Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant has been named as the Operation Commander of EU Naval Forces dealing with Somalia.
Operation Atalanta aims to prevent piracy off the coast of Somalia and to protect food shipments to the African nation from the World Food Programme. The EU forces are also assisting the African Union forces operating in Somalia in a mission codenamed Amisom.
Rear Admiral (designate) Bob Tarrant was born in 1961 and joined the Royal Navy in 1979. He has worked above and below the surface of the sea, commanding the nuclear powered submarine HMS Talent from 1997-99 and the Ice Patrol Ship HMS Endurance 2007-08. He served in the Falklands Conflict in 1982 on board the destroyer HMS Antrim, spent two seasons in the Antarctic and conducted periods of defence diplomacy off West Africa.
After a tour as the Commodore Naval Staff, supporting the First Sea Lord in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review developing the strategy for the future of the Royal Navy, he attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.
He is currently Commander Combined Task Force 150, a maritime security operation extending from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Oman. Bob Tarrant will be promoted Rear Admiral in January 2013 to assume the role of Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces.
