title: John Coward (Royal Navy officer)
text: # John Coward (Royal Navy officer)
  
  Vice Admiral Sir John Francis Coward, KCB, DSO (11 October 1937 – 30 May 2020) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies from 1992 to 1994.
  
  ## Naval career
  
  Coward joined the Royal Navy in 1958. He served in the Falklands War in 1982 as Captain of HMS Brilliant. He was appointed Flag Officer Sea Training in 1987, Flag Officer, First Flotilla in 1988, and Flag Officer Submarines and Commander of the Eastern Atlantic Submarine Area in 1989. He became Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1992 and retired in 1994.
  
  In retirement Coward became Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.
  
  He died on 30 May 2020 at the age of 82.
  
  