President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse was pleased to appoint Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe as the Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the government of Australia in January 2011.

Admiral Samarasinghe relinquished the Command of the Sri Lanka Navy on 15th of January 2011 completing over 36 years of distinguish Naval Service after being appointed as the 16th Commander of the Navy since 15th July 2009.

Admiral TSG Samarasinghe having had his education at the prestigious Royal College Colombo 7, joined the Sri Lanka Navy in 1974 as an Officer Cadet won the “Sword of Honour” of the 4th Intake at the Naval and Maritime Academy Trincomalee. He also won the Best International Midshipman award at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, UK in 1976 along with the prestigious appointment of Divisional Sub Lieutenant. Admiral Samarasinghe is a specialist Navigator Graduated from Navigation and Direction School INS Venduruthy in India securing the first place in order of merit.

He has held a number of key appointments both afloat and ashore. His sea experience include all classes of naval ships including the Command of flagship in 1994. He counts over 08 years of sea time out of which over 05 years in command at sea. He has Commanded an operational shore base in the North and been Commandant and Training Commander of two premier Naval and Maritime Training establishments engaging extensively in officer training in addition to holding key Staff and Deputy Director/Director appointments at Naval Headquarters.

Having served as the Deputy Area Commander of Northern and Eastern Naval Areas during operationally active periods and also the Southern Naval Area, he was appointed Commander of the Southern Naval Area in 2002. He has the distinction of being the 1st Director General Services (2004) whilst concurrently holding the appointments of Director Naval Project and Plans, Naval Assistant to Commander of the Navy and Principle Staff Officer of Chief of Defence Staff. He has led Naval Delegation to India, Russia, Israel and USA (1995-2006) on bilateral issues.

In addition to being distinguished graduate he was selected to lead the final war game as the Admiral of the War game at Naval Staff College (Class 38) of Naval War College, New Port, Rhode Island, USA in 1991. He also graduated from Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii USA as a member of the Executive course 2003-1. Admiral Samarasinghe is also an award winning distinguished graduate from the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi in 2005(45th Course)

His award winning thesis on “Strategy to Defeat Maritime Terrorism” at National Defence College, New Delhi and the Seminar paper on Indo-Sri Lanka “Sustainable Cooperative Security Challenges and Options” at National Maritime Foundation, India are published documents. He was also selected to be member of Presidential and Prime Ministerial delegations on state visits abroad in 2006 and 2009.

Admiral Samarasinghe had the honour of being the Aid-de-Camp to His Royal Highness Prince of Wales during the visit to Sri Lanka for the 50th Independence Anniversary Celebration in 1998. Admiral Samarasinghe served as a pioneering member of the inter ministerial High Level Task Force to prepare Sri Lanka’s submission to the United Nation for the claim of Delimitation of the continental margin as per UNCLOS 76.

With the start of the humanitarian operations to liberate the East and North he was made the Acting Commander Northern Naval Area (December 2005), Director General Operations- NHQ(January 2006), Commander Eastern Naval Area ( January 2007) and Commander Northern Naval Area (January 2008). During the period when the LTTE floating arms warehouses were destroyed he was the Director General Operations and Commander Eastern Naval Area from 2006 to 2008. As Director General Operations he was commended by the Head of Delegation of International Committee of Red Cross in February 2009 for the exemplary conduct of evacuation by sea and medical treatment to save lives of those affected by terrorist activities. During the periods of service in north and east Admiral Samarasighe was responsible in maintaining effective working relationship with the civil administration for the betterment of population.

Admiral Samarasinghe presented papers at 19th International Sea Power Symposium October 2009 in Rhode Island USA attended by 97 Naval Chiefs, Langkawi International Maritime Conference and Maritime Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) November 2009 in Malaysia and 2nd Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in May 2010 on Maritime security related issues in United Arab Emirates. Admiral Samarasinghe was presented with a certificate of appreciation of the Government of Australia in July 2010 for the support and assistance rendered by efficient methods adopted to prevent human smuggling from the shore of Sri Lanka.

Being the Commander of the Navy Admiral Samarasinghe on behalf of Ministry of Defence organized and conducted first ever “Galle Dialogue” naval and maritime symposium on the theme of Charting the Course for Sustainable Maritime Security Coperation on 6th and 7th August 2010 in Galle. Admiral Samarasinghe also conceptualized organized and conducted International Naval and Maritime Symposium on the theme of “Sustainable Support for Security and Safety at Sea”(S5) to mark the 60th Anniversary of SLN on 8th December 2010 in Colombo. These forums were well represented by both local and foreign experts on maritime and national affairs which included 04 Naval Chiefs. Further Chiefs of Navy and Heads of Delegations only close door Conclave on the theme of addressing practical issues and maritime concerns of the Indian Ocean such as piracy, smuggling, gunrunning, poaching, disaster management, environmental pollution and to discuss and determine solution through cooperation on 10th December 2010 in Dockyard Trincomalee. Admiral Samarasinghe delivered both welcoming and concluding addresses at all three forums.

Sri Lanka Navy under the leadership of Admiral Samarasinghe created history when 19 Navies around the globe including 05 permanent members of United Nations visited Sri Lanka at the invitation of Admiral Samarasinghe to participate at the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Sri Lanka Navy 07th to 11th December 2010 honouring Sri Lanka. Naval Chiefs of Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and UAE were on the same platform in Colombo for three days during the three main events graced by the HE Mahinda Rajapaksa the President of Sri Lanka. The Presidential fleet review too was represented by large warship of Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Thailand showcasing that Sri Lanka’s port of Colombo was a comfortable venue for such diversified representation which is considered an unprecedented achievement.

Admiral Samarasinghe has received 05 commendation letters from 04 Commanders of the Navy for his outstanding performance throughout the long career. He is a recipient of Rana Sura Padakkama(RSP) for gallantry at sea, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya(VSV) in recognition of his devotion and dedication to the country with and unblemished career record and Uttama Seva Padakkama(USP) for meritorious and distinguished service, in addition to nine other service medals. Admiral Samarasinghe was elevated to the rank of Admiral on 12th of January 2011 by His Excellency the President.

Admiral Samarasinghe excelled in cricket and athletics during his younger days and coached and administrated naval Cricket, Rugby and Musketry at National levels. He is a keen Cricket and Rugby follower and plays golf at leisure.

He is married to Malathie an educationist with a daughter Nadeesha (21) an undergraduate and a son Harith (16) High school student.

2nd June 2011