Commanding Officer

Commander Tim Kerr  Commanding Officer HMCS ALGONQUIN

Tim Kerr was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and grew up across the harbour in Dartmouth, the son of a Naval Aviator. He joined the Navy in 1988 and obtained his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax in 1991. Upon completion of Naval Officer training he joined HMCS HALIFAX in 1992, achieving his watchkeeping certificate and professional qualification and participating in various first of class trials deployments. In 1994, he transferred to the Primary Reserve at HMCS SCOTIAN while returning to university, studying biochemistry, physics and life in general.

Returning to the Navy full time in 1996, he joined HMCS GLACE BAY for a 30-month tour as, successively, Navigating Officer, Operations Officer and Executive Officer. Fortunate enough to be selected for command at sea, he assumed command of HMCS SUMMERSIDE in January 1999. A tremendously rewarding three years in command followed, during which he saw the ship through Commissioning, workups, and numerous operational and training deployments.

Transferring back to the Regular Force in 2002, he joined HMCS MONTREAL as Deck Officer for a two year period that included a 7-½ month counter-terrorism deployment to the Persian Gulf. The Operations Room Officer (ORO) course followed in 2004, after which he joined HMCS HALIFAX as one of the ship’s OROs. As Combat Officer and later as acting Executive Officer, he remained with the ship through a very busy period including a deployment to the Baltic and Mediterranean as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1.

Briefly proceeding ashore in June 2006, he enjoyed a challenging and rewarding appointment as Executive Assistant to Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic, before finally leaving the East Coast to take up his appointment as Executive Officer of HMCS WINNIPEG in July 2007. During his two years as XO, he saw the ship through the journey from refit to high readiness, which culminated in a deployment to the Gulf of Aden as part of NATO’s counter-piracy operation off of the Horn of Africa. He departed the ship in June 2009 to attend the UK Advanced Command and Staff Course at the United Kingdom Defence Academy, graduating in July 2010 with a Master of Arts in Defence Studies from King’s College London. Promoted Commander in November 2010, Tim assumed command of HMCS ALGONQUIN shortly thereafter.

Tim lives in Esquimalt, BC with his wife Anne and children James and Sophie. The vast majority of his spare time is spent enjoying life with his family, although he occasionally indulges his other passions of baseball, hiking, reading and writing.