Admiral Wannakuwatta Waduge Erwin Clancy Fernando VSV, USP, MSc, ndc, psc, MNI, SLN (In

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

: ක්ලැන්සි ෆර්නැන්ඩෝ) (10 October 1938 – 16 November 1992) was the

Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy The Commander of the Navy is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Navy. The current Commander of the Navy is Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera. It is a position equivalent to that of First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy or Chief of Naval Operations ...

from 1 November 1991 to 16 November 1992. He was assassinated by the LTTESuicide terrorism: a global threat, www.janes.com
/ref> in 1992, as the most senior officer in the Sri Lankan military to be killed in the line of duty.

Education

Admiral Fernando received his secondary education at Prince of Wales' College, Moratuwa. He was a member of the team Western Band Prince of Wales' College, Moratuwa. He held the memberships of the

British Institute of Management The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. The major membership classes are ''Member'', ''Fellow'' - for those with significant expertise - and ''Companion'' - the most sen ...

, and the

Nautical Institute The Nautical Institute (NI) is an international professional organisation for maritime professionals, based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1971 and has the status of a company limited by guarantee and is registered with the Charity C ...

and had obtained a master's degree in defence studies. He had also been conferred with the certificate of Master Mariners and was the first President of Sri Lanka Branch of the

Naval career

After completing his schooling he enlisted as a

cadet officer St John Ambulance Ireland (SJAI), previously known as the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland, is a charitable Volunteering, voluntary organisation in Ireland. For constitutional reasons it is not a full member association of the Venerable Ord ...

in the

Royal Ceylon Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...

in December 1957. After completing basic training, he proceeded for training at

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

in Dartmouth,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. On his return he served with the Royal Ceylon Navy in Trincomalee, Tangalle and Karainagar, serving on board HMCyS Aliya and HMCyS Gajabahu, the flagship of the fleet. He served as the commanding officer of HMCyS Diyakawa, SLNS Ranakamee and the SLNS Samudra Devi, which was the flagship of the fleet in 1980. During his service years, he introduced the Sinhala communication system into the navy and authored the book on ‘Customs and etiquettes of Services’. In 1977, he attended

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , pres ...

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 metr ...

. Promoted to the rank of Commander in March 1978, he was the Commanding Officer of the SLNS Tissa and thereafter SLNS Elara, and served as the Master of the Ceylon Shipping Corporations MV Lanka Kanthi. On 30 June 1983, he was appointed Director Naval Operations. Promoted the rank of Captain on 1 January 1984, he was appointed Commandant of the Naval and Maritime Academy. He was promoted to

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

in July 1986 and served as Commander Western Naval Area, Commander Eastern Naval Area, and Security Forces Commander, Trincomalee. In 1987, he attended the National Defence College in

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 Ho ...

. In 1991, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and held the post of the Chief of Staff of the navy, shortly he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral on appointment to the office of the

on 1 November 1991. After becoming navy commander he intensified naval operations against the LTTE, effectively denying the terrorist free use of the sea.

Assassination

He was assassinated by a LTTE

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

who drove an explosives laden motorbike into his staff car on the 16 November 1992 at 8.35 a.m, in front of the

Galle Face Green Galle Face is a ocean-side urban park, which stretches for along the coast, in the heart of Colombo, the financial and business capital of Sri Lanka. The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, although t ...

. Killed in the bombing was

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

(posthumously

lieutenant-commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

) Sandun Gunasekera, his flag lieutenant and his driver. He was on his way to naval headquarters at Flagstaff Street in the Galle Buck from his official residence "Navy House" at Longden Place,

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

after he returned from India after discussing Indo-Sri Lankan naval cooperation.

Honors

He was posthumously promoted to Admiral and awarded the

Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya The Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV, Distinguished Service Decoration) ( Sinhala: විශිෂ්ට සේවා විභූෂණය ''viṣiṣta sēvā vibhūṣaṇaya'') is awarded to senior officers of the Military of Sri Lanka in reco ...

and the

Uttama Seva Padakkama The Uttama Seva Padakkama (USP, Eminent Service Medal) ( Sinhala: උත්තම සේවා පදක්කම ''uṭṭama sēvā padakkama'') is presented to all ranks of the regular forces of the Sri Lankan military for: Award process Th ...

. While in service he had received the Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal and Clasp, Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal,

Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal The Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal ( Sinhala: සන්නද්ධ සේවා දීර්ඝ සේවා පදක්කම ''ārakśaka sēvā dhīrgha sēvā padakkama'') was a service medal of Ceylon from 1968 to 1972. It was g ...

and Clasp,

Purna Bhumi Padakkama The Purna Bhumi Padakkama ( Sinhala: පූර්ණ භූමි පදක්කම ''pūrna bhūmi padakkama'') was a service medal awarded by the Military of Sri Lanka (regular and volunteer) and Sri Lanka Police to all ranks of its forces in ...

President's Inauguration Medal __NOTOC__ The President's Inauguration Medal ( Sinhala: ජනාධිපති ධූරප්‍රාප්ත පදක්කම ''janādhipathi dhūraprāptha padakkama'') was a decoration of the Military of Sri Lanka, granted to all regula ...

and the

Sri Lanka Navy 25th Anniversary Medal The Sri Lanka Navy 25th Anniversary Medal ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවික හමුදා 25වන සංවත්සර පදක්කම ''Śrī Laṃkā nāvika hamudā visipasvana sangwathsara padakkama'') was awarde ...