Secretary

Commander Mark Barton BEng, MA, PhD, CEng, FRINA, RNR completed a full career as a naval officer and now has a portfolio career based around his professional fields of naval architecture and naval history. During his Service career he was a marine engineer and specialised in naval architecture, he now has a role in the Royal Naval Reserve using this naval architecture background, lectures at Dartmouth and is Chairman of the Committee at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects that conducts academic accreditations. He holds an MA in Defence Studies and a PhD which was on the Patriotic Fund, both from KCL. The RN made use of these with his final appointment in the Service when he was Director of the Royal Naval Division at the Defence Academy of the UK responsible for the education of mid ranking naval officers in subjects such as naval strategy. They also persuaded him to write several publications for them including the RN’s official history of “The Engineering Branch of the Royal Navy” and “Dockyards and Bases of the Royal Navy” for the Navy Board as well as one of the new RN Fighting Instructions, delivering the doctrinal development on Maritime Engineering especially as the RN returns to Task Group operations. Outside professional topics he has published and lectured extensively about naval swords including “British Naval Swords and Swordsmanship” which remains the main focus of his research interests.