Rear Admiral (Retd) Eric Lavault

Former Head of the French Navy Seabed warfare Department French Navy

Entered the Naval Academy in 1990, and specializing in mine clearance diving, Rear Admiral Eric Lavault served 34 years in the French Navy. He commanded 4 operational units: the Mine Clearance Diving Group in Toulon (2003-2005), the mine-clearing diver base ship “Pluton” (2003 - 2005), the tanker “La Somme” (2010 - 2011) and finally the amphibious helicopter carrier “Dixmude” (2015 - 2017). He served as aide-de-camp to the French President from 2012 to 2015. He was Director of Navy Communications and spokesman for the Chief of Naval Staff from 2019 to 2022. From 2022 to 2024, before leaving active service, Rear Admiral Eric Lavault headed the French Navy's Seabed Control Department. He was in charge of the three groups of mine clearance divers based in Cherbourg, Brest and Toulon, and the 4 base ships for mine clearance divers (Pluton, Styx, Vulcain and Achéron). He supervised the ramp-up of the Mine Countermeasures Flotilla, equipped with mine warfare drones (USV and UUV) identical to those used by the Royal Navy. Finally, he accompanied and guided the equipping of the Navy with deep-sea UAVs and ROVs, aimed at giving the Navy a capability to intervene at a depth of 6,000m, within the Diving and Deep Sea Intervention Department named CEPHISMER (Centre expert plongée humaine et intervention sous la mer).