Captain Alastair Cooper

Captain Alastair Cooper joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1988. A Maritime Warfare Officer, he served at sea in HMA Ships Canberra (II), Melbourne (III) and Fremantle (II), and ashore, as Commanding Officer Navy Headquarters South Australia, the research officer to the Chief of Navy and in Navy Capability Division. He has also worked in private sector telecommunications and as a public servant in the Department of Defence, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Attorney-General’s Department. He is currently posted to Navy Headquarters as the Director of the Sea Power Centre - Australia.

Alastair Cooper graduated from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra with a first class honours degree in history, and is the author of several chapters, articles and online posts on Australian naval history and military strategy, including ‘At the Crossroads: Anglo-Australian Naval Relations, 1945-1971’ in the Journal of Military History; two chapters in The Australian Centenary History of Defence: Volume 3: The Royal Australian Navy; ‘The development of an independent Navy for Australia: correspondence between the First Naval Member and the First Sea Lord, 1947-1959’ in The Naval Miscellany, Vol. VII; and co-author of ‘Upgrade or replace: a cost comparison of Australian warship service lives’.