#kinsale – Kinsale Yacht Club bestowed Honorary Membership to Rear Admiral Mark Mellett DSM at a Reception at the Yacht Club today.
Rear Admiral Mellett DSM is the first member of the Naval Service to have been promoted to the Naval Rank of Rear Admiral in the history of the Irish Naval Service. Kinsale Yacht Club has a close association with the Naval Service and the Navy uses Kinsale Harbour regularly.
Rear Admiral Mark Mellett and Mrs Liz Mellett were welcomed to Kinsale Yacht Club by Finbarr O'Regan Commodore, KYC and Tom Roche, Vice Commodore KYC.
"It is a great privilege to congratulate Rear Admiral Mark Mellett DSM on his recent appointment to Deputy Chief of Staff and promotion to Rear Admiral and to bestow Honorary Membership of Kinsale Yacht Club on him today. The Naval Service is a great supporter of Kinsale Yacht Club and particularly disabled sailing in the Club over many years," said Finbarr O'Regan, Commodore KYC.
Also in attendance at the Reception were Commodore Tully. Commander Willie Roberts was represented by Lt Cdr Brian Matthews, Naval Service Yacht Squadron.
They were joined by David Ross and Bobby Nash, Rear Commodores, KYC, John Stallard Sailing Secretary and Ex Commodore, Dave O'Sullivan, Treasurer KYC, Commandant Ian Travers, member KYC and Phil Devitt, Kinsale Harbour Master. Former KYC Commodores in attendance included Conor Doyle, Alice Kingston, Julie Silfverberg and Hans Hellstern.
Biography Rere Admiral Mark Mellett DSM
Admiral Mellett (DSM) is from Mayo and joined the Navy in 1976. His first Command was the LÉ ORLA in 1992 and he subsequently commanded the LÉ CIARA in 1997 and the Irish Naval Flagship LÉ EITHNE in 2005.
Admiral Mellett has held a broad range of appointments in Naval Headquarters and more recently prior to his appointment as Flag Officer in 2010 he was Officer Commanding Naval Operations Command. Admiral Mellett was also Commandant of the Naval College and Associate Head of the National Maritime College of Ireland.
Operational Experience & Awards
Besides citations for service in Afghanistan (2004) and Lebanon (1989), as Captain of LÉ ORLA (1994) he was honoured by becoming the Navy's second officer recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in recognition of the role of his ship in the detention of the drug smuggling yacht 'Brime'.
Transformation
Admiral Mellett is a founding member and champion of The Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster (IMERC). IMERC is an institutional cluster encompassing University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology. IMERC aims inter alia to enhance Defence Forces capability while facilitating innovation, transformation and job creation.
Education
Admiral Mellett has a PhD (2009) in Oceans Governance from the National University of Ireland, Galway and M Com (2004) in Government and Public Policy from University College Cork. He is a distinguished graduate of the US Naval War College Newport RI (1999) where he was the top graduate of the thirty two attending countries. He was also the top graduate in both the Irish Command and Staff College (1998) and the Royal Naval College Greenwich (1989).
