# Royal Navy's first female Chaplain retires



## big bad john (1 Aug 2006)

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/RoyalNavysFirstFemaleChaplainRetires.htm

Royal Navy's first female Chaplain retires
1 Aug 06 
The Royal Navy's first female Chaplain has retired after a 16 year career which has seen her providing pastoral care to sailors both in peacetime and in times of conflict.


The Royal Navy's first female Chaplain, Reverend Caroline Eglin 
[Picture: MOD]
The Reverend Caroline Eglin joined the Royal Navy in September 1990. Before she retired Rev. Eglin was a member of the Chaplaincy team at HMS Raleigh where the pastoral care of the Royal Navy's new recruits was just one of her many responsibilities. 

Ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1985, her first ecclesiastical appointment was as the Minister of a church in Leicester. She was attracted to the Royal Navy by the opportunity to be a representative of the church and work with people who were not regular church-goers and those who were beginning to explore their faith.

During her career Rev. Eglin has worked ashore and at sea, deploying with the Type 42 destroyer HMS Cardiff and the ice-patrol ship HMS Endurance. She also served on HMS Edinburgh during the Gulf conflict in 2003: 

"Being onboard HMS Edinburgh was very hard," she said. "Going to war is about the unexpected. There may be a strategic plan, but the plans of the other side are an unknown. 

"In a spiritual sense, it was very peaceful. I felt I was in the place God intended me, doing his work. The service of thanksgiving and remembrance on the way home was probably the most moving I have ever been involved in."

Among the highlights of Rev. Eglin's career was a deployment to the Antarctic on board HMS Endurance. It gave her the chance to visit Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and meet with a Baptist missionary working in the shanty towns. 

She has conducted church services in a variety of places onboard ship, including the Captain's cabin and the Junior Rating's dining area. She explained one of the most bizarre services:

"It was the Sunday before Christmas and I was conducting a Carol Service on the flight deck of HMS Endurance off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The Ship's Company were dressed in tropical uniform, wearing Father Christmas hats. It was 40º and we were singing ‘In the Bleak Midwinter'."

"Going to war is about the unexpected. There may be a strategic plan, but the plans of the other side are an unknown. In a spiritual sense, it was very peaceful. I felt I was in the place God intended me, doing his work.

Rev. Caroline Eglin
Summing up her naval career and her time at HMS Raleigh, Rev. Eglin said: 

"Working with the new recruits and seeing them complete their course and passing out at HMS Raleigh has been very rewarding. Throughout my career it has been a privilege to be in a position to encourage and support sailors during their difficult moments but also share with them their happy times both in a work situation and in their personal lives."

Rev Eglin is married to Ian, a former Naval Chaplain who she met early in her naval training onboard HMS Fearless. Ian left the Service in 2003 and is now the Rector of Ipplepen with Torbryan and Denbury near Newton Abbot. After retirement from the Royal Navy Rev. Eglin intends to work in a ministry of spiritual direction and retreats by invitation of local churches.


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