Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee<\/strong>, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, is being elevated to the second-highest position in the Canadian Armed Forces, replacing a retiring Vice Chief of Defence Staff in a leadership transition set for mid-June.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Canadian Armed Forces announced this week that Topshee will succeed Vice Chief of Defence Staff Stephen Kelsey<\/strong>, who is retiring after two years in the role. Topshee will formally hand over command of the navy on June 15<\/strong> at HMCS Star in Hamilton, Ontario.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Rear-Admiral Dan Charlebois<\/strong>, currently Deputy Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, will assume command of the fleet following Topshee’s departure.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Topshee’s tenure as the 38th Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy<\/strong> will have lasted just under four years \u2014 the longest continuous time in that role since Vice-Admiral Wood held the position in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Topshee was born in Nepean, Ontario, and joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Royal Military College of Canada<\/strong>, including an exchange term at the Australian Defence Force Academy, before earning a Master of Letters in Strategic Studies<\/strong> from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 1996.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n He began formal naval warfare officer training that same year and joined his first ship, HMCS Winnipeg<\/strong>, in 1997. Over the following nine years, he served primarily at sea on Canada’s Pacific coast, progressing through roles as Navigating Officer, Operations Officer, and Combat Officer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In 2005, Topshee attended the senior course at the United States Naval War College<\/strong> in Newport, Rhode Island. He subsequently served as Executive Officer aboard two frigates \u2014 HMCS St. John’s and HMCS Toronto \u2014 before moving to National Defence Headquarters to help develop a new strategy for the Royal Canadian Navy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In 2009, Topshee took command of HMCS Algonquin<\/strong>, flagship of Canada’s Pacific Fleet. His time aboard included security operations for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics<\/strong> and a five-month deployment across the central and western Pacific.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n He commanded Canadian Forces Base Halifax<\/strong> from 2012 to 2015, then served at NORAD and United States Northern Command<\/strong> at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado before returning to the West Coast in 2018 to lead Canadian Fleet Pacific.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Topshee was promoted to Rear-Admiral in April 2021 and assumed command of Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific the following month. He was elevated to Vice-Admiral and appointed Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy in May 2022.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Angus Topshee, Canada’s longest-serving recent naval commander, appointed Vice Chief of Defence Staff Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, is being elevated to the second-highest position in the Canadian Armed Forces, replacing a retiring Vice Chief of Defence Staff in a leadership transition set for mid-June. The Canadian Armed Forces announced this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,48],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-politics"},"yoast_head":"\nA new naval commander steps up<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
A career spanning three decades<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Command at sea and on shore<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n