Cheadle served as director of nuclear propulsion at the Ministry of Defence and then as commander of HM Naval Base Devonport.

[1] Promoted to rear admiral, he was appointed chief of staff to the Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief, Naval Home Command in 2003.

[2] He was appointed Controller of the Navy as well as an executive director of the Defence Procurement Agency in December 2003.

[3] By the following year he was still Controller of the Navy but also director, land & maritime.

[6] Cheadle is also a councillor for the Buckland Monachorum ward of West Devon Borough Council.