Captain Chris O'Flaherty joined the Royal Navy in 1987. Having served for much of his early career as a diver and underwater bomb disposal officer in the navy's smallest warships, he qualified as a Principal Warfare Officer deploying in frigates and aircraft carriers around the globe. For his operational achievements in the Middle East the President of the United States of America awarded him the US Legion of Merit, and in 2017 he was elected as Hudson Fellow by St Antony's College, University of Oxford.