Deputy Commander STRIKFORNATO, Rear Admiral James Morley, and the STRIKFORNATO team received the Commander, United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group Commodore Angus Essenhigh, at Headquarters in Oeiras, Portugal.
During the visit, General James Hecker had the opportunity to visit STRIKFORNATO’s Joint Operations Center and receive briefs on STRIKFORNATO’s future exercises, initiatives and dynamic vigilance activities.
Commodore Angus Essenhigh assumed the position of Commander of the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group in September 2021, after having served as HMS Queen Elizabeth Commander for 21 months. He received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) after rendering assistance to the people of Philippines, following the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, in 2013, aboard HMS DARING. He is a Freeman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, a Younger Brother of Trinity House, the Royal Navy Winter Sports Vice President for Ice Sports and the President of Royal Navy Judo since 2022.
STRIKFORNATO is a rapidly deployable and scalable headquarters, under the operational command of SACEUR, capable of planning and executing full spectrum joint maritime operations including maritime Balistic Missile Defence, primarily through integration of U.S. and other nation’s carrier and amphibious forces into NATO operations to provide assurance, deterrence, and collective defence for the Alliance.