Commanding Officer HMAS Cerberus

Captain Katherine Richards, RAN

Captain Kath Richards is a Marine Engineer Officer (MEO) and has served in the Royal Australian Navy for over 22 years in a wide variety of sea and shore appointments, including two charge appointments as MEO of HMAS Melville and HMAS Melbourne and most recently as the inaugural Director of the Navy’s Landing Helicopter Dock Ship Systems Program Office.

Kath is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy (University of New South Wales (UNSW)), the Australian Command and Staff College and the Royal Navy’s Dagger Engineering Course at the University College London (UCL). She holds a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours (UNSW), a Masters of Science in Marine Engineering (UCL) and a Masters of Management in Defence Studies (UC 2003). She is a Member of Engineers Australia and a Chartered Professional Engineer (MIEAUST, CPEng).

Kath assumed command of HMAS Cerberus, the Navy’s premier training establishment for new entry sailors, in December 2011.

She is married to Bernard and is the mother of three very young children.