Rear Admiral Michael Julian van Balen (born 16 February 1961) is a retired senior officer of 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 ...

(RAN), who served as the

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 2013 to January 2016.

Early life

van Balen was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, Queensland, on 16 February 1961 to Adrian and Cath van Balen.

Naval career

van Balen joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1978 and graduated from the

Royal Australian Naval College 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 ...

in 1982. van Balen has served in a various billets within the Australian naval high command and United States Navy commands. He has served on board a variety of Royal Australian Navy ships including HMA ships ''

Barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...

'', ''

'', '' Stalwart'', '' Stuart'', '' Yarra'', '' Bunbury'', '' Derwent'', '' Swan'' and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ship USS ''Ranger'', a Forrestal-class aircraft carrier. van Balen completed a

Master of Management The Master of Management (MM, MBM, MIM, MMgt) is a master’s degree comprising one or two years graduate level coursework in business management. As the program is designed for students interested in entering leadership roles, the degree attrac ...

degree from the

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Aus ...

in 2001. He attended the US Naval War College in 2005.

Honours and awards

RADM van Balen has also been awarded the RAN's " Principal Warfare Officer" badge and the RAN's "Sea Readiness Badge".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balen, Michael van 1961 births Australian military personnel of the Iraq War Deputy Chiefs of Navy (Australia) Graduates of the Royal Australian Naval College Living people Naval War College alumni Officers of the Legion of Merit Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Commendation for Distinguished Service Royal Australian Navy admirals Military personnel from Brisbane University of New South Wales alumni