Commander Tom Trent RN, Future Air Defence Programme Director &amp; Above Water Battlespace AWW SO1, will join Phil Gittins, DE&amp;S Ships - Boats Team Leader, at Speed@Seawork this year to share their thoughts on future Seaboats. If Commander Trent looks a bit familiar, you may well have caught footage of one of his Royal Navy deployments which was filmed and broadcast as a documentary on UK national television in 2020. 
 
Speed@Seawork, held on 20 June, is a fast boat event targeted at users (attaches, military, coast guard, etc), builders, and equipment suppliers. The day starts with a short voyage over to the Isle of Wight, UK, with breakfast and presentations on fast boat activities, recent contracts, future developments and opportunities. Attendees have the opportunity to go out on sea boat trials in the varied sea states of the Solent. There will be an expert panel at lunch, followed by further sea trials and the day ending with networking, drinks and canapes on the return trip to Southampton. 
 
Commander Trent Royal Navy joined the Royal Navy in the autumn of 2001 having gained a BEng (Hons) in Naval Architecture and Master&rsquo;s in Philosophy (MPhil) in Marine Transportation with the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. His early career saw service on most classes of surface escorts including T23 frigates and T42 destroyers throughout he has been focussed on maritime operations, including shore appointments to FOST MPV as a SWO(N), SURFLOT as SO2 FFDD FGen and the (as then) Maritime Battle Staff as DACOS Plans from 2017-2018. 
 
He has Commanded 6 warships: Hunt Class MCMVs HURWORTH, CHIDDINGFOLD, BROCKLESBY, LEDBURY and the T45 destroyers HMS DUNCAN and HMS DAUNTLESS. His 
time in DUNCAN focussed on a lengthy deployment across a variety of theatres including escort to the FS CHARLES de GAULLE during strikes into Syria as part of Op INHERENT RESOLVE and later protecting British merchant ships through the Strait of Hormuz as part of Op SENTINEL. The deployment was filmed and broadcast as a documentary. In HMS DAUNTLESS, the ship returned to sea after a lengthy refit period to conduct successful sea trials and then first-of-class introduction of the upgraded power improvement plan for the class. 
 
Post destroyer Command he attended the Advanced Command and Staff College and was 
awarded a Master&rsquo;s degree By Research (MRes) which sought opportunities for the UK&rsquo;s maritime defence industrial base and ships in refit to better contribute to integrated operations even when at low readiness. For the research he was awarded a Fellowship with the academy and King&rsquo;s College London. He is now the SO1 AWW desk officer at the RN Develop Directorate in NCHQ, where he is responsible for future above water warfare capability. He has recently been appointed as the Programme Director for the Future Air Defence System, the successor to the T45 Destroyer. 
 
Find <a href="https://seawork.com/aboutspeed" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">further information on Speed@Seawork</a> here and book tickets<a href="https://www.maritimejournal.com/book-your-space" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"> here</a> 
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