David Hughes joined the Royal Navy in 1963 and was an Engineer Officer for 43 years. He served in HM Ships Tenby, Lynx, Fearless, Andromeda and as the first Commanding Officer of the then new destroyer Manchester. He also spent three years as the Senior Engineer in HM Yacht Britannia.
He was a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers.
He was the Honorary Custodian of Artefacts from 2009 to 2019, the Honorary Historian between 2013 and 20?? and served on the Committee from 2022 to 2026.
He also organised the naval participation during the Bicentenary celebrations in 2015, the review of the Squadron fleet by the Admiral, HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, on that occasion, and the Beat Retreat by the band of the Royal Marines that followed the review.
He ran the very successful History Weekends in the Castle every November from 2010.
He produced in 2013 this electronic list of Members and their Yachts and, in 2021 wrote an on-line catalogue of the Squadron's collection of books, paintings and artefacts including the archived material.
In 2026 he wrote "A Tour of the Castle" as a guide for members showing their guests around