Jan Thörnqvist

Jan Thörnqvist
Thörnqvist in 2014.
Born	9 October 1959 Karlskrona, Sweden
Service/branch	Swedish Navy
Years of service	1979–
Rank	Vice admiral
Commands held	Chief of Navy (2011-2016) Chief of Operations (2016-)

Jan Thörnqvist (born 9 October 1959) is a Swedish Navy vice admiral. He is currently the Chief of Operations of the Swedish Armed Forces.

Career

Thörnqvist began his career at the age of fifteen in the Swedish Sea Cadet Corps.^[1] He was commissioned into the Swedish Navy in 1976 and served as a basic Private and Petty Officer afloat on various types of ships in the Navy, including Minesweepers, Destroyers, Fast Patrol and Picket Boats.^[2][3] In 1981, he entered the Royal Swedish Naval Academy and graduated in 1982. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade and moved immediately to complete the Principal Warfare Officer training course. Thörnqvist was promoted to Lieutenant in 1983.^[2] From 1982 to 1983 he was 2nd Officer on Mine Warfare Ship and Icebreaker HSwMS Thule and various Mine Countermeasures Wessels.^[3] In addition, he became a qualified mine clearance diver and he served as 1st Instructor at the Naval Mine Warfare School. (Minkrigsskolan).^[2]

He was commanding officer of the Diving Support Vessel HMS Skaftö from 1987 to 1988 and completed the Staff Course at the Swedish National Defence College in 1989.^[2] Thörnqvist was commander of the Naval MCM Divers Squadron (Röjdykardivisionen) from 1993 to 1996 and commanding officer of 411th MCM Divers Squadron and the Minehunter HMS Ulvön. From 1997 to 1999 he completed the Advanced Command Program at the Swedish National Defence College and was then Chief of Staff in the Visby-class corvette Trials Unit at the 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla in Karlskrona from 1999 to 2001.^[2]

Thörnqvist was promoted to commander and served as Staff Officer at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters, Joint Forces Development, Staff Department, Analysis Section from 2001 to 2004. In June 2004 he attended the Naval Command College at the Naval War College in the United States. From 2005 to 2006 he headed the Forces Development, Plans and Policy Staff in the Joint Headquarters and from 2006 to 2009 Thörnqvist was commander of the 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla. From October to December 2009 he commanded the Karlskrona naval base.^[2]

He was between 14 April and 14 August 2010 the EU Force Commander of EUNAVFOR Somalia - Operation ATALANTA and lead the multinational Force Headquarters onboard the EU NAVFOR Swedish warship, HSwMS Carlskrona.^[4] Thörnqvist was promoted on 1 March 2011 to Rear Admiral and was appointed Chief of Navy the same day.^[5] On 7 April 2016 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed Chief of Operations of the Swedish Armed Forces.^[6][7]

Other work

• Member 1380 of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (2004).^[8]
• Chairman of the Naval Officer's Society in Karlskrona (Sjöofficerssällskapet i Karlskrona) (2008)
• Chairman of Stiftelsen Drottning Victorias Örlogshem^[9] (2006)
• Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, Section II, Naval Warfare Studies (2012)^[10]

Ranks

• 1982 - Sub-Lieutenant
• 1983 - Lieutenant
• 1989 - Lieutenant Commander
• 2001 - Commander
• 2006 - Captain
• 2011 - Rear Admiral (lower half)
• 2011 - Rear Admiral
• 2016 - Vice Admiral

Awards and decorations

• Commander of the National Order of Merit (2012)^[11]
• Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) (2014)^[12]

References

1. Lindstedt, Magnus (8 July 2014). "Från en sjövärnselev till en annan" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
2. "Rear Admiral (LH) Jan Thörnqvist" (PDF). Council of the European Union. p. 2. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
3. "Rear Admiral (LH) Jan Thörnqvist". Naval War College. p. 37. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
4. "Statement by Rear Admiral Jan Thörnqvist". Council of the European Union. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
5. "Jan Thörnqvist blir ny marininspektör" [Jan Thörnqvist appointed as new Navy Inspector] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
6. "Jan Thörnqvist ny insatschef" [Jan Thörnqvist appointed as new Chief of Operations] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
7. "Jan Thörnqvist ny insatschef i Försvarsmakten" [Jan Thörnqvist new Chief of Operations in the Swedish Armed Forces] (in Swedish). Government Offices of Sweden. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
8. "Ordinarie ledamöter" [Regular members] (in Swedish). Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
9. "Historia" [History]. www.orlogshemmet.com (in Swedish). Stiftelsen Drottning Victorias Örlogshem. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
10. "Matrikel" (in Swedish). Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
11. "Décoration de l'Amiral Jan Thörnqvist et de Mme Cécilia Looström" [Decoration of Admiral Jan Thörnqvist and Ms. Cécilia Looström] (in French). Embassy of France, Stockholm. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
12. "Singapore ger förtjänstmedalj till Sveriges Marinchef" [Singapore gives the Medal of Merit to the Swedish Navy Chief] (in Swedish). Embassy of Sweden, Singapore. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2016.