John Stavrides, distinguished member of the Greek Diaspora in Australia, serves as the Commander in Chief of the warship HMAS Arunta. In this capacity, he honors Greece and its nautical entrepreneurial spirit.

Stavrides, 41, now head of one of the most technologically advanced ships, underscored with a recent statement to neoskosmos.com his dream to join the Navy, in part because of the military history of his family. His parents Iordanis and Kaliopi Stavrides hail from the Greek islands of Limnos and Samos respectively and moved to Sydney, Australia in the sixties. John was born there, and after his studies at the Trinity Grammar School he joined the Australian military academy in 1988 from where he graduated with honors in 1991.

He has already traveled to Asia, the USA, the Pacific Ocean and the Middle East, and doesn’t hide his wish to make a trip to Europe and Greece as well.

“The Australian Navy respects and honors my cultural roots and, personally, I honor the Greek language, customs and traditions. My religion is also important for me and the Navy acknowledges that”, Stavrides mentioned.