Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

Christopher Angus Ritchie (born 16 January 1949) is a retired senior officer of the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

, who served as Chief of Navy from 2002 to 2005.

Early life

Ritchie was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 16 January 1949 to Angus Lachlan Ritchie and Colleen Burnice Ritchie.

Naval career

Ritchie graduated from the RAN College at

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village in the Jervis Bay Territory and on the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay, known as the Jervis Bay Terri ...

in 1968. He received further training at sea and in the United Kingdom before undertaking a succession of seagoing appointments and a staff appointment at the NATO School of Maritime Operations at HMS DRYAD. His commands have included , , and . During his period in command of HMAS Brisbane, the ship deployed to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

where she participated for the duration of the

Persian Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. In 1991, as a result of this service, he was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

. In 1992 he attended the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest leve ...

in the United Kingdom. On completion of this course he was promoted to

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

and had appointments in Naval Policy and Warfare, and Military Strategy and Concepts. In 1997 he was promoted to

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

and appointed as Maritime Commander Australia. He then served as Deputy Chief of Navy and Head of Capability Systems. As a consequence of his service in these appointments, and in addition to receiving the Centenary medal, he was promoted to

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in January 2001. He was promoted to

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

and appointed Commander Australian Theatre on 3 August 2001. He was the first Commander to have previously served as a Component Commander to the Headquarters. He assumed command of the Royal Australian Navy from Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral

David Shackleton Sir David James Shackleton (21 November 1863 – 1 August 1938) was a cotton worker and trade unionist who became the third Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, following the formation of the British Labour Pa ...

on 3 July 2002 and retired in July 2005.

After military service

In 2018, Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie was reported as a spokesman for Shipbuilder Lurssen Australia who would be building new

offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

References

External links

*Copyright photo o
VADM Chris Ritchie
Chief of Navy, ANZAC Day 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Chris 1949 births Military personnel from Melbourne Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies Australian military personnel of the Gulf War Australian military personnel of the Vietnam War Chiefs of Navy (Australia) Deputy chiefs of Navy (Australia) Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Living people Officers of the Order of Australia Royal Australian Navy admirals Recipients of the Meritorious Unit Citation