Vice Admiral Paul Martin Bennett, is a former senior

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. 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 F ...

officer.

Naval career

Educated at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, Bennett joined the

in 1985. He trained as a

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

before being given command the

minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destroys individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines. A vessel that combines both of these roles is known as a ...

in 1998, the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

in 1999 and the destroyer in 2008. He became Commander Amphibious Task Group in May 2009, Commodore Naval Personnel Strategy in January 2011 and Director of the

Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) is the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defence’s (MOD's) think tank. History The DCDC, originally called the Joint Doctrine and Concepts Centre (JDCC), was established as a result of the 1 ...

in February 2013. After that he became Chief of Staff at

Joint Forces Command The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services. History Background In August 2010 the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, a ...

in September 2013 and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Capability) and

Controller of the Navy The post of Controller of the Navy (abbreviated as CofN) was originally created in 1859 when the Surveyor of the Navy's title changed to Controller of the Navy. In 1869 the controller's office was abolished and its duties were assumed by that of ...

in May 2016. He was made

Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces Commander United Kingdom Strike Force (COMUKSTRKFOR or CSF) and Rear Admiral Surface Ships (RASS) is a senior post in the Royal Navy. The post is the highest seagoing command in the Royal Navy. Its role is to direct UK, Allied or Coalition mar ...

in November 2017, which was followed by appointment as Chief of Staff of NATO

Allied Command Transformation Allied Command Transformation (ACT) (French: ''Commandement allié Transformation'') is a military command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 2003 after restructuring. It was intended to lead military transformation of ...

in July 2018. He was succeeded by Vice Admiral

Guy Robinson Vice Admiral Guy Antony Robinson, (born 9 April 1967) is a senior Royal Navy officer. Since September 2021, he has served as Chief of Staff of NATO Allied Command Transformation. Naval career Robinson joined the Royal Navy in 1986. He has serv ...

in September 2021, and subsequently retired in February 2022. Bennett was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 2007 Birthday Honours, and a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in the 2016 Birthday Honours.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Paul Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Royal Navy vice admirals Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Newcastle University Companions of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy personnel of the Iraq War