HMS Excellent

Military experience

Originally from Newport, South Wales, Commander Jones joined the Royal Navy in 1979.

After a number of varied and exciting Fleet appointments all around the world, including serving in mine hunters, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers and navigating frigates, he specialised as a Mine Clearance Diving Officer in 1989.

On completion of further warfare training in 1993, he completed two tours as an Above-Water Warfare specialist and then returned to his mine-warfare roots to serve for two years as the Operations Officer to the First Mine Countermeasures Squadron. He commanded HMS Sandown in 1997 and supported UK operations in the Arabian Gulf in 1998 followed by explosive ordnance clearance operations as part of a NATO Task Group during the Kosovo campaign in 1999.

In 2003 he was in charge of the Fleet Diving Squadron – the umbrella unit for the Royal Navy’s diving units, which played a key role in the Iraq campaign that same year.

That was followed by the top diving job in the Armed Forces, the MOD’s Superintendent of Diving and was directly responsible for regulating the safe conduct of all diving within the Royal Navy, Army and Special Forces.

He assumed his latest appointment as Commanding Officer HMS Excellent in June 2010.

Commander Jones is married to Yvonne and they have two grown up children (their son David serves as a Royal Marine Commando). Living in Portsmouth he enjoys sport (swapped rugby for golf - and it shows), sailing, learning new languages (Turkish at this time) and watching his wife do the gardening.