Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean (France)
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The French Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, (French: Commandant En Chef pour la 'Mediterranée) (French: (C)ommandant (E)n (C)hef pour la (MED)iterranée) is commandant of the maritime arrondissement Mediterranean .
The Admiral designated as CECMED, cumulates three distinct simultaneous functions:
- Commandant of the maritime arrondissement Méditerranée (territorial responsibility of units of La Marine),
- Commandant of the military zone (inter-arm commandant of means deployed in the Mediterranean),
- Maritime Prefect for the Mediterranean (French: préfet maritime de la Méditerranée) (interministerial general police administrative function)
CECMED, commandant of the Navy in the Mediterranean
The commandant refers to the original post of the vice-admiral of the Levant Fleet (1689-1792).
Under the authority of the Chief of Staff of the French Navy (CEMM), CECMED is commandant of region and the maritime arrondissement Méditerranée where the Military port of Toulon is garrisoned, as well as its anti-pollution cell and the commands of the French Navy (French: Commandements de la Marine) at Marseille and Ajaccio.
CECMED, inter-arm commandant in the Mediterranean
Under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff of France (CEMA), CEMMED, as commandant of the maritime zone, is charged with operation control of forces deployed in the Mediterranean (for instance in Opération Baliste in Lebanon on July 2006). In the Mediterranean, CECMED has at his disposition the relay of defensive and naval attachés.
One admiral, three functions
The function of the Maritime Prefect of the Mediterranean is entrusted by décret to the Admiral commandant of Mediterranean maritime zone.