Lieutenant-commander Ian Marshall started the job on February 15.
He replaces Lieutenant-commander Phil Bradshaw, who has moved to Wellington to take on the role of the director of defence communications.
Lt-cmdr Marshall, a member of the naval reserves for 19 years, first in Christchurch and then in Invercargill, originally hails from Opunake in the North Island, although his parents grew up in Otago.
While this was his first full-time job with the navy - he recently finished working for a bank, where he was a commercial lending manager - the naval administrator had spent six months deployed in a peacekeeping role in the demilitarised zone in Korea in 2007-08 and six months in the Bamyan province Afghanistan, returning home in April last year.
He was looking forward to getting involved with the Dunedin community and had already had a good look around, although he was familiar with the city as his children - he has two adult sons - attended university in Dunedin and his son, Michael Mitchell, played for the Zingari Richmond Rugby Club for several seasons.
Lt-cmdr Marshall's wife would join him in Dunedin soon.
The next major event for the navy in Dunedin was Anzac Day, followed by the first home port visit for new offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago, which was expected to occur before winter.
Outside work, one of his main interests was rugby and he was looking forward to continuing his long-term support of the Highlanders.
