Rear Admiral Christian Canova (French Navy) hands over the responsibility of Deputy Operation Commander of the European Union Naval Force Somalia, Operation ATALANTA to Rear Admiral Rainer Endres (German Navy) on 12 January 2012 at the Operational Headquarters (OHQ) in Northwood, near London.
Rear Admiral Canova added this duty to an impressive career including three commands at sea and three operational duties in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf. His comprehensive knowledge of NATO and EU policy was beneficial to the overall mission. Handing over his duties to Rear Admiral Endres, Rear Admiral Canova thanked Rear Admiral Potts and said:
“Being part of the command group of EUNAVFOR during the last 6 months has been challenging but also personally very rewarding. In my time EUNAVFOR enforced the UNSCR resolutions maintaining an impressive success rate of success of 100 per cent protecting WFP vessels delivering food for Somali people. We continued to secure the transit corridor in the Gulf of Aden and ATALANTA largely contributed to achieve to lower the success rate of attacks as well as the number of ships and hostages held by pirates by dynamic counter piracy actions during the last inter monsoon period. It was an honour and a pleasure to serve such a gallant officer as Rear RN Admiral Duncan Potts, COMEUNAVFOR.”
Rear Admiral Endres was Commanding Officer of FGS THETIS and Principle Warfare Officer on the destroyer FGS LUTJENS. Later he served as Personal Assistant to Commander 1st Destroyer Squadron, commanded the destroyer FGS ROMMEL and was given command of the 2nd Frigate Squadron based in Wilhelmshaven. His on-shore appointments have included a number of appointments in the German Ministry of Defence and the position as Head of Division at NATO Component Command Maritime HQ Naples, responsible for Policy, Plans & Concept, Military Cooperation and CIMIC. He served as well as Director Naval Development, Training and Education at the German Naval Office in Rostock, Germany.