Former Royal Navy officer Rob Wilson: Career profile
Commander (Rtd) Rob Wilson, who has joined Systematic's Asia-Pacific Australian office, began serving with the Royal Navy in April 1988 on a short career commission of eight years.
His first appointment was as a gunnery officer on offshore patrol vessel HMS Dumbarton Castle, spending six months in the Falkland Islands as the resident patrol vessel. In 1991 he trained to become a Fighter Controller and joined Type 42 destroyer HMS Cardiff where he undertook tours of the Caribbean and latterly the Adriatic Sea as part of NATO forces.
After signing for a full career commission, he undertook a role as a Fighter Controller instructor at HMS Dryad in Portsmouth before taking an exchange appointment with the French Navy working on board their aircraft carriers in 1995. Three years later Rob went on junior officer staff course before undertaking Principal Warfare Officer training for 15 months.
In June 1999 he joined Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose as PWO (Air) and deployed to the Mediterranean. In June 2001 Rob joined HMS Fearless, an amphibious assault ship, which deployed to the Middle East.
Following the September 11 attacks that year, the ship’s deployment was extended until the following April, after which Rob took a two-year shore posting as a career manager.
He then took command of minehunter HMS Ledbury, spending eight months as part of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) in the Baltic Sea. A second command appointment followed, along with promotion to Commander, as Commanding Officer of Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset in 2007. Bringing her out of refit, he then deployed to the Mediterranean as part of SNMG2.
In 2009 Rob moved to the US where he attended the US War College before undertaking an exchange appointment to the Royal Australian Navy in 2012 as Chief of Staff to Commodore Warfare. Three years later he took command of the Maritime Warfare Training School before leaving the navy in 2017.
Rob, who is also qualified as a private financier, then established his own crypto-technology business, which he ran until 2022.
