Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 David George Snelson CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 is a former Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 officer who became Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces

Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces

Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces or COMUKMARFOR is a senior post in the Royal Navy. The post is the highest sea-going command in the Royal Navy and is part of the Fleet Battle Staff based in Portsmouth, part of Commander-in-Chief Fleet's staff...

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Naval career

Snelson joined the Royal Navy in 1969. He became Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of the destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 HMS Liverpool

HMS Liverpool (D92)

HMS Liverpool is a Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead and launched on 25 September 1980 by Lady Strathcona, wife of Euan Howard, the then Minister of State for Defence. Liverpool is the last Batch 2 Type 42 in service.-Operational history:Liverpool was...

 in 1997, Director of Naval Operations and Trade at the Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 in 1998 and Director of Navy Staff Duties in 1999 before commanding the aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal (R07)

HMS Ark Royal is a decommissioned light aircraft carrier and former flagship of the Royal Navy. She was the third and final vessel of Invincible-class...

 in 2001 and then being appointed Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces

Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces

Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces or COMUKMARFOR is a senior post in the Royal Navy. The post is the highest sea-going command in the Royal Navy and is part of the Fleet Battle Staff based in Portsmouth, part of Commander-in-Chief Fleet's staff...

 in 2002. In March 2003 he was the Royal Navy Commander for Operation Telic

Operation Telic

Operation TELIC was the codename under which all British military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the Invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011...

 during which he led maritime operations for the Invasion of Iraq from his headquarters ashore in Bahrain

Bahrain

' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

. He went on to be Chief of Staff (Warfare) for the Fleet in 2004 before retiring in 2006.

In retirement he became Chief Harbour Master for the Port of London Authority

Port of London Authority

The Port of London Authority is a self-funding public trust established in 1908 by the Port of London Act to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and the authority is responsible for the public right of navigation and for conservancy of the...

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