Born on 10 May 1972, Rear Admiral Laurent Bechler studied engineering at École Centrale Paris, graduating in 1994. After completing his military service, he joined the French Navy in 1995.
During the first part of his operational career (1998-2005), he served mainly on submarines as an engineer, responsible for the operation and maintenance of all the installations on these vessels. He served successively on the conventional submarines La Praya and Ouessant in Brest, then on the nuclear attack submarine (SNA) Saphir in Toulon (1998-2005).
His career also took him to surface vessels. He was head of department on the surveillance frigate Prairial in French Polynesia (1997-1998); he was in charge of overall logistics for the naval air group during the Agapanthe 2004 mission (2003-2004), during which he was embarked on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
In 2005, he joined the nuclear attack submarine squadron as a trainer, responsible for supervising the qualification and training of all SNA crews in the areas of nuclear reactor operation, platform operation, and conventional and nuclear safety.
After graduating from the Joint Defence College (now the War College) in 2008, he served for two years as a liaison officer in the Human Resources Policy Office of the French Navy Staff from 2008 to 2010, before leaving for two years to take up a cooperation post within the Brazilian Navy's Military Personnel Directorate in Rio de Janeiro.
Returning to France in 2012, he served on the Armed Forces Staff in the "plans, programmes and evaluation" division, working on multi-year budget planning for the Defence mission: in particular, he was involved in drafting the 2014-2019 military programming law.
In 2015, he took command of the Nouméa naval base. There, he launched the frigate quay renovation project and welcomed the first BSAOM: the "D'Entrecasteaux". He actively participated in the reform of the governance of overseas naval bases. He regularly deputised for the maritime zone commander.
An auditor at the College of Advanced Military Studies (CHEM) and the Institute of Advanced National Defence Studies (IHEDN) in 2017-2018, he was appointed head of the finance office of the Navy Staff.
In 2020, he took up the post of commander of the Cherbourg defence base and deputy commander of the Channel and North Sea maritime district. He was promoted to rear admiral in 2022.
From 2022 to 2025, he headed the Toulon Fleet Support Service, responsible for maintaining the operational readiness of surface vessels and submarines based in Toulon and along the Mediterranean coast. He worked to adapt naval operational readiness to the intensification and toughening of air and sea operations. He devised and implemented the Ursa Minor exercise, coupled with the major annual Polaris exercise, in order to establish a "high-intensity" MCO with the enhanced and coordinated involvement of the major industrial companies holding naval MCO contracts.
In the summer of 2025, he was appointed Director of the Naval Strategic Studies Centre and Outreach Officer for the Chief of Naval Staff.
Rear Admiral Laurent Bechler is married with three children. He is an Officer of the Legion of Honour and the National Order of Merit.
