Jonathan Earley

Rear Admiral Jonathan Paul Earley, is a senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He joined the RAN as a maritime warfare officer in January 1990, and has commanded (2011–12) and (2017–18). He served as Commander Australian Fleet from June to December 2022 and Deputy Chief of Navy from December 2022 to July 2024, before being appointed as Head Military Strategic Commitments.

Naval career Earley joined the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a midshipman Maritime Warfare Officer in 1990. Following his initial training at the Australian Defence Force Academy and HMAS Creswell, he completed his employment and warfare training at HMAS Watson and trained on RAN and Royal Canadian Navy Warships respectively, before specialising as an Air Warfare Officer. He was then appointed commanding officer of HMAS Ballarat in 2011. He served as the inaugural executive officer of from 2013, after which he moved to Canberra as Director of Maritime Operations. He was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross as part of the 2017 Australia Day Honours for “outstanding achievement and devotion to duty in maritime operational and humanitarian response planning and deployment.” In 2017 he returned to sea on being appointed as commanding officer of . From 2018 to 2021 Earley served in various staff roles at the operational and strategic levels. He was next appointed as Head Military Strategic Commitments in July 2024.

On 8 March 2025, Early was appointed the commander of the Australian Defence Force response to Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which hit South East Queensland and New South Wales North Coast as a category 2 system.