Commodore Simon Ancona, Royal Navy

Deputy Commander, Combined Maritime Forces

United Kingdom Maritime Component Commander

Commodore Simon Ancona joined the Royal Navy in 1980 and undertook fleet training in, among other ships, HMS Leeds Castle during the Falklands conflict. He qualified as a Seaman Officer in HMS Diomede before undergoing flying training as an Anti-Submarine Helicopter Observer in 1986. Qualifying in 1987, he joined 820 Naval Air Squadron serving in HMS Ark Royal during her global deployment in 1988. His second flying tour was with 826 Naval Air Squadron and included operations in the northern Arabian Gulf during the 1991 Iraq conflict.

Turning back to the surface fleet in 1992 he qualified as a Principal Warfare Officer and joined HMS Liverpool at the end of a refit serving through her work-up and a further spell in the Gulf. He joined the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in March 1994 and completed both the Royal Naval Staff Course and an MA in Defence studies through King’s College, University of London. Returning to flying in 1995, he joined 814 Naval Air Squadron as Senior Observer and served in HMS Invincible during UN support operations in the Adriatic.

Taking command of the Hong Kong Patrol Craft HMS Starling in July 1996, he spent a year conducting operations against smuggling and in support of the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom’s former colony; including the last operational patrol before Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese.

On promotion to Commander he assumed Command of the HMS Birmingham (DDG) in December 1998 and, after a deployment in support of operations in the Arabian Gulf, he decommissioned her in December 1999 and assumed Command of HMS Newcastle; another in the same class. Joining the Directorate of Naval Operations at the Ministry of Defence in July 2000 he was appointed Military Assistant to the Minister of State for the Armed Forces a year later and subsequently spent two years working in a Ministerial outer office.

In June 2003 he was promoted Captain and put in charge of a CINCFLEET human resources initiative before completing the Joint Higher Command and Staff Course in April 2005. He assumed Command of HMS Cumberland (FF) in June 2005 completing a deployment to the North Atlantic and Caribbean.

Returning to the Ministry of Defence, he became an Assistant Director in the Directorate of Joint Commitments in December 2006 with specific responsibility for both the Iraq strategy team and global maritime commitments. He was promoted Commodore on taking up his appointment as Commander Carrier Strike Group in April 2009. Following a defence review and restructuring, he transferred within the Maritime Battle Staff and became Deputy Commander United Kingdom Maritime Force in January 2011. He took over as United Kingdom Maritime Component Commander (UKMCC) and Deputy Commander Combined Maritime Forces (DCCMF) in Bahrain in November 2011.