James Parkin joined the Royal Navy after university and graduated from BRNC Dartmouth in 1999. In almost 25 years of service, he has served on operations at sea and ashore across the globe, including an operational tour in Baghdad, and spent time afloat in every ocean on the planet. He is a graduate of both the Advanced Command and Staff Course and the Higher Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy of the UK and holds degrees from the University of Oxford and Kings College London. Parkin has commanded at sea in every rank, including the inshore patrol vessel HMS RANGER, the Type 23 frigate HMS MONTROSE, the Fleet Amphibious Flagship HMS BULWARK, the Joint Expeditionary Force Maritime Task Group, and NATO’s Initial Follow-on Forces Group. In his most recent seagoing role, he was Commander of the Littoral Strike Group (COMLSG) from 2018 to 2020, in which capacity he deployed worldwide, and commanded several notable joint operations overseas, including the multinational BALTIC PROTECTOR deployment to Northern Europe in 2019, and the International Maritime Security Construct in the Middle East in 2020. After a year in PJHQ as Assistant Chief of Staff for Joint Plans (ACOS J5), he was promoted to Rear Admiral and assumed the role of Director Develop in summer 2021.