Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

D. A. Mohan R. Samarasekara, VSV, USP, ndc, psc, SLN was the 13th Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy. Having joined the Royal Ceylon Navy as an

officer cadet Officer Cadet is a rank held by military cadets during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by members of University Royal Naval Units, University Officer Training Corps and University Air ...

in 1971, he received his training at Britannia Royal Naval College in

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

and was commissioned as an acting sub lieutenant. He later attended the Defence Services Staff College,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and the National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

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 ...

Samarasekara was serving as Chief of Staff of the navy when commander of the navy, Vice Admiral

Clancy Fernando Admiral Wannakuwatta Waduge Erwin Clancy Fernando VSV, USP, MSc, ndc, psc, MNI, SLN (In Sinhalese: ක්ලැන්සි ෆර්නැන්ඩෝ) (10 October 1938 – 16 November 1992) was the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy fr ...

was assassinated by a

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

suicide bomber on 16 November 1992. That day, Samarasekara took over as acting commander of the navy and was confirmed in the post and promoted to Vice Admiral. His tenure saw the continuation of aggressive naval operations against LTTE activity at sea, denying them free movement in the coastal waters effecting their gun running operations. As such when the LTTE and the newly elected government started peace negotiations in 1994, the LTTE withdrew from the peace talks a few months later by attacking larger fleet elements of the navy in Trincomalee. He retired on 27 November 1997 and was promoted to the rank of

. He was succeeded by H. C. A. C. Tissera. Following his retirement he served as the Chairman, Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samarasekara, D. A. M. R. Commanders of the Navy (Sri Lanka) Sri Lankan admirals Sinhalese military personnel 1948 births Living people National Defence College, India alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni