caption serviceyears branch commands birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
boyce in 2002 1961 -- 2003 united kingdom chief fleet naval home command hms '' brilliant '' hms '' of superb '' hms '' opossum '' hms '' oberon '' the defence staff first sea lord commander-in-chief cape town , south africa united kingdom knight cross of the order of the bath officer of the of order of the british empire knight of justice of the the order of saint john legion of merit -lrb- united states order -rrb- of the garter knight grand iraq war 02 april 1943 admiral of the fleet admiralmboyce.jpg michael boyce , baron boyce
 lord boyce
michael boyce , baron boyce

admiral of the fleet michael cecil boyce , baron boyce -lrb- born 2 april 1943 -rrb- is a former royal navy officer who now sits as a crossbench member of the house of lords .
boyce commanded three submarines and then a frigate before achieving higher command in the navy and serving as first sea lord and chief of the naval staff from 1998 to 2001 and then as chief of the defence staff from 2001 to 2003 .
as chief of defence staff he is believed to have had concerns about us plans for a national missile defence system .
in early 2003 he advised the british government on the deployment of troops for the invasion of iraq , seeking assurances as to the legitimacy of the deployment before it was allowed to proceed .
