Commander Fiona Southwood
Commander Fiona Southwood grew up in Orange, NSW and joined the Royal Australian Navy in January 1997. She graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1999.
At sea, she has served in HMAS Ships Anzac, Gawler, Stuart and Newcastle. Commander Southwood has deployed operationally on Operations RELEX, RELEX II, and MANITOU; and has deployed numerous times on exercise to RIMPAC, South East Asia and South West Asia.
Early in her career, Commander Southwood was appointed as the Operations Officer at Joint Logistics Unit - North in Darwin where she coordinated the logistics support for Operation ASTUTE, East Timor. She was selected as the Flag Lieutenant to the Maritime Commander in 2005. In 2007, after attaining her specialist charge qualification, she was selected as the Logistics Support Officer Mayport Naval Station, embedded within the United States Navy in Florida, for which she received a USN Commander Submarines commendation.
From 2009-2017 Commander Southwood was employed in various positions, in a mixture of full-time and part-time capacities, including: logistics contract support and waterfront logistics support to the Minehunter Class; and Logistics Staff Officer duties at the tactical, operation and strategic levels. Commander Southwood contributed to Navy capability in 2015-16 working remotely from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Returning to full-time service in 2017, Commander Southwood was appointed as the Maritime Logistics Officer in HMAS Newcastle, which included Operation MANITOU Rotation 65 and Decommissioning preparations. During her tenure her Department was awarded the Inaugural Maritime Logistics Supply Chain Compliance and Assurance Award.
More recently, Commander Southwood served as a Military Support Officer at Defence Community Organisation - South East Queensland, supporting Bereavement and Critical Incident management. She then served as the Navy Liaison Officer for the new Australian Defence Force Recruiting Contract procurement project.
Commander Southwood holds a Masters Degree in Business and a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Management, both from the University of New South Wales. She is a member of the Chartered Institute for Transport and Logistics.
In November 2021, Commander Southwood assumed Command of HMAS Moreton and the Senior Naval Officer South East Queensland.
