Mayo man becomes head of navy

Mayo man becomes head of Irish Navy


Anton McNulty

The appointment of Castlebar native, Captain Mark Mellett as the head of the Irish Naval Service has been welcomed by the Admiral Brown Society who thanked him for his commitment to the society.
Capt Mark Mellett (52) was promoted to Commodore and appointed as flag officer commanding the Naval Service by Minister for Defence, Éamon Ó Cuív, and succeeds Cmdr Frank Lynch who retired last month.
He joined the navy in 1976 and his first command was the LE Orla in 1992 and he subsequently commanded the LE Ciara in 1997 and the LE Eithne in 2005. In 1994, he became the second Naval officer to receive a distinguished service medal for his role in the detention of the drug smuggling yacht, Brime, which was intercepted off the Clare coast in 1993.
At the time of the interception, the yacht’s crew tried to ram the navy inflatables and scuttle the 65ft ketch off Loop Head. The ketch was carrying two tonnes of cannabis, with a street value then of £20 million.
Capt Mellett has been involved in a number of events and celebrations honouring Admiral William Brown and Oliver Murphy of the Admiral Brown Society congratulated Capt Mellett on his appointment.
“Mark has shown great support for the work of the society and bringing the life of Admiral Brown to a wider audience at home and overseas. He has shown great support of what we do and we look forward to working with him in the future. Mark and the late JJ O’Hara had an excellent working relationship and he was a great friend of the society,” he told The Mayo News.
Capt Mellett commanded the LE Eithne on the first tour of an Irish naval vessel to Argentina to take part in the 150th anniversary commemorations of the death of Argentinian Navy foounder Admiral Brown.
Oliver explained that on that journey, Capt Mellet transported a generator which was bound for a school named after Admiral Brown in the hold of the vessel and was assembled at the school by the naval engineers.
Capt Mellett had been officer commanding Naval Service operations at the Haulbowline headquarters in Cork harbour. Capt Mellett has a PhD in oceans governance from NUI Galway and has published a number of papers on security and maritime affairs.