David Animle Hansen

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Rear Admiral David Animle Hansen (17 May 1923 – 28 January 2008) was a Ghanaian naval officer who became the first Ghanaian head of the Ghana Navy. He also served as Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Administrative Committee (1966–1967) under the National Liberation Council and as Military Attache in Britain in 1967. He founded the National Vocational Training Institute and led it from 1970 to 1980. The Ghana Navy named a ship, GNS Hansen, in his honor.

Early life and education
Hansen was born in Jamestown, Accra, to John William Kojo Hansen and Joanna Nora Hansen. He attended Accra Royal School, Osu Presbyterian Senior School, and Accra Academy, finishing in 1942. After a brief spell at Ghana Post, he joined the army in 1944.

Military career before the navy
He trained at Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School in the United Kingdom in 1950, then took courses at Hythe (1951) and Warminster (1954), followed by the Infantry Signal School. In 1959 he studied at the Staff College, Camberley. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal West African Frontier Force in 1951. With Ghana’s independence in 1958, he became one of the first officers of the Ghana Regiment. In 1960 he helped expand the Ghana Army, served as Secretary to the Chiefs of Staff Committee, and was military assistant to President Kwame Nkrumah. He commanded the Third Battalion in Congo from 1960 to January 1961 and accompanied Nkrumah to the United Nations.

Ghana Navy
In September 1961 he became the first Ghanaian Commander of the Ghana Navy, with the rank of Commodore. After Nkrumah’s overthrow in 1966, he was appointed Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Administrative Committee. In 1967 he was posted as Military Attache to Ghana’s High Commission in Britain. He retired from the navy in March 1970 with the rank of Rear Admiral. The Ghana Navy named the ship GNS Hansen after him.