First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Operations

  

Office of the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Operations
Ensign of the Sierran Royal Navy
Incumbent Fleet Admiral Kevin Chu since December 2018
Ministry of Defense
Abbreviation	1SL/CNO
Member of	Royal Naval Service Office Naval Operations Staff
Reports to	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Defense Staff
Appointer	Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by The Queen
Term length	Not fixed (typically 3–4 years)
Formation	Chief of Staff of the Navy (1860–1917) First Sea Lord (1917–1951) First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Operations (from 1951)
First holder	TBD
Deputy	Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Operations

The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Operations (1SL/CNO) is the head of the Kingdom of Sierra's Royal Navy. The First Sea Lord is the highest-ranking naval officer (being the only active-duty fleet admiral, unless the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is also a naval officer) and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of the Defense Staff, which is the strategic joint command of the Sierran Crown Armed Forces, and the Royal Naval Service Office, which is led by the civilian Secretary of the Navy. Maintaining the preparedness of the Navy for combat operations, providing advice to the Government of the Kingdom of Sierra on naval matters, and helping formulate strategic doctrine are the main roles of the First Sea Lord. Since December 2018 the First Sea Lord has been Fleet Admiral Kevin Chu.

The post of First Sea Lord was first created in 1917, based on the British tradition. Prior to that the head of the Sierran Navy was known simply as the "Commander of the Royal Fleet" and the position had existed since 1860. From 1917 to 1951 the First Sea Lord was the head of the Admiralty, which later became the new civilian Royal Naval Service Office as a branch of the Ministry of Defense and is led by the Secretary of the Navy. The operational command of the Navy's sea-going forces passed to the Naval Operations Staff, headed by the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Operations, directly under the Naval Service Office of the Defense Ministry.

Since the creation of the Joint Chiefs of the Defense Staff as a joint command for the Crown Armed Forces in 1951 the First Sea Lord has been a member of it. By tradition the First Sea Lord is also subordinated to the Grand Admiral of Sierra, the titular head of the Navy, a rank which has been traditionally vested in the office of the Prime Minister. However, the creation of the Royal Naval Service Office and the Joint Chiefs of Staff has reduced the role of the Grand Admiral to mostly ceremonial, creating an additional layer of civilian control over the military.

List of First Sea Lords

First Sea Lords and Chiefs of Naval Operations (1951–present)

No.		Holder	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Appointed by
TBD		Fleet Admiral William Zen (1931–2014)	14 June 1985	20 July 1988	7003113200000000000♠3 years, 36 days	Surface Fleet	Mitchell Ford
TBD		Fleet Admiral Hugo Grunwald (born 1935)	20 July 1988	10 May 1992	7003139000000000000♠3 years, 295 days	Submarine Service	Ted Brundy
TBD		Fleet Admiral Winston Liu (born 1941)	10 May 1992	5 November 1997	7003200500000000000♠5 years, 179 days	Aviation	Melinda Peters
TBD		Fleet Admiral Denis Lancaster (born 1944)	5 November 1997	16 July 2001	7003134900000000000♠3 years, 253 days	Surface Fleet	Melinda Peters
TBD		Fleet Admiral Kent Kojima (born 1950)	16 July 2001	13 April 2005	7003136700000000000♠3 years, 271 days	Aviation	Matthew Braggs
TBD		Fleet Admiral Luke Van Ryzin (born 1950)	13 April 2005	17 February 2008	7003136700000000000♠3 years, 271 days	Surface Fleet	Diana Jeong
TBD		Fleet Admiral Joseph Lundholm (born 1950)	17 February 2008	2 October 2012	7003168900000000000♠4 years, 228 days	Submarine Service	Diana Jeong
TBD		Fleet Admiral Jacques Chrétien (born 1961)	2 October 2012	19 December 2018	7003226900000000000♠6 years, 78 days	Surface Fleet	Steven Hong
TBD		Fleet Admiral Kevin Chu (born 1967)	19 December 2018		7003213900000000000♠5 years, 313 days	Submarine Service	Nemesis Heartwell