Warrant Officer Andy Cray, 42, has been awarded the MBE for his ground-breaking work with the Plymouth-based amphibious landing ship HMS Albion.
The marine engineering specialist said: “Being awarded a MBE is the ultimate accolade to a long and successful career.”
Andy, from Plymouth, now works in Devonport Naval Base for the Superintendant Fleet Maintenance organisation where he is responsible for the maintenance of 36 landing craft in the Royal Navy’s Fleet.
The award for his work while HMS Albion’s propulsion manager involved the ship undergoing an extensive £8m, nine-month extensive work programme. The most significant of which being the heavy engineering upgrade of the high voltage propulsion system which improved the ship’s safety and survivability when damaged or not working in some way.
His role included demonstrating outstanding leadership qualities, initiative and enthusiasm and in doing so helped develop the first outline design solution, bringing early credibility and focussed direction to the programme.
This encompassed a scale of work that had not been seen during any other similar work package and to crown the achievement it was completed ahead of schedule. This success created an additional time to complete a trials programme and operational sea training under the Flag Officer Sea training Organisation (FOST).
Leading on from the training the ship carried out a very successful large multi-national deployment during which the complex propulsion system was fully tested and proven to meet all requirements. An added benefit of this process was that the same design was implemented in Albion’s sister ship HMS Bulwark.
Andrew has been in the Royal Navy for 25yrs and six months and his previous ships include HMS Lindisfarne, HMS Brave, HMS Chatham, HMS Alacrity and HMS Hermes. His other awards were the Yugoslavia , Queens Jubilee, Long Service and Good Conduct medals.
Among his hobbies and interests are DIY and gardening while he is also a sports enthusiast. Andrew is married to Elizabeth Kennedy and has the following children Benjamin Cray, 14, attending Ridgeway School, Plympton, William and Christopher Cray, 11, attending Glen Park School, Plympton
He spent his childhood in Mevagissey and St Austell when his last school was Penrice in St Austell from 1977-1982 and his mother is Maureen Cray.
