Rear Admiral (Retd) Y.N. Jayarathna

Rear Admiral YN Jayarathna was the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy and concurrently holding the appointments as the Chief Hydrographer of the Navy and the Joint Chief Hydrographer to the Government of Sri Lanka.

He is an International Hydrographic Organization’s Category A qualified Hydrographer with vast knowledge on oceanographic affairs around the island nation. As the Chief Hydrographer he initiated Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) architecture and was instrumental in setting up the Mean Sea Level (MSI) for Sri Lanka. He holds a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and another Masters in Hydrography from University of Goa, India.

He retired after 35+ years of illustrious and unblemished service in the Sri Lanka Navy on 21^st June 2022 on reaching mandatory retirement age of 55 years. During his career He has held the appointments of Director General Operations, Director General Training and Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka Coast Guard managing Tsunami in 2004 and Maritime Disasters. Further he represented the Government in Sethusamudram Expert Committee and was a member in the DEOCOM project which prepared the claim for Outer Continental Margin for Sri Lanka.

He is presently on contract with the UN as an International Consultant for Undersea Cables lectures widely on Maritime Security and Ocean Affairs.