Frank Ropers

Flotilla Admiral Ropers (1994)

Frank Ropers (born August 19, 1946 in Stade ) is a retired Vice Admiral in the German Navy. Most recently he was the German military representative in the NATO military committee.

Military career

Ropers visited the Jesuit St. Ansgar School in Hamburg. After graduating from high school, he went to the German Navy in Crew VI / 66 . In 1969 he became an officer on watch in the Schnellbootflotilla . In 1971 he came to the 3rd Marine Training Battalion in Glückstadt as a platoon leader . From 1973 to 1975 he was in command of the speedboat Ozelot . He was then employed as an adjutant to the German military representative at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). This was followed in 1977 by the command service B course and then from 1978 onwards, various uses (location officer, ship operations officer) on the destroyer Lütjens (D 185) . From 1980 he completed the admiralty staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg . After completing an above-average annual project, he was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Clausewitz Society at the end of the course in 1982 .

From the end of 1983 to 1986 Ropers was employed in the planning staff of the Federal Ministry of Defense under Manfred Wörner . He then took over command of the destroyer Rommel , before Ropers returned to the command academy of the Bundeswehr in 1988, where he became a lecturer in naval warfare and operational planning. In 1989 he was appointed captain of the sea . In 1990 he was reassigned to SHAPE, this time serving as Executive Officer of Chief of Staff General John A. Shaud ( USAF ) and his successor General James B. Davis (USAF). He then completed in 1993, the Royal College of Defense Studies in London.

In 1994 he was initially employed in the naval training department of the Naval Office , before becoming commander of the Mürwik Naval School on September 16, 1994 , followed by promotion to flotilla admiral in October . Already on August 24, 1995 he handed over this post to take over command of the NATO Standing Naval Force Mediterranean on September 7 . During this time, this association was involved in Operation Sharp Guard , the implementation of economic sanctions and the arms embargo against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia .

Back in Wilhelmshaven , he took on 26 September 1996 the command of the destroyer and was responsible for all destroyers, frigates and suppliers of the German Navy. On September 17, 1998 Ropers changed to the post of head of the Marinesamt in Rostock, with whom the appointment as Rear Admiral on October 1 was connected. In January 2001 he was transferred as Vice Admiral to Northwood in the United Kingdom and served there until May 2006, first as Chief of Staff at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief East Atlantic and Commander Allied Naval Forces North and from April 2003 as Deputy Commander. As part of the restructuring of the NATO command structure , the service was renamed Command Component Maritime Northwood (CC-MAR Northwood), the naval component of Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum . After this assignment, Ropers then took over the post of German military representative in the NATO military committee, which he handed over to Lieutenant General Jürgen Bornemann in 2008 and retired.