No Uncertain Sound
The Life and Times of Admiral Sir Jock Slater
Published on 2. December 2025
Book
Hardback
326 pages
978-1-84995-613-0 (ISBN)
Description
No Uncertain Sound by Capt. Peter Hore is a deeply researched and authoritative biography of Admiral Sir Jock Slater, one of the most influential figures in modern Royal Navy history. Drawing on extensive archival material, personal diaries, and more than 100 interviews, the book provides a compelling insight into the leadership, strategy, and defence reforms that shaped the British armed forces during the final decades of the Cold War.
Tracing Slater's distinguished naval career through to his appointment as First Sea Lord from 1995 to 1998, the book explores pivotal moments in the evolution of British naval and air power. It reveals previously untold stories surrounding nuclear defence policy, UK-Russia relations, the development of British Maritime Doctrine, the integration of women at sea, and the ending of the ban on gay personnel in the armed forces.
Rich in historical detail and personal testimony, No Uncertain Sound offers a fascinating portrait of military leadership at the highest level, while also examining Admiral Slater's relationships with political leaders, senior defence figures, and the Royal Family.
Ideal for readers interested in Royal Navy history, Cold War military strategy, British defence policy and naval leadership. This definitive biography is an essential contribution to modern maritime history and late twentieth-century British military affairs.
Tracing Slater's distinguished naval career through to his appointment as First Sea Lord from 1995 to 1998, the book explores pivotal moments in the evolution of British naval and air power. It reveals previously untold stories surrounding nuclear defence policy, UK-Russia relations, the development of British Maritime Doctrine, the integration of women at sea, and the ending of the ban on gay personnel in the armed forces.
Rich in historical detail and personal testimony, No Uncertain Sound offers a fascinating portrait of military leadership at the highest level, while also examining Admiral Slater's relationships with political leaders, senior defence figures, and the Royal Family.
Ideal for readers interested in Royal Navy history, Cold War military strategy, British defence policy and naval leadership. This definitive biography is an essential contribution to modern maritime history and late twentieth-century British military affairs.
Reviews / Votes
"Peter Hore's biography of Jock Slater throws a bright light on critical developments of British naval and naval air power in the late 20th century." Professor Nicholas Rodger"Jock was an outstanding First Sea Lord, by far the best holder of the post in the past 25 years, and should have been Chief of Defence Staff." Sir Max Hastings
"...This is a masterly slice of contemporary naval history." Professor Richard Harding
"... Using a range of personal, unofficial, and private sources, Peter Hore has written a vivid account of Admiral Sir Jock Slater's life that blossoms further into a synthesis of British naval and defence policy at the end of the Cold War." John B. Hattendorf, Editor-in-Chief, Oxford Encyclopaedia of Maritime History. ...Regardless of ones' views on all of that, with Hore we have the ideal author: able to explain clearly but briefly while also possessing a good eye for the telling detail which puts the whole into perspective. He has fairly represented his individual while also giving an unprecedented insight into the Navy of the period. Rarely can I recommend a book so wholeheartedly. -- Dr James Bosbotinis, Naval Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Porto Press Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
698 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84995-613-0 (9781849956130)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Captain Peter Hore's naval career included exchange service in the US Navy, and two tours in NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic. During the Falklands War he was joint logistics commander on Ascension Island, he was military assistant to the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Systems), he helped direct the Royal Navy's applied research programme, and he was Head of Defence Studies, 1997-2000.
After the Navy he spent nine years in the film and TV industry, and is now a fulltime writer, editor, and journalist. A freelance obituarist at the London Daily Telegraph since 2002, he has written some two thousand obituaries mostly on the men and women 'with webbed feet' including several naval historians. Peter writes reviews and articles for several newspapers and journals including the influential Warships International Fleet Review where he is associate editor. He has written or edited a dozen books on naval history, biography and strategy.
After the Navy he spent nine years in the film and TV industry, and is now a fulltime writer, editor, and journalist. A freelance obituarist at the London Daily Telegraph since 2002, he has written some two thousand obituaries mostly on the men and women 'with webbed feet' including several naval historians. Peter writes reviews and articles for several newspapers and journals including the influential Warships International Fleet Review where he is associate editor. He has written or edited a dozen books on naval history, biography and strategy.