The Commander Operations (COMOPS) is a senior Royal Navy or Royal Marines 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.
Commander Operations previously held the additional posts of Commander Task Force (CTF) 311 (UK attack submarines) and CTF 345 (UK nuclear missile submarines).Joining Britain's Royal Navy Undersea Warfare In 2015, Rear Admiral John Weale was appointed Rear Admiral Submarines/Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Submarines, while Rear Admiral Robert Tarrant was made Commander Operations (Royal Navy), separating the two posts.
Post-holders Post-holders have included: 1993–1996 Rear-Admiral Roger Lane-Nott 1996–1998 Rear-Admiral James Perowne 1998–2002 Rear-Admiral Robert Stevens 2002–2004 Rear-Admiral Niall Kilgour 2004–2006 Rear-Admiral Paul Lambert 2006–2009 Rear-Admiral David Cooke 2009–2011 Rear-Admiral Mark Anderson 2011–2013 Rear-Admiral Ian Corder 2013–2015 Rear-Admiral Matt Parr 2015–2017 Rear-Admiral Robert Tarrant 2017–2019 Rear-Admiral Paul Halton 2019–2022 Rear-Admiral Simon Asquith 2022–2024 Rear-Admiral Edward Ahlgren 2024–present Major-General Richard Cantrill
Subordinate formations 2016-2017 Included: 3 Commando Brigade Surface Flotilla, Commodore Craig Wood, Commander, Surface Flotilla, in post April 2020 Submarine Flotilla
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