HMS Grimsby

Military experience

Paul Ottewell was educated at St. Bede’s College, Manchester before joining the Royal Navy in 1992 and graduating from the University of Manchester in 1996.

Selected for submarine training in 1997, he served in ballistic missile and attack submarines for nine years. Qualified as a Frigate Navigating Officer (2000) and a Submarine Watch Leader (2002), he has navigated both HMS Torbay and HMS Victorious and served as the Operations Officer in HMS Victorious and HMS Turbulent. Operational highlights include five deterrent patrols and a strategic intelligence collection mission.

Appointed to the Staff of the Chief of Staff (Capability) in early 2007 as the Attack Submarine Capability Manager, he represented Fleet in the acceptance process of Sonar 2076 and was involved in defining the requirements for future submarine command systems and sensors.

Returning to the Surface Flotilla in late 2007, a brief period in the frigate HMS Northumberland paved the way to Principal Warfare Officer (PWO) course (2008), during which he won the Captain Egerton prize for the strongest performance on the Advanced phase that year.

Joining the frigate HMS Monmouth as PWO (Above Water Warfare) in 2009, he immediately assumed the duties of Operations Officer and led the Ship’s Warfare department through a challenging regeneration and successful deployment to the Gulf (Op Telic) in support of regional maritime and energy infrastructure security.

As a result of this assignment, he was selected to join the Staff of the Flag Officer Sea Training in 2010, leading teams delivering all-arms warfare training in both Royal Navy and NATO frigates and destroyers. Simultaneously, he was the lead officer of the UK’s Towed Array Response Team.

Lieutenant Commander Ottewell assumed command of Crew 6 of the First Mine Countermeasures Squadron in August 2011, generating in HMS Penzance before patrolling the Gulf in HMS Ramsey December 2011 through July 2012, tasked with maintaining the expertise necessary to deliver the full range of activities that make up an expeditionary MCM force.

On return to the UK, he assumed command of HMS Grimsby, in which Crew 6 will regenerate for a further Gulf deployment in July 2013.

Paul is a recent but evangelical convert to endurance sports. An active member of Royal Navy Triathlon, he counts finishes in the Royal Navy Duathlon, the London Marathon and Ironman 70.3 UK among the highlights of recent seasons.