Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy

The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy is the [Military ranks of the Netherlands|Dutch armed forces|highest-ranking] officer of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The CZsk reports directly to the Chief of Defence (Netherlands).
The position of CZsk was created on 5 September 2005, following a large overhaul of the command structure of the Dutch armed forces. In this overhaul the position of Bevelhebber der Zeestrijdkrachten was dropped and the position of Commander of the Naval Force in The Netherlands was upgraded to the current CZsk position. Ever since the integration of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps into the Navy, the former Commander of the Marine Corps has held the position of Deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
In addition to being the commanding officer of the Dutch Navy, under the terms of the BENESAM Treaty the CZsk is also the Admiral of the Benelux. This means the CZsk is the commanding officer of the operational units of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Belgian Naval Component.
Also, the CZsk shares command responsibility with the Chief of Defence for units that have been deployed on international missions.
The position of CZsk is statutorily held by a Vice Admiral or Lieutenant General of the Marines. The current CZsk is Vice-Admiral Harold Liebregs, who succeeded Vice Admiral René Tas in the position in September 2025.

Units

The Commander of the Royal Dutch Navy is Director of four Directorates: