Michael I Phocas of the Bosphorus

The son of Rear Admiral Constantine Phocas, Michael Phocas joined the Imperial Navy at the age of 21 and never left it. His long and illustrious career was marked by outstanding service. His first command, granted to him by the Admiralty for a combination of his merit and the fact that he was the grandson of the junior emperor Constantine XXI, was HIMS Constantinople (in 1898). When the new dreadnoughts in the early 1900s rendered Constantinople (the last ironclad ever built) obsolete, but this obsolescence proved beneficial to Michael Phocas for a few reasons.

The first was that the old pre-dreadnoughts were gathered into the Home Navy Squadron, which was kept in Pantocratorian waters to defend the Empire and deal with piracy, which was always rife in the archipelago. HIMS Constantinople was made the flagship of the Home Navy Squadron, and Captain Phocas was promoted to Rear Admiral in charge of the squadron. As Commodore of the Home Navy Squadron, he virtually stamped out piracy by 1913, being admitted to the Chivalric Order of the Pantocrator by Constantine XXII for his successes. The second unforseen benefit of the Constantinople being made obsolete was that it wasn't sent with the new dreadnought to assist the British in the Dardenelles in World War I. Every Pantocratorian ship was sunk, and every sailor and officer lost his life.

In 1921, Michael Phocas was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and given the task of rebuilding the Imperial Navy. He was elected to the Imperial Parliament as the Member for Chantouillet in 1923, and appointed the Minister for His Majesty's Navy. The old fashioned Home Navy Squadron was decommissioned in 1932, with no more pirates to fight and its old ironclads being virtually useless. By 1935, the dreadnoughts which had been lost in WWI had been replaced with modern battleships.

The Pantocratorian National Democratic Party came to power in 1936 (although it only remained so for 8 months before the Imperial Parliament was dissolved by the Emperor), replacing the Conservative Coalition Government for which the then Sir Michael had been a minister. He retired from the Imperial Parliament, was promoted to the rank of Squadron Vice Admiral, and given the command of HIMS Constantine the Martyr, the flagship of his new navy. He was therefore the highest ranking officer at sea in the Imperial Navy.

When Pantocratoria declared war on Turkey in 1940, Vice Admiral the Right Honourable Sir Michael Phocas was placed in command of the fleet, and won a crushing victory over the Turkish navy in the Bosphorus. Although Pantocratoria was unable to follow this victory with an actual invasion, Sir Michael was a hero, and when he returned to New Rome he and his officers were given a triumph through the streets of the capital. The Emperor Constantine XXIII made him Lord of the Bosphorus for his success, and he was granted the hereditary rank of Lord First Admiral of the Imperial Navy.

Lord First Admiral Michael Phocas of the Bosphorus returned to sea in 1943 in command of the Imperial Navy, to act as an active deterrant to Allied or Axis submarines which might decide to sink Pantocratorian merchant vessels. He was devastated when in 1945, the National Democratic Party was swept back into office with a crushing majority, dismantling Pantocratoria's military and signing a peace with Turkey.

The Imperial Navy was dismantled and sold off, but as special recognition for his efforts, the Emperor intervened to bring the old HIMS Constantinople out of mothballs, and to assign it to Lord Phocas' command, along with a crew. Old Lord Phocas died at sea on HIMS Constantinople, patrolling the waters of the Pantocratorian Archipelago in 1948. His old ship was slowly converted into a luxurious home for his family and heirs, and was maintained as Pantocratoria's only naval asset, and as the birthright of the hereditary First Lord Admirals. He was succeeded in his post as Lord First Admiral by his then twelve year old grandson, Michael II Phocas of the Bosphorus.