The Special Duties List Commanders' Association was founded in 1990 and comprises a group of serving and retired naval officers of the Special Duties List of all branches, who during their distinguished careers achieved the rank of Commander. They all started their careers in the ranks, either as ordinary ratings or Artificers.

The Special Duties List of officers was originally established in 1956 and the first Commander was promoted 12 years later in 1967. The last promotions to the rank of Commander on the Special Duties List were in 1998, coinciding with the amalgamation of the three officer lists (Special Duties List, General List and Supplementary List)  into one. Officers serving in the rank of Special Duties List Commander at the time the officer lists amalgamated were automatically transferred to the new combined General List and two have since achieved the rank of Captain, one being further promoted to the rank of Commodore. This would have been impossible under the former system whereby the ceiling rank was Commander.

The opportunity for promotion to officer from the ranks, and to achieve promotion to higher levels still exists, but the notion of a highly specialised branch officer such as was a Special Duties List officer has now been abandoned in favour of the new system.

SD Commanders at Greenwich Naval College, 1995

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