Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings, KCB DL (3 July 1790 – 3 January 1870) was an innovator, instructor, and distinguished officer of the Royal Navy.

As far back as 1817 General Sir Howard Douglas had submitted plans to remedy the obvious deficiencies of British naval gunnery.

Nothing was done until 1830 when Commander George Smith was appointed to "superintend the practice of Sea Gunnery" on board that ship at Portsmouth.

The gunnery school was put on a permanent basis by Captain Thomas Hastings (known at the time as "Old Sting").

From a life of Sir John Barrow, the Secretary to the Admiralty through most of the first half of the 19th century, an interesting account appears; two years after Hastings' appointment to Excellent, Sir John Briggs, Reader to the Board, happened to show the examination paper to an Admiral on the Board.