The current Commander of the Navy is Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera.

It is a position equivalent to that of First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy or Chief of Naval Operations in the United States Navy.

By convention, serving Navy commanders have a rank of vice admiral, and will be promoted to the rank of admiral on retirement.

[1] In 1972, the "Dominion of Ceylon" became the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka" and the Royal Ceylon Navy was renamed the Sri Lanka Navy.

33 of 1976[2] in keeping with the terminology adopted by the other two services.