About CHENS

What is CHENS?
CHENS is an acronym for the CHiefs of European NavieS. It is an informal, independent and non-political forum whose membership includes the Chief of Navy of each European maritime nation that is either a member of NATO or the European Union and has naval armed forces.

Aim of CHENS
CHENS seeks to promote understanding between navies of the member countries, to examine issues of common and mutual interest and to increase awareness of the maritime domain in member countries.

The maritime domain and navies often are 'over the horizon' and out of sight of the general public of member countries. The common experience of the member navies has been that naval and maritime matters tend to be marginalised as a consequence. The promotion of naval points of view within strategic fora and the wider maritime community is therefore considered to be an important function of CHENS. The intent of the papers produced by CHENS is to capture the professional opinion of senior European naval flag officers in a form that is easily disseminated.

History of CHENS
First precursor meetings of CHENS took place in the early 1990s. The first meetings in 1990, initiated by the First Sea Lord (Royal Navy, United Kingdom) brought together nine chiefs of north and south European navies in two separate meetings. The 1991 meeting was limited to 12 Western European Union (WEU) member navies. Since the first 'Heads of European Navies' meeting in 1992, where 12 Chiefs of European Navies attended, CHENS membership has grown steadily due to the enlargement of NATO and European Union.

Currently 24 European navies of EU and/or NATO countries are members of CHENS: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom. The US Navy and NATO as well as the European Union are invited to attend as observers.

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