Fleet Commander | |
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Ministry of Defence Royal Navy | |
Member of | Admiralty Board, Navy Board, Navy Command |
Reports to | First Sea Lord |
Nominator | Secretary of State for Defence, on advice from the Defence Council |
Appointer | Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council |
Term length | Not fixed (typically 1–4 years) |
Inaugural holder | Admiral George Zambellas |
Formation | 2012 |
The Fleet Commander is a senior Royal Navy post, responsible for the operation, resourcing and training of the ships, submarines and aircraft, and personnel, of the Naval Service. The Vice-Admiral incumbent is required to provide ships, submarines and aircraft ready for operations, and is based at Navy Command Headquarters.
The post was created in April 2012 following a reorganisation of the Royal Navy and a re-designation of the former role of Commander-in-Chief Fleet. [1]
The Fleet Commander's purpose is to provide ships, submarines and aircraft ready for any operations that the Government requires. [1]
The Fleet Commander's major subordinates included as of September 2020: [2]
The previous post of Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Training)/Flag Officer Sea Training [5] was disestablished in May-June 2020. It was superseded by Commander Fleet Operational Sea Training, and in the process the senior Sea Training officer was regraded downwards from a Rear Admiral to a Commodore. [6]
The British Army equivalent is Commander Field Army. The RAF's Deputy Commander (Operations) is the close equivalent of the two positions. [7]
Fleet Commander and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [8] | ||||
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Image | Rank | Name | Term began | Term ended |
Admiral | Sir George Zambellas [9] | April 2012 | December 2012 | |
Vice Admiral | Sir Philip Jones | December 2012 | February 2016 | |
Fleet Commander and Chief Naval Warfare Officer [10] | ||||
Vice Admiral | Ben Key [10] | February 2016 | March 2019 | |
Vice Admiral | Jerry Kyd [11] | March 2019 | September 2021 | |
Vice Admiral | Andrew Burns [12] | September 2021 |
Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier or brigadier general and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and a component of His Majesty's Naval Service. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of Defence (MINDEF) and the Chief of Defence Force (CDF). The Department of Defence as part of the Australian Public Service administers the ADF.
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five RN fighting arms. As of 2023 it is a predominantly "rotary" force, with helicopters undertaking roles once performed by biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish. It operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike and the AW159 Wildcat and AW101 Merlin for commando and anti-submarine warfare.
The Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET) was the admiral responsible for the operations of the ships, submarines and aircraft of the British Royal Navy from 1971 until April 2012. The post was subordinate to the First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Naval Service. In its last years, as the Navy shrank, more administrative responsibilities were added.
The Commander United Kingdom Strike Force is a senior post in the Royal Navy.
Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and the Confederate States Navy, and also has been a rank in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and its ancestor organizations. For over two centuries, the designation has been given varying levels of authority and formality.
The Royal Navy Surface Fleet forms one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy.
British Forces Gibraltar is the British Armed Forces stationed in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is used primarily as a training area, thanks to its good climate and rocky terrain, and as a stopover for aircraft and ships en route to and from deployments East of Suez or in Africa.
The Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) is a Royal Navy training organisation. FOST is the training organisation responsible for ensuring that Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels are fit to join the operational fleet.
Fleet Command is responsible for the command, operations, readiness, training and force generation of all ships, submarines, aircraft squadrons, diving teams, and shore establishments of the Royal Australian Navy. Fleet Command is headquartered at HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney, and is led by the Commander Australian Fleet (COMAUSFLT), also referred to as Fleet Commander Australia (FCAUST), which is a rear admiral (two-star) appointment.
The Navy Command is the current headquarters body of the Royal Navy, and as of 2012 its major organisational grouping. It is a hybrid, neither a command, nor simply an installation. Royal Navy official writings describe Navy Command Headquarters both as a physical site, on Whale Island, Hampshire, a collective formed of the most senior RN officers, and as a budgetary grouping.
The Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime) (or JEF(M)) (formerly the Response Force Task Group (RFTG), and prior to that the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF)), is the Royal Navy's contribution to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) maintained at very high-readiness and available at short notice to respond to unexpected global events. In addition to the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, the JEF(M) also includes elements of the British Army and the Royal Air Force. While it is primarily poised to conduct war-fighting or strike operations, the JEF(M) is capable of undertaking a diverse range of activities such as evacuation operations, disaster relief or humanitarian aid.
Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji was an Admiral in the Indian Navy. He served as the 6th Chief of the Naval Staff, from 4 March 1966, until 28 February 1970. He was the first Indian officer of the navy to hold the rank of full Admiral. He is credited with the transformation of the Indian Navy. He made sweeping changes and restructured the navy, creating the Western and Eastern Naval Commands and the Western Fleet. Under him, the Indian Navy also entered the submarine age, with the commissioning of INS Kalvari (S23) in 1967.
The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (A.C.N.S.) is a senior appointment in the Royal Navy usually a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7.
The Commander Operations (COMOPS) is a senior Royal Navy officer based at Northwood Headquarters who exercises operational command of all national maritime operations on behalf of the Fleet Commander. The post was established in 1993.
Admiral Sir Benjamin John Key, is a senior Royal Navy officer. He has served as First Sea Lord since November 2021. He has commanded HM Ships Sandown, Iron Duke and Lancaster, and deployed on operations to Kosovo and Iraq. He was appointed Fleet Commander in 2016, and the Chief of Joint Operations in 2019.
The Commander Littoral Strike Group (COMLSG) is a senior British Royal Navy Amphibious warfare appointment. COMLSG, who is based in Stonehouse Barracks, Stonehouse, Plymouth, reports to Commander United Kingdom Strike Force. It was first established in 1971 as Commodore Amphibious Warfare.
Vice Admiral Sree Harilal Sarma, PVSM was an Indian Navy admiral who served as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He later served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command from 1 March 1977 to 2 February 1978.
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In response to your request, I can advise you that the title Flag Officer Sea Training will cease to exist on 1 May 2020 and is replaced by the 1* post of Commander Fleet Operational Sea Training