Command of ships at sea in Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise, the world’s largest, will be less Anglophile next year with Chile becoming the first nonfounding member selected to be maritime component commander.

Adm. Scott Swift, head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said last week that Chile will have the upcoming role as the “combined forces maritime component commander” — which previously alternated between the U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Canadian Navy.

“The Chilean navy earned this responsibility through years of observation, participation, mastery and leadership at RIMPAC,” Swift said in a talk at the Chilean Naval War College.

The combined forces maritime component commander is in charge of ship planning and training and the eventual at-sea involvement in RIMPAC, the Navy said.

Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated in RIMPAC 2016 mostly in and around Hawaii but also off Southern California.

The big war-gaming and interoperability exercise began in 1971 with navies from the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and now is held every two years.

Last year U.S. Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the Navy’s 3rd Fleet, was the combined task force commander. The deputy commander was from Canada and the vice commander from Japan. The maritime component was led by an Australian commodore, the air component by a brigadier general from Canada, and the amphibious component was commanded by a New Zealand commodore.

“It’s actually a pretty big deal,” said retired Navy Capt. Carl Schuster of Chile’s selection as the maritime component commander. It recognizes that the Chileans have the command and control experience to be in charge of the ship-based portion of the exercise, he said.

“All of the exercises and subelements of each of the exercises and the training events fall under the maritime commander — and it’s pretty complex,” said Schuster, an adjunct faculty member at Hawaii Pacific University who teaches in the diplomacy and military studies program.

Schuster said Chile’s navy is known to be “very professional, very precise.”

Swift said Chile “is a regional leader” and a “shining example for Pacific Rim nations to follow.” Chile has participated in RIMPAC 12 times and last year had a deputy maritime command role, he said.

“With a reputation as one of the most professional navies in the Pacific, your navy is also a steadfast champion of the international rules-based system that has allowed so many Pacific Rim nations to achieve unprecedented prosperity, safely and securely, for the past 70 years,” Swift said.