# Commander of the Navy (Sri Lanka)

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 in the United States Navy.
By convention, serving Navy commanders have a rank of vice admiral, and will be promoted to the rank of admiral on retirement.

## History

The post of Captain of the Navy was created through the Navy Act of 9 December 1950, which also established the Royal Ceylon Navy.
In 1972, the "Dominion of Ceylon" became the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka" and the Royal Ceylon Navy was renamed the Sri Lanka Navy. The title "Captain of the Navy" was changed to "Commander of the Navy" through the Navy (Amendment) Law, No. 33 of 1976 in keeping with the terminology adopted by the other two services.

## Official Residence

The official residences of the Commander of the Navy is the Navy House in Colombo, formerly the Navy House in Trincomalee.

## List of Commanders (including Commanders of the Royal Ceylon Navy)

| No. | Rank | Name | Appointment | Left Office | Decorations |
| Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force (1938–1950) |||||||
| 1 | Captain | W. G. Beauchamp | 1 February 1938 | 31 March 1946 | CBE, VRD |
| 2 | Rear Admiral | Royce de Mel | 1946 | 1950 | OBE |
| Royal Ceylon Navy (1950–1972) |||||||
| 1 | Captain | W. E. Banks | 9 December 1950 | 25 November 1951 | CBE, DSC |
| 2 | Captain | J. R. S. Brown | 26 November 1951 | 14 June 1953 | |
| 3 | Captain | P. M. B. Chavasse | 15 June 1953 | 7 November 1955 | DSC |
| 4 | Rear Admiral | Royce de Mel | 15 August 1955 | 15 November 1960 | OBE, ADC |
| 5 | Rear Admiral | Rajan Kadiragamar | 16 November 1960 | 1 July 1970 | MVO, ADC |
| 6 | Rear Admiral | D. V. Hunter | 2 July 1970 | 22 May 1972 | |
| Sri Lanka Navy (1972–present) |||||||
| 6 | Rear Admiral | D. V. Hunter | 22 May 1972 | 31 March 1973 | |
| 7 | Admiral | Deshamanya Basil Gunasekara | 1 April 1973 | 31 May 1979 | |
| 8 | Admiral | Henry Perera | 1 June 1979 | 31 May 1983 | VSV |
| 9 | Vice Admiral | Asoka de Silva | 1 June 1983 | 31 October 1986 | VSV |
| 10 | Admiral | H. A. Silva | 1 November 1986 | 31 October 1991 | VSV |
| 11 | Admiral | Clancy Fernando † | 1 November 1991 | 16 November 1992 | VSV, USP |
| 12 | Admiral | D. A. M. R. Samarasekara | 16 November 1992 | 27 November 1997 | VSV, USP |
| 13 | Admiral | H. C. A. C. Thisera | 28 January 1997 | 31 December 2000 | VSV, USP |
| 14 | Admiral | Daya Sandagiri | 1 January 2001 | 31 August 2005 | VSV, USP |
| 15 | Admiral of the Fleet | Wasantha Karannagoda | 1 September 2005 | 15 July 2009 | RSP, VSV, USP |
| 16 | Admiral | Thisara Samarasinghe | 15 July 2009 | 15 January 2011 | RSP, VSV, USP |
| 17 | Admiral | D. W. A. S. Dissanayake | 15 January 2011 | 27 September 2012 | WV, RSP & Bar, VSV, USP |
| 18 | Admiral | Jayanath Colombage | 27 September 2012 | 30 June 2014 | RSP, VSV, USP |
| 19 | Admiral | Jayantha Perera | 1 July 2014 | 10 July 2015 | RWP, VSV, USP |
| 20 | Admiral | Ravindra Wijegunaratne | 11 July 2015 | 21 August 2017 | WV, RWP & Bar, RSP, VSV, USP |
| 21 | Admiral | Travis Sinniah | 22 August 2017 | 26 October 2017 | WWV, RWP, RSP (x3), USP |
| 22 | Admiral | Sirimevan Ranasinghe | 26 October 2017 | 31 December 2018 | WWV, RWP, USP |
| 23 | Admiral | Piyal De Silva | 1 January 2019 | 14 July 2020 | WWV & Bar, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP |
| 24 | Admiral | Nishantha Ulugetenne | 15 July 2020 | 18 Dec 2022 | RSP & Bar, VSV, USP |
| 25 | Admiral | Priyantha Perera | 19 Dec 2022 | 31 December 2024 | RSP **, USP, ndu, psc |
| 26 | Vice Admiral | Kanchana Banagoda | 31 December 2024 | Present | RSP, USP, ndc, psc |