HMS Ramsey

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.

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 Arabian 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.

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.

Lieutenant Commander Ottewell assumed command of HMS Penzance and MCM1 Crew 6 in
August 2011.