the First Sea Lord (1SL).

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1983 New Year Honours and,[8] three days later, on 4 January 1983, began the one-year course in London as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

[1] He was also chairman of King George's Fund for Sailors (1993– 2003),[1] the Michael May Young Cricketers Foundation (1992–2004)[1] and of the Executive Committee of the Nuffield Trust for Forces of the Crown (1996–2006).