Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Christopher Erson Smith, is a senior officer in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal 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 ...

. He has commanded the ships (2002–04), (2008–10) and the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

(2015–17), and served as

Deputy Chief of Navy The Deputy Chief of Navy (DCN) is the second most senior appointment in the Royal Australian Navy, responsible to the Chief of Navy (CN). The rank associated with the position is rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer ...

from September 2020 to December 2022. He was appointed

Commander Australian 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 a ...

on 16 December 2022.

Naval career

Smith joined the

(RAN) in 1989 as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

at the

Royal Australian Naval College, HMAS Creswell The Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), commonly known as HMAS Creswell, is the naval academy of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). It consists of the RAN School of Survivability and Ship's Safety, Kalkara Flight, the Beecroft Weapons Range an ...

. He was awarded the

Conspicuous Service Medal The Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM) is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force, and officers and instructors of the Australian Defence Force Cadets. It is awarded for meritorious achievement or dedication to d ...

in the 2002 Australia Day Honours.

References

, - Australian military personnel of the Iraq War Living people Recipients of the Conspicuous Service Medal Royal Australian Navy admirals University of Canberra alumni University of Wollongong alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-bio-stub